Blinds 350/700 - 7 Handed
Hero (8800), HJ, 9h9s to 1575
Villain (19000), CO calls; Villain = loose, bit aggressive from experience

Flop Kd7s3h

Hero??

Options include(d):
- Jam pre
- As played, c-bet flop small
- As played, jam flop
- As played, C/F flop
- As played, C/R jam flop

Your options are already in order from best to worst.

Let’s add on top. Assume you think you’re a better player than the others - therefore don’t want to allow them to make ‘bad decisions’/get you into a flip - ie we want fold equity with the decision on us.

Why would small size (enough for iso + fold equity) be a bad decision? Also why not check for either possible pot control or to allow a semi-aggressive player to fire?

We can obviously jam pre but I’ve played in some end game live MTTs where 13bb is an above average stack and I’ve been open to raise/folding

As played I make a reasonable sized cbet. Small bets might be good in theory but can be bad in practice as it may invite villain to call and leave us in a bad spot OTT.

Most live players won’t make a move vs a PFRer when a King or Ace flops so he will likely play pretty straight forward

Understood/agreed - but being creative on this one - thoughts why checking awful, esp to an sem-agg V? On a dry board like that, wouldn't we assume a bet from V with bigger stack a high % of the time? Literally everything except a K or sets will probably usually bet there. If anything K or sets will check to trap with shorter stack..no?

This is a great hand to jam pre - this plays so poorly postflop and you basically never get value from worse when there are no overcards. I would check the flop - bet/folding sucks, if you check you keep in worse hands that might decide to barrel away against you.

I appreciate this response a lot - and the open-mindedness on the flop/alt approach.

If this were a more solid/high-quality field I would jam - zero doubt. However, I don't want QTs or ATo to call my jam, which is prone to happen in a weak field. So I thought this would give me a) similar-ish fold equity b) control of what to do post.

As played, assuming they fire the flop - thoughts?

If they bet half pot? Jam?

Raising/folding 99 is just awful. You should probably have r/f and r/gii ranges, but this hand is a push and generally gii if you raise and are 3!.

99 is too strong a hand to not get it in pre IMO and, as other posters have said, it plays poorly post-flop. When the over card hits, all options feel kind of gross. Personally, I'd be more inclined to min open hands like JTs, QTs, QJs mixed with some AA, KK, AK for balance.

This game didn't have tons of 3! - so in this case I think r/f is actually an option (less so if it's a more standard/experienced game). I don't like jamming in this game bc they'll call with ATo etc = not what I want.

More interesting to me though is post-flop/as-played - where I think c/r (or c/c if they jam) is a viable creative option here given V's larger stack/bit of aggression. But is that just not a good enough spot to get it in ultimately? Said differently, with 11BBs - can we find a better spot/should we save our chips, even if there is some edge there? Not a huge fan of c/betting as it'll look weak and bring us down to 8BBs if they call/jam = no fold equity after this hand..

As played check/jam: if V is super aggro we give him a chance to take a stab and he has a wide enough range we could still be ahead. Also, if we are shoving over his bet he might be priced in to call - if my maths is right and assuming the blinds both folded, there's 4550 in the pot on the flop and we have 7325 in our stack, so even if V stabs for, say 1k and we jam, he's getting a pretty good price to call.

I don't think we want to looking to fold here and should at least be calling one bet if we check to V, but as stacks are so short we don't really have a lot of wriggle room post flop with a hand that probably isn't going to get any stronger, which is another reason shoving pre is by far and away the best option here IMO

At 7300 we still have a workable stack (in the event multiple people jam pre or the flop is AKQs).

However this is a really unique spot based off stack size where jam felt like a clear second best option pre where we didn't have control of donk call coinflips.

However, with that in mind - it's not a cash game here - so even if the V is super aggro - can we even get it it then post-flop or is it just simply not a good enough spot with a still-workable stack?

Is this instead: raise pre, check sets, jam undercards/T highs, C/F (slight overfold) boards with broadway?

I would jam suited broadway and AK from HJ also, but raise JJ+ and some hands to weak to push with. I don't think it is good to play nitty at this stage, and don't want to play big aces or mid pps postflop.

Jesse holy moly there’s some really bad advice itt

So are you saying you would *never* rf 99 with 13bb in a live game ?

What??? If they are 3!ing so tight you should fold to a 3! after opening in HJ, then more reason to open shove. This is a standard open shove from any position. If you had TT or higher, you could consider raising to induce a 3-bet or light call.

I agree with you that I'm jamming all mid-pocket pairs, but if we min open only JJ+ and some hands too weak to shove with, don't we run the risk of being unbalanced here?

Hands too weak to shove with (according to SnapShove) here would be like A7/6/4/3/2s - T8s / J8s / Q8s / K8s / KTo / A9o or worse. Feels like we will have too many open folds here.

But then how important is it to have a balanced min open range here off 13bb?

Also, I'd rather have an open limp range here than a min open/fold range off this stack size to increase SPR and playability post flop

Your right.. it’s a standard open shove . I alluded to that in my OP. But you didn’t actually answer my question

I don't think it is important to be balanced in this sort of tournament. As bump implied, you are getting 3! very tight. There also aren't that many hands and it is unlikely anyone is keeping track of how you play.

It is possible to play strong hands as r/gii or limp/gii for balance and to induce, but you might not go down as low as 99. It is reasonable to r/gii or limp/shove with 99, but not to r/f.

There might be some situation where you raised 99 in early position with 13xBB where you could fold to action from multiple players, but that might be difficult with pot odds and money invested, given they could both have AK or something and you would have some odds to hit a set if you were behind. It is possible to you could raise in ep and fold to some OMC who never 3!s.

Probably the best post in this thread tbh

If you limp, you are more likely to provoke action. At a passive live table shoving 99 seems clearly best, but limping with the idea of almost always gii is 2nd best. If they are going to flat call a lot then raise hands you don't mind seeing a flop with. I don't want to discuss how I would construct ranges for various reasons.

These are great and all (some not as great). I am very certain this is not a shove against this field. They’ll call with ATo, I don’t want a flip. I want the fulcrum on me. And with 11BBs I still have fold equity for the future.

But the real question I had is post-flop..

Would love thoughts there..?

Not a good idea to be playing for tournament life raise/folding 99 with 13xBB. You are a favorite against AT or anything they call light with, plus you get the blinds and antes if you win. If they are calling AT, they are also calling 88 and A9s.

If you want raise fold you have gazillion better candidates Ax/Kx which block their 3! range.

With 99 you either shove or r/c, r/f is simply bad, might rather just r/f with two Pokemon cards if you want to r/f 99.

As played post flop c-bet small and fold to reraise, or try to get showdown if called.