small pocket pair late in the tourney

[thenonsequitur]

NL Hold'em Trny
Level:9 Blinds (200/400)

Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 3
Seat 8: me ( $10612 )
Seat 1: seat1 ( $3302 )
Seat 2: seat2 ( $6086 )

Notes: Seat1 is very loose passive, and doesn't understand pot odds. He got to this point in the tourney by dumb luck. Seat2 is a pretty solid player, and I don't think he bluffs often, but I don't have a more specific read on him.

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to me [ 4s 4c ]
seat2 calls [400].
me raises [1000].
seat1 folds.
seat2 calls [800].

** Dealing Flop ** [ Tc, Td, 2d ]
me bets [2600].
seat2 is all-In.
me calls [2286].

** Dealing Turn ** [ Qh ]

** Dealing River ** [ Th ]

me shows [ 4s, 4c ] a full house, Tens full of fours.
seat2 shows [ 2h, 2s ] a full house, Tens full of twos.

Player seat2 finished in 3 place

me wins 12572 chips from the main pot with a full house, Tens full of fours.



I won this hand (and went on to win the tournament), but clearly I got a very lucky river card. If I didn't hit a lucky river here, I'd be very shortstacked and probably would have finished in 2nd (or even 3rd if seat1's lucky streak kept up).

Questions:

Do you like my preflop raise to 1000 here or would you have done something different (call, raise less, raise more, etc..)? I was trying to take down the pot here if possible, or at least get it heads up if not. Should this have been my goal?

When the flop came TT2 should I have bet my 44 so aggressively? When he played back and pushed all-in should I have mucked or was the call correct with such a big pot? Remember that I rarely witnessed this player completely bluff, so he probably had *something*. I was hoping he had two overcards, but a T, 22, or higher pocket pair was certainly quite possible. Should I have taken this risk, or do you think a T or pocket pair was likely enough that I should have folded to his reraise?

[dalecooper]

The pre-flop raise is fine, I think. If he hadn't had a pocket pair I'm sure he would have folded and you would have gotten the most desirable result: taking the pot uncontested. Another possibility is just limping (based on your descriptions of the players & the action, it probably would have gone) and then looking for a set. I do that a lot in tournaments, although down to two or three players, it's not an aggressive tactic. There are merits to both approaches. If you hit a hidden set here you could bust somebody out - as he almost did to you, bringing in his twos without a raise, then flopping the boat.

I don't like your stab on the flop. It's too much of your stack on what is essentially a naked bluff. Yes you have two pair, but if he has a higher pocket pair, a ten, or a couple of overs, you could be in danger (ranging from "badly beaten" to "man-I-can't-believe-one-of-his-six-outs-hit"). He could be on a flush draw with his overs too, which gives him a lot more outs. It's a ballsy move but I wouldn't have bet out that much. Maybe 1000 again, maybe even 1500, and then fold to a re-raise. In that situation he might call you with just a 2 in his hand, but if he re-raises you and you think he's a solid player, you have to put him on at least a 10 or an overpair. When he pushed I think you made a mistake calling. Glad it turned out well for you, as such things sometimes do.

[FlyingSaucy]

Nahh. I think you both played it pretty well. That's a really really tough laydown to his all in, when it would leave you with like 40% of your stack gone.

Overall, you stand a decent chance against overcards, and a horrible chance against pocket twos or any PP higher than 4, or any hand with a T in it. It's a tough read. When he comes way over the top of you, that's got to send a message to you. However like I said it is a tough lay down, and I would have a hard time folding a third of my stack against his all in.