Hi All,

Long time lurker, first time poster. Played yesterday in a day 1C flight of the Borgata Spring Poker Open Kickoff $500+60 $1M GTD event. Both of the following hands occurred at the middle of the day (no where near money bubble or anything because bubble doesnt break until middle of day 2), at blinds of 400/800/100.

Some context: I was the table's big stack with ~180 BB and had been pretty active since getting my big stack after stacking two players when I flopped a set. I wasn't raising every hand though, still playing relatively tight from EP and then loosening up towards LP. Right Before Hand 1, I had won either two or three pots in a row (and the last one was when I was on the BTN and opened and both blinds folded).

OTTH: Hand 1 - I have ~140k in chips (180 BB), V has ~30k (36 BB). Folds to me in the CO with AK (cant remember if off or suited), I open to 1700. BTN (who in the last hand was small blind and sort of sigh folded to my BTN steal, showing the ever so slightest signs of frustration of my activity) 3bets me to 5600. V has 24k (30 BB) behind. I elect to 4bet to 15.5k (half his stack). He tanks for a little while and then goes all-in and I of course call. V has 88 and I lose the 36 BB flip.

Hand 2 (same blind level): I have ~100k in chips (125 BB), V has 30k starting stack (36 BB), sitting down directly on my right for his first hand. V is recognized as a very loose/maniac reg who has verified history of shoving with very very questionable hands/literally nut low hands. Folds to V in MP who raises to 2000. I 3bet to ~6000 with AJo because I want to isolate V and not have to just call with a hand that doesn't play very well post-flop and potentially get squeezed by someone later. Folds back to V who snap shoves. Against normal V idk if I would've even 3bet pre, and against normal V in this specific scenario where I did 3bet, I would snap fold to 4bet assigning V a range of TT+ AJs+ AQo+ and maybe KQs as I only have 30% equity against that range and need 40% to call. However, against this particular V, I think for maybe 30 seconds and then call because of history and V has 88 and I lose the 36 BB flip again. (Once I call and V sees my AJo he tells me it AJo is a snap call since I know how he plays).

So I know that losing 40% of my stack in these two hands ended up coming down to variance, but my main question is whether I should've been avoiding these high-variance spots in the first place. Should I be happily getting 36BB in in these scenarios on flips/as slight underdog (let's assume that we know we're flipping)? So sort of a bigger picture live MTT strategy question of whether we should be risking pretty large chunks of our stack PF like this at this stage in the tournament (early-mid), many many levels before the bubble, for relatively marginal +EV spots. At the time I thought these were pretty standard/no brainer (given table dynamics) spots, but when I looked back after busting, I was thinking that maybe a better strategy with a bigstack is to try and avoid flips PF/big pots and just be aggressive with winning a lot of various small pots.

In terms of specific questions - in hand 1, should I have just flatted the 3bet? I opted to 4bet intending to GII because: 1) I was OOP, 2) I had a very strong belief that I had been 3bet light because of the ongoing dynamic where I had won/raised PF three hands in a row, and that V was a disbeliever that I could have a raising hand 3 times in a row/one that could call a 3bet. And secondly, assuming that I was intending to GII, should I have just 4bet shoved instead of 4betting half of Vs stack? My reasoning for 4betting ~3x instead of AI once again ties to my belief that V 3bet me light, and I wanted to give him some room to induce a light shove where he would think he maybe had some tiny % of fold equity.

Thanks a lot in advance!

On hand 1, yes. Villain's range consists mostly of PPs that have a slight edge vs. you in a flip, plus some Ax hands and KQ that you crush. Rather than strain to find a way of getting him to shove light, make the most of your fold equity by taking action that may cause him to release 55-99 before the flop, giving you some risk-free chips.

That said, you're probably headed to the same place either way. No reason to be afraid of getting it all in preflop with AK vs a short stack. Your line is coherent; sorry it didn't work out.

Hand 2 gets gnarlier. Can we start by revisiting the assumption that AJ is "hard to play" after the flop vs. a maniac -- so you want to settle everything preflop if possible? Not sure I follow. If you call Villain's bet and pair the board, there's a good chance Villain will bloat the pot for you with a worse hand. Yeah, one or both of the blinds may come in, too -- and yeah, you may have to release the hand when you aren't sure you're beat, but that's poker.

Let this go to a flop, and you've got position, the deepest stack and a decently camouflaged strong hand. You can create more problems for other players than they can for you.

Bear in mind that AJ plays 64/36 vs. any two cards, once he's all in preflop. It's 60/40 if he draws the line somewhere around T7o. Those are nice edges, but you're still giving a total maniac at least a one-third chance of denting your stack. You may have better lines that give you a shot at taking all his chips with far less risk.

See a cheap flop, and you gain something like an 80/20 or better edge h/u on a board with an Ace or a Jack versus his vast range. Lots of upside and less variance.

(That's a wall of text to get through. Chk posting notes. Keep hand summaries structured and seperate from narrative.)

Both hands are 'flip or better' spots against described ranges. Must take both. Unlucky to lose both.

Just 4b allin on the AK hand as your structure raise looks stronger and may scare off the customer.

Did you tilt off the stack after these setbacks?

Yeah someone else also said that for Hand 2 against this V we should feel even more incentivized to flat and go post-flop and try and let them spew/outplay them post-flop. This seems like pretty clear to me now after the fact, especially since I was in position. I guess in the moment when I saw V sit down I was pretty blinded by $$$ and I wanted to be the one to get his chips and not someone else, which is why I took this line.

Hey thanks for the pointers. I'll find those posting notes and make sure I read through them before I post next time. So when we have a big stack we should continue to just take +EV spots whenever we have them? I know this question probably seems like a trivially easy "yes," but I guess it also makes sense to me to try and protect our stack against these high variance spots and try and just win a lot more smaller pots?

And no I didn't tilt off the rest of my stack haha. I'm a pretty even-keeled guy and poker is way more about fun than anything else for me so I never really tilt. I did eventually lose my stack before the end of the night though, but I think in a pretty standard sequence of events. Last hand when I was down to ~12 BB someone opened in HJ or CO and I shoved with KQ and was called by 88 and lost. Literally death by 8's this tournament haha.

First hand is fine. Second hand, flat is better, even against this player, as you don't want to get stacks in with AJ.

Yeah, to a large extent +ev is +ev and accumulating as much +ev as possible is the path to glory. You can ofc come up with icm exceptions and possibly some meta game exceptions, but profit is profit.

AQ and AJ are normally too strong to 3b/f and normally too weak to 3b/c which makes them a flat. But if you've constructed V range as you have and identified a flip-or-better spot here, then your plan to iso and give him perfect odds to jam is way better than flatting. He can have all sorts of 2/1 underdog hands. You both miss the flop very often and you probably need to hit against him.

V dependent spot for sure, but these days what spot isn't?