180-man, Tough choice on a call.

[Staple Gun]

Early on, wasnt paying attention a whole lot and just assume he is a normal player. Would you make the call?


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t20 (9 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

Button (t1725)
SB (t2425)
BB (t1350)
UTG (t1315)
UTG+1 (t805)
MP1 (t1390)
MP2 (t1540)
MP3 (t1390)
Staple Gun (t1560)

Preflop: Staple Gun is CO with Q, A.
1 fold, UTG+1 calls t20, MP1 raises to t40, 2 folds, Staple Gun calls t40, 1 fold, SB calls t30, BB calls t20, UTG+1 calls t20.

Flop: (t200) 4, T, A (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG+1 checks, MP1 bets t100, Staple Gun raises to t200, SB folds, BB folds, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls t100.

Turn: (t600) 6 (2 players)
MP1 checks, Staple Gun checks.

River: (t600) 7 (2 players)
MP1 bets t1150 (All-In), Staple Gun ???

Final Pot: t2900

[KoRnholio]

Raise more preflop, on the flop, bet the turn. By then you will know if you are beat or not.

[Staple Gun]

Raise more preflop, on the flop, bet the turn. By then you will know if you are beat or not.

I figured If I checked the turn I could induce a bluff which would be the easiest way to get chips out of him, because I didnt know whether or not I had a non-bluff beat. I put him on AK, AQ, AJ, or a pocket (JJ-KK probably). But I thought AK was most likely.

Also the min raise preflop confused me. Usually I would think AA or KK with that, or just a weird hand like TJs. AK would rarely min raise preflop.

[Sprayed]

I don't know, maybe trip 7s or Ax, JJ/QQ. He had a hand that he felt he needed to min raise preflop and call your reraise on the flop. Looks like you didn't have enough time to really get a read on his play. Could have been a total all in bluff or just a donk play for calling your reraise and checking to the end and then he caught something. In either event, it's a little too early for me to go all in with TPTK. If he had a big hand why didn't he try to pull a little bit out of ya on each turn? Instead he waited until the end to go all in?! A play that some make is a reraise preflop to see where you stand if he is min raising a monster.

[Staple Gun]

A play that some make is a reraise preflop to see where you stand if he is min raising a monster.

I hate reraising AQ this early, Im confident I can outplay them postflop. However I think you are absolutely correct that I could have found where I stood if I reraised preflop.

[ilikeaces86]

To come to the pleasure which you have not, You must go by the way in which u enjoy not.

[DoGGz]

To come to the pleasure which you have not, You must go by the way in which u enjoy not.

[TanO]

he probably paired his kicker, having A7 or something, not worth the risk here. Only thing I would say about your play is that min raising him 100 back on the flop is not going to help you gain much information

[drmcboy]

I'm fine with the way you played the hand (altough I think on the flop a call or a bigger raise are both a little better). But now that you've played it this way, you can't go broke with TPGK. I'd probably call up to 300 here, more than that I think you move on.

[Aces]

As played that looks like a pretty easy fold.

[michael1123]

Who knows. Either just call on the flop or raise a lot more.

You don't really have enough information to make any strong read here. I think you've basically forced yourself to call here, although you EASILY could be beat.

[zenbitz]

If you don't want to re-raise AQ vs a min-raise, I think you have to fold preflop - unless you are playing for 2 pair. Especially with a limper, AQo 5-way? Bleah.

The min-raise post flop isn't HORRIBLE, but you cannot follow it up with a check behind.

Still, that's not what you asked, is it? Is that river a donk bet or fake donk bet? I can't even rule out 89s from the betting pattern here. It's a pretty sophisticated play to say to push when the river 7 makes your set, straight, or two pair and think you will get called by TP anyway.

Whether or not I call probably depends on how I feel about jumping into the next tourney. I think it's probably an EV neutral play or slightly +, since it's such a ridiculous overbet.

[konahead]

I agree that re-raising preflop w AQo sucks this early in the tournament. You have position so use it and just call and see a flop. A case can be made to reraise preflop to thin the field more, but I like to keep preflop pots small when it's early in a tourney. If blinds were higher, a reraise would be in order, but this early, I just call the preflop min-raise w AQo.

BUT when you get a good flop like that, you have to raise the opp's flop bet to 300-350. Or just call the flop bet and bet 250-300 on the turn. (This is my preference. Makes you aggressor on the turn - helps on the river when you have position.)
If opp's bluffing, has a weak kicker, or lower pp - that probably would have bought you a free river card/checkdown - since you had position and had already stated that you have a good hand. Tough for opp to bluff the river when you became the aggressor. So then if he hits river hard, you can safely assume you're beat. You have position here - use it....

As played, I think opp is full of shit, but I'd lay it down none the less...

[Roco415]

i think its a pretty easy fold because, it seems alot like an a-x that hit two pair on turn or river...

[Staple Gun]

Thanks for all the responses.

The min reraise on the flop was pretty out of charecter for me. My thoughts were, he reraises me again here if he has me beat, usually only very tricky players would raise/call the flop with a great hand, and after this guy min bet preflop I did not expect him to be a tricky player at all. I definetly couldve fired out a bet more than 200 though, but I really just wanted to see how he reacted. If he smooth called I would assume I had him.

On the turn I cant explain the check really, I had already told myself I had him beat so Im not sure why I checked. I guess I didnt think he had a draw, and thought the check could trick him in to betting the river thinking he was ahead. I think I shouldve fired out there though.

On the river I made this call because I decided the player was not skilled player, and I did not expect him to push if he actually had a hand. I figured he would fire out a value bet. I read something a couple weeks ago that said "big bets do not scare good no limit players" and I think this is a good example, and probably one of the few times I have made a call on a bet like that thinking it was a bluff. It may have been a good read, or I may have just been lucky, but it worked out pretty good.

*** RIVER *** [4s Tc Ah 6d] [7c]
bassoniste: bets 1150 and is all-in
Stap1e Gun: calls 1150
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bassoniste: shows [Jc Js] (a pair of Jacks)
Stap1e Gun: shows [Qd Ac] (a pair of Aces)
Stap1e Gun collected 2900 from pot

[Sprayed]

Sweet, nice call.

[STIdrivr]

the way you played it you just set yourself up to get bluffed on the river, so if you play it like that then call the river bluff. Every time you re raise on the flop then check the turn expect to get raised on the river no matter wat they have

[konahead]

STI - I hear what you're saying, but a good player knows this and will play that hand similarly with AT, AA, TT, etc if he thinks he can goad you into calling and he thinks you have the balls to call. So all I'm saying is that you better have a read on your opp before you make that call cuz I've won as opp (and lost as hero) a LOT of chips using your rationale against a tricky player. Looks so much like a bluff that you really want to call - thats why I had said fold. Of course, I was wrong in this case, but in the overall picture of the tournament, I still think this is a fold if you look at it as just one hand that hasn't really hurt your stack... Lots of poker yet to go...

But you make a very good point.

[Staple Gun]

STI - I hear what you're saying, but a good player knows this and will play that hand similarly with AT, AA, TT, etc if he thinks he can goad you into calling and he thinks you have the balls to call. So all I'm saying is that you better have a read on your opp before you make that call cuz I've won as opp (and lost as hero) a LOT of chips using your rationale against a tricky player. Looks so much like a bluff that you really want to call - thats why I had said fold. Of course, I was wrong in this case, but in the overall picture of the tournament, I still think this is a fold if you look at it as just one hand that hasn't really hurt your stack... Lots of poker yet to go...

But you make a very good point.

I had decided he was not a good player, because a good player would not min raise AA or A-10 preflop. I understand what you are saying though, and often I will bet/call the flop with a monster.

[STIdrivr]

there is no reason to think he is a really good tricky player... you cant assume everyone is expecially in smaller stakes