Some hands late in FT $8,500 Guarantee

[baudib]

I won this after being shortstack/card dead for a huge chunk of this tournament, especially on the bubble. I didn't do anything special except get the money in good 14/15 times, suck out on the 15th (AJ beats JJ and 77) and survive a couple of beats. I did a masterful job of making my big pocket pairs hold up 70% of the time.

Here are some of the key hands from the final two tables.

This first hand is similar to the AQ hand I posted about two weeks ago. Button and SB are running over the table and are engaged in constant raise/reraise wars, mostly at my expense. When I got my cards I was ready to shove on the button this hand but the SB's shove stopped me cold. I was thinking back to the other hand and how I decided not to play AQo in spots like this. But I thought about it some more and decided to go with my instincts again -- neither of them had anything. I didn't have any FE here but then I couldn't just fold into an extra $1,000 either.

Data for 389 hands.
You played 92 hands (23.65%)
You raised 50 times preflop (12.85%)

No Limit Holdem Tournament
$8500 Guarantee
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG p_n_perehod (28470)
UTG+1 mmmaxxx666 (4602)
CO xThugxLifex (78244)
BTN vanoo (138275)
SB Mikadoo (153064)
BB Hero (82324)

Blinds: 2000/4000 Ante 500

Pre-flop: (9,000, 6 players) Hero is BB
3 folds, Hero says "max go out in a blaze of glory", vanoo raises to 12,000, Mikadoo goes all-in 152,564, Hero goes all-in 77,824, vanoo folds

Flop: (252,388, 2 players)

Turn: (252,388, 2 players)

River: (252,388, 2 players)

Final Pot: 178,648
Mikadoo shows:
Hero shows:

I had played villain in this hand a few hands earlier and he bet me out of a pot where I had ace-high. I was watching him at the other table before he came to this one and he was superaggressive, shoving over standard raises with any real hand. When he didn't shove over preflop I realized he was just going to try to use position and steal this one from me. Gin on the turn. Thanks for bluffing off your stack.

No Limit Holdem Tournament
$8500 Guarantee
5 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG Hero (169750)
CO xThugxLifex (69244)
BTN KngKhufu (153823)
SB vanoo (158245)
BB Mikadoo (58140)

Blinds: 2500/5000 Ante 600

Pre-flop: (10,500, 5 players) Hero is UTG
Hero raises to 12,000, 1 fold, KngKhufu calls 12,000, 2 folds

Flop: (37,500, 2 players)
Hero bets 20,000, KngKhufu calls 20,000

Turn: (77,500, 2 players)
Hero checks, KngKhufu bets 74,500, Hero goes all-in 137,150, KngKhufu folds

Final Pot: 223,500

[baudib]

This is against same villain as the AQ hand, but at the final table. I know my hand is good here but I checked it down because I needed information. Villain at this point was becoming insanely active, either open shoving or standard raising when she could open the action. I wanted to know what kind of hand she was standard raising so I could know how to play the BB against her and bust her later -- premium hands wanting action, or just junk looking for a steal? I was surprised she had a Jack.

Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
CO vanoo (306118)
BTN Mikadoo (213863)
SB Hero (385322)
BB mmoonmin (249697)

Blinds: 4000/8000 Ante 1000

Pre-flop: (16,000, 4 players) Hero is SB
1 fold, Mikadoo raises to 20,100, Hero calls 16,100, 1 fold

Flop: (56,200, 2 players)
Hero checks, Mikadoo checks

Turn: (56,200, 2 players)
Hero checks, Mikadoo checks

River: (56,200, 2 players)
Hero checks, Mikadoo checks

Final Pot: 52,200
Mikadoo shows:
Hero shows:

I busted her a few hands later. I was surprised she had a jack.

Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
CO mmoonmin (178547)
BTN vanoo (343118)
SB Mikadoo (234913)
BB Hero (398422)

Blinds: 4000/8000 Ante 1000

Pre-flop: (16,000, 4 players) Hero is BB
2 folds, Mikadoo raises to 20,150, Hero calls 12,150

Flop: (48,300, 2 players)
Mikadoo bets 25,000, Hero goes all-in 377,272, Mikadoo goes all-in 188,763

Turn: (639,335, 2 players)

River: (639,335, 2 players)

Final Pot: 471,826
Mikadoo shows:
Hero shows:

Converted at weaktight.com

This hand I laid down two pair on the river. He didn't seem the type to not cbet in position so I was suspicious. After river reraise I put him on nothing less than a set of aces. Not that my two pair beats anything on this board.

Stacks:
BTN mmoonmin (166547)
SB vanoo (332118)
BB Hero (656335)

Blinds: 4000/8000 Ante 1000

Pre-flop: (15,000, 3 players) Hero is BB
mmoonmin raises to 16,000, vanoo folds, Hero calls 8,000

Flop: (42,000, 2 players)
Hero checks, mmoonmin checks

Turn: (42,000, 2 players)
Hero checks, mmoonmin checks

River: (42,000, 2 players)
Hero bets 16,000, mmoonmin raises to 56,000, Hero says "nasty", Hero folds

Final Pot: 71,000

This was a big hand and I got a lucky flop. Villain was running over me HU and I couldn't flop a pair or a bad draw my life, and he was snapping off all of my cbets. Probably prudent to lay this down preflop as limp reraise represented a slowplayed monster but I wasn't buying it.

2 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
BTN vanoo (725665)
BB Hero (429335)

Blinds: 5000/10000 Ante 1000

Pre-flop: (17,000, 2 players) Hero is BB
vanoo calls 5,000, Hero raises to 30,000, vanoo raises to 92,000, Hero calls 62,000

Flop: (188,000, 2 players)
Hero checks, vanoo bets 186,000, Hero goes all-in 336,335, vanoo calls 150,335

Turn: (860,670, 2 players)

River: (860,670, 2 players)

Final Pot: 858,670
vanoo shows:
Hero shows:

Hero wins 858,670 ( won +430,335 )
vanoo lost -428


Here's the only premium hand I got HU. Probably should have made a much smaller bet on the river. I'm starting to incorporate checking behind TPTK on fairly dry flops to induce a turn bluff.

2 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
BTN Hero (848670)
BB vanoo (306330)

Blinds: 5000/10000 Ante 1000

Pre-flop: (17,000, 2 players) Hero is BTN
Hero raises to 30,000, vanoo calls 20,000

Flop: (64,000, 2 players)
vanoo checks, Hero checks

Turn: (64,000, 2 players)
vanoo bets 30,000, Hero raises to 120,000, vanoo calls 90,000

River: (304,000, 2 players)
vanoo checks, Hero bets 380,000, vanoo folds

Final Pot: 302,000

[fjuanl]

1. With your read I think its fine.

2. vnh, c/r turn is perfect vs an aggro player

3. you described villain as insanely active....so 3bet and call a shove.

4. 3betting here wouldnt be bad either, you have a ton of fold equity with the read that villain is playing lag and its a FT with lots of money at risk. I'd like the flop shove a little more if there was a potential flush draw, but its not bad imo

5. id rather c/c if villain is capable of checking a made hand twice on that board (which i think is rare). defending the raise preflop is a little questionable despite what the pot odds are. i dont think i would bet/fold that river but maybe with a good read. with how weak your line looks you really open yourself up to river bluffs

6. what do you think villains limp/reraising range is? QJs probably isnt in good shape against it

7. if villain has been playing back at your cbets, why would you decide to check? the rest of the hand seems fine...but yea maybe bet something like 1/2 pot on river

[baudib]

Your comments are great.

3. I think you're right. I'm not aggressive enough with hands like this at short tables. I was still mystified by the difference between the open-shoves and the standard raises so I was perhaps too cautious here. Although even given reads, I'm not in love with stacking off as chip leader with King-high here. As a sidenote, this is the best hand I had all tournament. Almost every other pot I won was with one-pair hands or air -- except the QJ here.
Not betting the river is probably sinful.

4. I sat to the left of this player for so long I had a good feel for what she was doing in certain spots. Esp. after the KQ/QJ hand. I didn't put her on a J (or else I wouldn't have shoved, hard for her to have a worse J) but maybe QT, Q9 and I definitely thought she could put it in behind here.

5. You could be right. He hadn't minraised before so I put him on a big pair (which makes the preflop call really atrocious). I tend to see monsters lurking in every corridor, but I'm still pretty sure I'm beat. Yes, c/c is probably best as I have a bluff-catcher type hand but a really weak two-pair holding on that board.

6. You're right, it was a bad call and I got lucky. I was definitely tilty after losing so many hands in a row. Was trying too hard to make something happen and had two suited broadways instead of the 65o the previous hand.

7. Another good point because I don't have air this time and I should be looking to get all the chips in the middle without awkward bet sizes. There's so much sandbagging in HU play that straightforward value betting is actually deceptive sometimes.

[mcatdog]

1. I'd call because the initial raiser is going to fold, and the second guy has JT and you're a 60-40 favorite. Although it's arguable, that since you can see everyone's hole cards, you should wait for a better spot than just a 60-40.

2. He doesn't have anything so you might as well check and let him bet.

3. I'd make a very small bet on the turn that he'll call with his pair and gutshot straight draw. On the river, he can't call a big bet and he won't bet when checked to, so your best hope is to bet really small and hope he does something dumb.

4. This is a board where your shove looks like a draw of some sort, so I'd shove and expect any decent pair to call. Especially a jack with a worse kicker, perhaps J4.

5. Your two pair is just a bluff-catcher on this board. Normally check-call might be best, but since he had you beat I'd check-fold the river instead.

6. I think your PF call is fine. Since his A9 doesn't have you dominated, all you have to do is pair your queen or jack on the flop and you'll win a huge pot.

7. Played fine but you should have bet smaller on the river since he folded to the all-in.

[baudib]

lolz

[dthorne04]

this post seems like a thinly veiled brag

[baudib]

Not really. I've had bigger cashes this month. There were just a bunch of hands in this I probably played weird.