Reason for Posting - I'm looking to become a much better player. I played this hand and I'm concerned that my thought process is out of line and that my thinking is biased. While I understand that low buy-in live tournaments tend to be a donk fest my goal is to play solid, strong, winning poker and make the best decisions I can. Please critique me and be tough and honest. I have multiple streets I'm looking for advice in, so based upon the rules in the FAQ I'm going to break it up street by street but keep everything in one thread. Thank you.

Situation - Sunday Morning tournament at local card room. Buy in is $25+$5 for 1000 chips, $10 "Dealer Appreciation" for an additional 500. Blinds go up every 15 minutes. Room is fairly busy with about 20-25 people, mostly older guys who play together a lot. I'm not a reg, but I've shown up a few times in the past two months. I'm not entirely sure what they believe my image is, but I've been called aggressive and a bully several times. Some know me by name. There are some good players in this group, but my table contains no one I know.


First hand of the tournament: Blinds are 10-20

MP2 (1500)
Hero MP3 (1500)
CO (1500)
Button (1500)
SB (1500)
BB (1500)
UTG (1500)
UTG+1 (1500)
MP1 (1500)

Hero is dealt 76
SB posts 10
BB posts 20

UTG, UTG+1, MP1 Fold. MP2 calls (20). Hero raises to 60. CO calls 60. Button folds. SB Calls 60. BB Calls 60. MP2 folds. Pot is 260.

Thoughts preflop - I try very hard to go by the adage to raise or fold if I'm going to be in the pot, so I made it my standard 3x the BB with 76. I get three other calls, which did surprise me but in hindsight I should have expected. People are here to play and gamble, and not to fold. I think my hand choice was good - I have flexible holdings that can hit a good part of the deck and by raising I can represent hands like Ax-Kx and some pairs while still concealing the true strength of my hand.

Thoughts?

I think folding or calling is optimal. Raising was the worst move to make. What are you trying to accomplish by raising on the first hand? Do you care about the $30 blinds? Also your raise size is to small. I'd go $80 minimum.

I liked raising here in this spot because of a few reasons:

1) Disguises my hand and allows me to represent a strong range of hands.

2) I feel opening the hand is standard from MP in an unraised pot.

Pot at this point was $50 (SB-10, BB-20, Call from MP2-20). To answer your question directly, at this point no I wasn't concerned with taking the blinds.

When we make our raise larger here, are we trying to push everyone out or are we hoping to thin the field but still get one or two callers given our hand and our position?

Pretty standard open is there more to the hand?


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Tourney is not deep stacked and 15 minute blinds in a live tourney is almost a turbo. The first hand has shown you people are gambling. I would reevaluate your strat and tighten way up until the effective stacks get less than 25BB. If you are card dead then you can start to make these plays. Until then, just have the best starting hands you can manage.


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Yes. Thank you everyone so far for your responses. I appreciate them.

Flop 3A4

SB checks, BB bets 20, Hero raises to 180, CO Calls, SB Folds, BB Folds. Pot is 640.

Thoughts OTF - I have a gutshot straight draw, a middle flush draw, and there is an ace on the board. I feel that this is a great flop for me - I can Cbet and represent the Ace and if I get called I still have a ton of equity against any Ax or two pair type of hands. The SB checks and the BB throws out a chip, which turns out to be a 20. The player protests for a bit and says he meant to throw out a 100 chip, but the dealer makes the play stand. I'm putting the BB on an Ax or xxtype of hand and I'm thinking he is going to stick around so this is the perfect time to raise and keep things going knowing he will call and get heads up with him. I raise it to 180. The CO calls immediately, and the SB folds. The BB grumbles a bit and throws his hand in the muck. I'm guessing that the CO has the Ax-flush draw hand range I was applying to the BB, so I'm heads up like I wanted...just against a different opponent.

Thoughts?

Well, now you are oop and your stack is likely to be all in by the river. I would shove all in, right here. Otherwise you check, your cards are face up, and CO can do whatever he likes. If you check and CO checks back, just take a free draw and bet river if you hit. If you check turn you should not bluff river.


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So just to verify - You are advocating shoving a 1440 stack into a 260 pot OTF?

flop looks fine what's the rest of the hand?

Turn 5

I check, CO bets 260, I call. Pot is now 1160.

Thoughts OTT - The 5 is gin for me and the way I see it I'm still representing an Ace here. I don't want to scare away my opponent - I'm still not sure about what he has but the way I see it Ax hands wouldn't worry too much about the 5 and would probably come along and flush draws would probably check. I go back and forth between checking and betting but eventually I decide to check because his really fast call previously feels like he's not on a draw but probably has an Ace in his hand. By checking I can feign "giving up" and give him a chance to bet and hang himself. If he checks, then I probably missed a street of value. He bets. I call after a few moments.

turn is 5 of what?

5, sorry I edited the original post.

bet and check are both decent options here. I think if I check and he bets I would likely just move all in. Can players rebuy if they bust the early stages here?

Villain now has almost 33% of his chips committed on the first hand in a $20 tournament. Is there a reentry available? If so, then there is no possibility of villain folding if you check/shove on the turn and you should shove so that if he's on the flush draw he'll call you now and if he has the ace he will call to protect against your possible draw while your action could get killed on the river depending on the card. At the very least a min. raise here for value. Just calling is letting him off easy.

No i meant shove any blank or flush turn card


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There's no rebuy or reentry. It's a one bullet tournament.

Thank you everyone for the critique. I appreciate your words.

He has like 1250 left on a 700 turn.


OP bet the turn and if you do check and he bets you should jam. A diamond might kill your action and you have the nuts vs what has to be a strong range.