PokerStars, $9.80 + $1.20 - Hold'em Limit (8-Game) - 1,750/3,500 - 6 players
Replay this hand on Upswing Poker

ActionDave (UTG): 93,449 (27 bb)
Qarno (MP): 19,975 (6 bb)
dnk2802 (CO): 82,039 (23 bb)
MVSRussia (BU): 81,375 (23 bb)
AJSuited16 (SB): 104,463 (30 bb)
78OFFTILT (BB): 39,748 (11 bb)

Pre-Flop: (5,250) Hero (78OFFTILT) is BB with K♠ A♦
2 players fold, dnk2802 (CO) raises to 7,000, MVSRussia (BU) 3-bets to 10,500, 1 fold, 78OFFTILT (BB) 4-bets to 14,000, dnk2802 (CO) calls 7,000, MVSRussia (BU) calls 3,500

Flop: (43,750) 8♦ 9♣ 7♣ (3 players)

What the hell do I do?

3 ways I think I would bet/fold here.


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Yes. Bet/fold.

I'm probably a tourney fish but here it goes. In a cash game you might be able to thinly bet/call and evaluate with maybe calldown if another player folds but in tourney with the number of blinds you have I think you need to decide whether this is the hill to die on right now.

Check. I think it would be easier to talk me into a bet playing cash or playing deeper. Probably xc 1 bet fold for 2 and folding for 1 doesnt seem terrible

Starting a tourney hand and less than 6 big bets, you should cold call from the BB (which is a good strategy, in general, even more appropriate for an mtt).

Then check/fold the flop. This board is about as bad as it gets for AKo and you will still have 4 big bets left. In a cash game I would peel the flop for 1 small bet.

Calling from the bb in a co vs btn vs bb situation seems like a mistake.


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I didn't consider it before, but I like it. Being out of position with a hand with a only small edge is not a place to pour the money in.

AK hardly ever has a very very significant equity edge preflop like a big pocket pair will. It has good implied odds because you flop top pair top kicker often. In cash games the preflop edge is small but still too good to pass up.

In tourney you can't blow your stack on small edges. Patience may make you bust out, but someone else can bust out too. So your stack size relative to everyone else's matters.

How far are we from the money?

Our preflop edge is not small (43% before they act again) but it still may be right to call instead of raise given stack size and how far until the first/next prize.

With the info we have, check and see. It's probably be strong play to recognize this is a bad board for your 4bet range and check a few strong hands as well.

I didn't even notice the stack sizes when I read through the hand.

I have no LHE tournament experience, only NLHE - surely in neither LHE nor NLHE is it ever a good idea to put a third of your stack in the pot and then fold?

NLHE I think hero needs to shove. LHE we don't have that luxury and we don't want to light our stack on fire on a bad flop.

Check

In any limit game any stack size is viable because every decision to wager every BB and fraction of BBs is significant. The similarity with NL/PL is in the chance to win and prevail in the tournament.

In a cash game, it's irrelevant, but from a value perspective it's obviously better to be sat with at least enough to cover the maximum bets that can be wagered in any one hand if you are the best player at the table so you can extract the maximum when you rate to make the best decisions and sat with the table minimum if you're not so hot at the game and are learning so you don't have so many decisions and can realise your equity more often because you can get all in easier.