Major online tourny, 3 hands to discuss

[Haji]

Ok, heres the tourny:

PokerStars Tournament #15370180, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $2.00/$0.20
1647 players
Total Prize Pool: $3294.00
Tournament started - 2005/11/27 - 21:02:00 (ET)

Dear Hajii,

You finished the tournament in 5th place.

I feel like there were 3 defining hands in the tourny for me, and I want to discuss them. I feel like I didn't play them correctly and it may have cost me first place. Let me know what you think.


1st hand... major turning point for me, shot me into chip lead. I honestly felt like the guy was betting at a low pocket pair, and I was pretty sure he didn't hit his set. The betting was just to obvious. But, regardless I was pretty scared on this hand, but I saw it thru to the end. Was this stupid on my part or a good play?

*********** # 171 **************
PokerStars Game #3180220640: Tournament #15370180, Hold'em No Limit - Level XIII (1000/2000) - 2005/11/28 - 00:23:51 (ET)
Table '15370180 123' Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: RagMcAtee (15576 in chips)
Seat 2: guru833 (7173 in chips)
Seat 3: karensilvers (16596 in chips)
Seat 4: kikker62 (42411 in chips)
Seat 5: Marlboro III (17815 in chips)
Seat 6: rookie210 (91673 in chips)
Seat 7: Hajii (83132 in chips)
Seat 8: chaz41 (28008 in chips)
Seat 9: Donnatella (24935 in chips)
RagMcAtee: posts the ante 100
guru833: posts the ante 100
karensilvers: posts the ante 100
kikker62: posts the ante 100
Marlboro III: posts the ante 100
rookie210: posts the ante 100
Hajii: posts the ante 100
chaz41: posts the ante 100
Donnatella: posts the ante 100
rookie210: posts small blind 1000
Hajii: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hajii [6s Kh]
chaz41: folds
Donnatella: folds
guru833 said, "nh lucky"
RagMcAtee: folds
guru833: folds
karensilvers: folds
kikker62: calls 2000
guru833 said, "i never win a race"
Marlboro III: folds
rookie210: calls 1000
Hajii: checks
*** FLOP *** [5s 7c Kd]
rookie210: checks
Hajii: bets 6000
kikker62: folds
rookie210: raises 6000 to 12000
Hajii: calls 6000
*** TURN *** [5s 7c Kd] [4h]
rookie210: bets 12000
karensilvers said, "time and a place"
guru833 said, "i guess so"
guru833 said, "nh"
Hajii: calls 12000
*** RIVER *** [5s 7c Kd 4h] [Ts]
rookie210: checks
Hajii: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
rookie210: shows [9s 9d] (a pair of Nines)
Hajii: shows [6s Kh] (a pair of Kings)
Hajii collected 54900 from pot

*2nd hand... This is really what broke me at the final table. It was down hill from this point. Was the flop bet too much, too little? Was the call a horriable call that got payed or was he justified?

PokerStars Game #3180959329: Tournament #15370180, Hold'em No Limit - Level XIX (8000/16000) - 2005/11/28 - 01:58:55 (ET)
Table '15370180 140' Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Zathros (461872 in chips)
Seat 2: rookie210 (238084 in chips)
Seat 3: 2timechamp (92597 in chips)
Seat 4: Maoribey (244667 in chips)
Seat 5: Fabulous P (246039 in chips)
Seat 6: Hajii (617578 in chips)
Seat 7: jburn812 (308051 in chips)
Seat 9: Doktor B.S. (261612 in chips)
Zathros: posts the ante 800
rookie210: posts the ante 800
2timechamp: posts the ante 800
Maoribey: posts the ante 800
Fabulous P: posts the ante 800
Hajii: posts the ante 800
jburn812: posts the ante 800
Doktor B.S.: posts the ante 800
rookie210: posts small blind 8000
2timechamp: posts big blind 16000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hajii [5d 6d]
Maoribey: calls 16000
Fabulous P: calls 16000
Hajii: calls 16000
jburn812: calls 16000
Doktor B.S.: calls 16000
Zathros: folds
rookie210: calls 8000
2timechamp: checks
*** FLOP *** [3d 7d Ad]
rookie210: checks
2timechamp: checks
Maoribey: folds
Fabulous P: checks
Hajii: bets 128000
jburn812: folds
Doktor B.S.: raises 116812 to 244812 and is all-in
rookie210: folds
2timechamp: folds
Fabulous P: folds
Hajii: calls 116812
*** TURN *** [3d 7d Ad] [6c]
*** RIVER *** [3d 7d Ad 6c] [7h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hajii: shows [5d 6d] (a flush, Ace high)
Doktor B.S.: shows [3c 3h] (a full house, Threes full of Sevens)
Doktor B.S. collected 608024 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 608024 | Rake 0
Board [3d 7d Ad 6c 7h]
Seat 1: Zathros (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: rookie210 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: 2timechamp (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: Maoribey folded on the Flop
Seat 5: Fabulous P folded on the Flop
Seat 6: Hajii showed [5d 6d] and lost with a flush, Ace high
Seat 7: jburn812 folded on the Flop
Seat 9: Doktor B.S. showed [3c 3h] and won (608024) with a full house, Threes full of Sevens

*3rd hand... Final one for me. I was short stacked and didn't even have 8 times the BB. The SB limps in... I shove hoping for high cards or a chance to steal. I was right on my read but got a awful flop. Would you have waited through the next round or done the same?

PokerStars Game #3181091954: Tournament #15370180, Hold'em No Limit - Level XX (10000/20000) - 2005/11/28 - 02:21:59 (ET)
Table '15370180 140' Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Zathros (356539 in chips)
Seat 5: Fabulous P (706320 in chips)
Seat 6: Hajii (137966 in chips)
Seat 7: jburn812 (691651 in chips)
Seat 9: Doktor B.S. (578024 in chips)
Zathros: posts the ante 1000
Fabulous P: posts the ante 1000
Hajii: posts the ante 1000
jburn812: posts the ante 1000
Doktor B.S.: posts the ante 1000
Fabulous P: posts small blind 10000
Hajii: posts big blind 20000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hajii [As 4c]
jburn812: folds
Doktor B.S.: folds
Zathros: folds
Fabulous P: calls 10000
Maoribey [observer] said, "ty guys gg"
Hajii: raises 116966 to 136966 and is all-in
Fabulous P: calls 116966
*** FLOP *** [Th Qs Kh]
*** TURN *** [Th Qs Kh] [6h]
*** RIVER *** [Th Qs Kh 6h] [5c]
Zathros said, "gg"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Fabulous P: shows [Qc Kc] (two pair, Kings and Queens)
Hajii: shows [As 4c] (high card Ace)
jburn812 said, "gg"
ed richards [observer] said, "ouch 2 ppl 2 hands"
Fabulous P collected 278932 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 278932 | Rake 0
Board [Th Qs Kh 6h 5c]
Seat 1: Zathros (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Fabulous P (small blind) showed [Qc Kc] and won (278932) with two pair, Kings and Queens
Seat 6: Hajii (big blind) showed [As 4c] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 7: jburn812 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Doktor B.S. folded before Flop (didn't bet)

[Fortune 500]

Why the limp in Hand 2? I don't see the need, unless the table is REALLY passive.

[Haji]

Why the limp in Hand 2? I don't see the need, unless the table is REALLY passive.

Pot odds.

[Fortune 500]

You have half the table behind you, mediocre position, and a marginal hand. Very speculative move.

[gabe]

hand 1 and hand 2 are fine.

hand 3 is questionable. if he doesn't limp much, or everytime he limps you push over him, then i don't push here because he is likely to call. also, he has alot of chips so if he is loose i probably just check it off.

[chardrian]

I say hands 1 and 3 are fine.

Hand 2 - I don't get the overbet with a made hand on the flop (I'm more of a 2/3 pot bet kind of guy)... but if this is your normal bet on a flop than it was fine too. As for his play - come on, how is it horrible to push with a set (would you consider your play horrible if he had a higher flush)? There was no way you guys weren't getting all your money in on this hand with that flop.

[Sprayed]

I guess by him pushing his trips he's taking the guess work out of things and hoping to catch his full.

[chardrian]

I guess by him pushing his trips he's taking the guess work out of things and hoping to catch his full.

No - he pushed his set because he thought (very reasonably) that it was the best hand and he did not have a big enough stack to raise for a read. When he pushed, he was not hoping for a boat, he was hoping that no more diamonds came. Even in that rare case where he actually was behind, he also knew that he had a but load of outs to catch a boat.

[zenbitz]

Hand 1 - I thought you played it fine. No sense going broke with no kicker. Lucky for you he didn't pot the river.

Hand 2: Limp I think is fine - everyone else is a dumbass for letting the big stack limp. Overbet on flop is good - you are really worried about single diamonds here. Villian plays his set correctly on 3 flush board as well, just sucked out (but he has lots of outs).

Hand 3: You just got suckered by the sb limp. He probably figured you'd push, and was probably very surprised you were slightly ahead.