Hey all, fired a live $350 today and spun up quite the stack for a 2 day tourny on day 1. Have 130bbs going into day 2 after pure sun run today. Have some spots I wanna go over bc had some interesting hands- most are just standard I feel but wanna check.

H1- ok we spin 30k to 48k. ItÂ’s 400/800 and an ep player jams 8k from ep. I have QQ from mp and call. Stacks are all fairly deep around 30k-80k behind. This mabg (black guy) jams for like 80k from small blind. I just snap and he shows kk and we bink a q on turn. Wanna say his range is probably like 10-10+ AQ+ here (maybe jj+) and we canÂ’t fold this spot. Unlucky for us pre but we bink. Just super standard? I say yes but just wanna check.

H2- later on in day. I have maybe 150k at 800/1600. I open hi to 4k with 44. Button flats on maybe 150k+ is an older Asian guy that seems slightly splashy but not in a bad way per se. flop 245 with two diamonds (we have no diamonds). I cbet 9k into 12k. He raises to 21k. I ponder and bump it to 63k. He folds (tells me later he folded some Ax dd type hand which I believe). The flop sizing of 63k, is this ok? I felt we could get some pretty scary turn-river cards/ so why not just try to get it in and give him perceived fold equity. Should I ever go smaller there or just flat (I guess no on flat).

H3- I have 120k at 600/1200. This pretty aggro Asian guy that is also middle age opens button to 3x and I have 89ss in bb. I consider 3 bet folding this pre but decide to call as I think we wanna turn hands such as 56/ 78 into 3b bluffs and not 89 bc itÂ’s a little too strong? Flop 10-9-4 with two diamonds. He leads 75% pot and I call bc I feel he can easily have some overs/ random cbet bluffs in range. Turn is a 8 of diamonds. Wanna say he bets small and I call. River is a 9 of diamonds for 4 diamonds on board. Pot is 40k (I donÂ’t remember exact sizing and ante level but this and river sizing I remember by me) and I lead 63.3k into it to get value from his strong diamonds thinking heÂ’s going to just fold or check back most hands not w strong diamonds. He just snap jams after I bet and he shows KK with a diamond. Gg sir. Such a sick runout for me.

H4- ok last level of day before we bag. I have AKo and 210k at 1200/2400. I open to 5500 from ep and some snug nitty middle aged woman jams 90k from button. I just sigh snap call. What kind of range do we expect from her? I wanna say something like JJ or 10-10+ and maybe AQs+ but it might honestly be qq/jj+ AK+? I just called and she shows QQ and we bink a k on turn for a nice stack. Hmm are we ever folding here? I just get we could discount a lot of AA/KK bc we donÂ’t expect her to just punt equity by 3 betting an aggro young kid who might be wide. I mean I do think she has AA and Kk here sometimes but just seems spewy to jam the top 2 hands like this + we block them. Maybe the snuggest her range is JJ+ Ak+? Just wondering if my snapp call is fine or should we think about this spot? I did the math after my open and we need like 45.4% to be ev neutral.

H1 - super standard, even if his range is actually QQ+, AK only, it's close so if he has any AQ or JJ in his range you need to call

H2 - if villain is folding that huge of a combo draw getting virtually the right direct odds, I would start 3-betting this player more and don't even need to go that big if he's going to overfold to 3-bets like that

H3 - I like the overbet here on the fourth diamond, we want to try to get max value from diamonds and every once in a while you get heroed by mediocre diamonds or non-flushes. Not sure what villain's effective stack was on the river but I don't really understand the snap jam there when you don't have the nuts and pretty much the only hands that will call you are nut flushes and boats. I'd rather call and preserve my stack even if it's only a handful of blinds.

H4 - Against a snug middle aged woman in a $350 it's close but probably a fold. If you give her a range of 99-QQ and AK (assuming she doesn't play AA and KK this way) we're right at 45% equity. If she ever plays KK this way we're at about 44%. For us to be good we have to start being able to add in hands like AQ and smaller pairs and it's hard to imagine a scenario where a tighter player is piling 35BB over an EP open with something like 77. If I'm making this call, I'd have to have had a read that she would potentially be wider in this spot.

1. He only jammed for 48K over a 10K/10K, so this sizing doesn't have to be nutted. My understanding of these spots is we should be flatting a very strong range here, however QQ is way too good to fold.

2. Your sizing looks ok. I'd be a little worried that you just 3xed his bet size. I think the idea here is to bet the same fraction of the pot as your turn jam will be.

3. His play is obviously terrible. The interesting question is what hands do you have that are bluffing here? I'd guess hands like J9 and 97 no diamond could be your bluffs (you block FHs and had a pair plus straight on turn).

4. You don't tell us how close to the $ we are (or even in the money). If this is before the $, this is a snap fold. If you are in the $, this might be a call; I know I have been in this spot, and jammed a little lighter than usual. She might be tired and not want to play post with a tricky hand. She might want to double, or not have to return the next day.

Hand 4- there is like 25% of the field left (maybe a little less) and day 2 is Sunday. I would say yea her range is super strong but so hard to let AK go there (for me sadly). I just can’t see someone ripping aa kk there where we are crushed even though I’m probably wrong. She seemed prettt snug so her range is super tight there. I just find it odd when people rip 40bb- aka I never think it’s top top of range bc that’s not something I’ve ever doing there. I’m 3 betting and playing streets. As hand player out, if she 3 bets….. I might only just call and see some streets (who knows though bc I’m a maniac that might just 4 bet rip there). If I only
Flat, she can bomb flop when her qq is an overpair and I’m stuck folding.

I felt her rip with qq is bad bc it’s only called by what jj+ and ak+ by me?

Btw, I ended up bagging the chip lead and have like 130bb for day 2. Very nice stack heading into a day 2. Hoping I run pure bc I feel like I’m a step above the field. Bagged a 8/98 stack earlier this year at Venetian and built a nice stack on day 2 but got hit by a cold deck late with very spots to accumulate and ended up finishing 13 when 70k was up top. Hoping we can finish this one off.

Hand 1 btw. Went 10bb jam from ep (probably light obv), I call 10bb with 50-60 behind and small blind jams maybe 100bb.




Another hand from bullet 1 I wonder about? I open 30k stack to 1100 at 300/500 from utg (honestly this is probably a fold obv). Called by a really bad Rec that is vpipping like 80% of hands and running godly (80-100k stack) and and old woman in the bb that is snug and nitty- just really bad at poker honestly (ex: I open jj utg early, 3bet by my direct left who is mawg bad poker player, and she flats bb. I considered 4 betting bc she could be really light and he’s meh and will let me know with a 5bet if jj is no good- however I decided to just flat bc it’s not a 4bet spot obv) Flop is some like Q93 and she just rips like 20-30k into pot first to act on flop haha with aa and then goes into a rant how aa always loses and she’s scared money etc etc after we both fold).

Onto hand- so open 44 utg (bad open obv), mp calls and she calls from bb. Flop is 456 2 diamonds. She leads 75% pot maybe?, I call, and crazy guy just piled. She calls. I know I’m never good here and just sigh call hoping they have draws etc. obv she had 66 and he had the golden 73o lmao. Is this just bad by me? Do we just fold here and grind the 20-30bb we might have after hand? My sense was like we are almost never good here and when we are, they have many outs. Do I just muck here? I feel this spot it’s goofy for me to call. I’m obv going to rebuy so it’s not like I care about my tourny life too much- just feel I gotta find the fold here in such a clearly obv spot bottom set is no good. 78,23, 6x combos with flush draws etc are all around. I would highly discount 2 pair for villains also kinda. I don’t have stack sizes here etc but I feel what I said is solid info.

H1 - standard - I would be calling QQ here. I think JJ is a bit iffy. TT is a fold.

H2- I would honestly be check raising the turn. I think you are repping too much strength on this board. You will get shove on by combo draws and maybe some A high flush draws but probably not by an older man.

H3 - I don't really know much about the table dynamics to comment on this hand. It sounds like the villain overplayed his hand.

H4 - This is a spot that I often struggle with. Because you are probably not getting a snug older lady or man who is jamming 40BB with AQ. I would expect to see JJ+ here a lot. Older players do sometimes 3 bet massive overbet with AA/KK

Hey all, ugh rough day for me today. Ended up finishing 40 for a little more than a min cash after starting day like 2/125 sigh. I have some good hands I think could spark solid convo.

Hand 1- ok I have 390k at 2/4k and my table is very passive so I open Q8cc utg to 8.5k (sadly didnÂ’t realize some really good shove stacks behind). Ok so guy I had history with other day jams 46.5k from cu and I just sigh call and lose to AKo. Is this really terrible? I think itÂ’s very close but most likely just a fold. I should be mucking q8cc utg- I could see opening q9 but not q8. Q8 might be a little too aggro. The guy took a weird line the other day and is a blaster per se. he ended up flatting an utg raise with ako other day and I 3bet J10cc from cutoff bc initial raiser was aggro kid that could be light and I took blaster as a nice squeeze spots well blaster ripped 30-40bbs with ak and I just fold obv. That was our history.

Hand 2- ok I donÂ’t have specific sizings here but I can break down hand. Ok so cutoff opens and IÂ’m betting with k8dd and I flat. Bb calls and we see flop of 7910 with 2 diamonds. Xx to me and I bet 1/3pot. Bb calls only. Turn black 5. He checks and I check to not get blown off draw. River is black queen and he leads small like 2 bbs and I just sigh fold. ItÂ’s terrible to not bet turn right? Any thoughts on turn sizing? I would say 1/2 pot prolly gets the job done. Villian ends up showing kjo to my muck on the river. Honestly think he missed a good opportunity to 3bet pre honestly from bb. My flat range from bb is pretty damn weak I feel and this is a great spot for him to take it done pre with kjo as cutoff probably can be very light also.

Hand 3- ok so day has been going bad and maybe I have 300k at 5/10k. I open from ep with qq to 20k and some tight guy flats one to my left from mp (his stack is smaller than mine by a tiny amount). Flop q92 with two spades. I check and he checks into pot of 65k. I check bc I donÂ’t see getting 3 streets of value here as likely as I block q and heÂ’s 3betting kk/aa. Turn is a
j. I bet 50% 32k into 65k and he flats. River is a 10. I snap check. He bets 80k and I just sigh call wondering what 9s are in his range. He turns over ak lmao. Is this ever a fold on river. I see almost no bluffs or 2 pair bets on river to this sizing. IÂ’m a goof. Do I just muck qqq here?

Hand 1 - pre is simply too loose even at a passive table, the worst thing in this spot would be to end up multi-way, potentially OOP with a hand that has terrible reverse implied odds. As played we just can't call here unless you think our opponent is jamming over a UTG open (not closing the action) with every pocket pair, broadway and decent ace and that's just not realistic in game.

Hand 2 - would probably size up flop bet on coordinated board, as this board really smacks the BB defend range which will have all the unsuited T9/T7/97/J8/86 combos we probably don't have plus potentially sets as well. As played I would fire turn again, we'd want to be firing all of our sets and straights so this is probably one of our better strong draw combos. I can see checking back some flush draws but this one's a little too strong. Plus do we have showdown value if it goes check/check on the river and we don't improve? Maybe our opponent would check down some Q-highs trying to get to showdown but that seems hopeful.

Hand 3 - i think this is a fold, even if we think villain would play TT/JJ this way (which is unlikely) he just has too much Kx here - especially if he's a tighter player who's going to call pre with a lot of AK/KQ-type hands. These players will also significantly underbluff and even if they have some missed spades it's just not enough bluffs to justify the call.

Hand 3...I think it is a mistake to start with a check. A tight guy flatting an ep raise has a strong range, and probably isn't folding to a flop bet. Why not start building the pot on the flop when you have the nuts, and so many turn cards will kill your action or put you behind. Better to lead flop, and possibly check/call or check/shove turns that start with a passive action on the flop.

I guess. How are we getting 3 streets of value though? Villian has no AA or KK. At best villian might have a big draw which I assume will bet flop sometimes which is an easy x raise on flop. As hand played, villian had maybe 5% of equity if he had a single spade (not sure if he had 1 but he didn’t have 2 spades). Sometimes think we just gotta take the most profitable line long term and take a risk. If we bet flop small and size up turn, he’s folding turn. If we somehow get lucky and bet 1/2 pot turn and then river comes up an A or K, we can hammer a 75–90% value bet and get called. I think it’s a pipe dream to think we can get a bet bet bet like to work on this flop. Just think x-raise flop is better, and it’s ok to let villian realize equity when he’s most likely going to have closer to 0%. We can’t expect such a bad runout to occur at a high freq.

What sizing would you go into 65k flop? I assume I would got 1/3 to 1/5 like 10-20k and then size up on turn to maybe like 60-80% pot?

Don't have comments on every hand but I have a little on hand 4 from day 1 and hand 3 from day 2.

Yep. Not sure how OP describes villain as "snug and nitty" and then says "I can't imagine anyone doing" things that snug and nitty players do.

I don't know if I could make it in the moment, but AKo is probably a fold in this spot. The nit never has AQ; someone this nitty is more likely to have AA or KK than AQ-- and even if you discount those, you still might not be getting the right price to put in 40% of your stack for a 43% shot. Especially when that stack is 100BB-- what's your chip position in the table? If I have a big stack and I'm having an easy time running the table, I'm even less inclined to take high-variance marginal spots.

You have top set on a drawy board as the preflop raiser. You should bet that.

You certainly can't get three streets of value if you don't even give yourself a chance to.

I feel like your "two streets of value" rationale is backwards-- I can't quite put my finger on how to explain it, but you're putting the cart before the horse, so to speak. You may not get more than two streets of value, but that's not a reason to play the hand in a way to ensure you don't. Your hand is so good you need to be giving yourself a chance to win a big pot, and you definitely don't want to give a free card to all the possible straight and flush draws that you'll end up paying off because your hand is so good.

This is solid nath. Would you be fine checking say Q52 (rainbow)?

Maybe I just should bet the flop texture (q92 two spades) bc it can be draw heavy as happened in game.

Also the AKo hand. Idk if I can tag woman clearly as nitty. I got moved to the table for 3 orbits maybe and just didn’t see a ton of play from her so I would say it was hard to call her nitty. I just didn’t assume she would pile kk/aa there. Even qq seems kinda stupid to just rip as she loses out on a lot of my j10suiter hands etc that will call a 3 bet. I probably should fold this hand in game honestly bc 37bb jam is going to be very tight normally (hate to be sexist here but also by a woman). I doubt she’s ripping AQ. I def think she could pile AK/jj/qq/ and maybe kk here. Def would discount AA heavily.

Q52 makes more sense to check, yeah. I probably bet anyway because I should be c-betting most of the time and I'm probably still getting calls from mid pairs and the like. A tight villain might fold, but he's probably not putting much more in anyway. Generally speaking my tournament strategy (unless we're so shallow that one or two streets is going to be all-in) is to bet my good hands and let my opponents come up with reasons to call. Live might be more opponent-specific because you can get more information on your opponents and form more specific lines you think will best get the money in.