Hey all, I have some hands I would like thoughts on in a live mtt I played yesterday.

First hand of the tournament, we start with 20k and 25/50. 7 handed? And it folds around to me on button with q-10 and I open to 150. Sb and bb call. Flop is kj9, it goes check check and I decide to check back as I want to let other catch up slightly. Turn is a J, goes check and old man that I presume is a nit bets maybe 400-500. I raise to maybe 3x and he calls while sb folds. River is a blank like a 2 or 3. Old man leads for 3500. I think about raising and realize he never calls withs worse and I’m prolly beat. I flat an dhe shows kk. Is it wrong for me to not c bet flop and is the raise on the turn really bad? Looking back on hand, I’m lucky guy didn’t bet flop as I def would prolly raise or call and prolly would be more likely to lose my stack on this hand.

Hand 2- I prolly have 18k at a stage like 200/400 400(bb ante). Tight snug player from ep opens to 900 and 2 others flat.... in big blind I call with q-10. Flop is 10-8-2. Original raiser bets like 60-70% pot I wanna say and gets one flatter. Do I always call here? I checked flop.... do I always call here to peel. I just folded which is prolly too conservative. When showdown came, one player had j-10 and other mucked. I feel this is a tough spot multiway so I folded to avoid having to play a guessing game on later streets. I prolly should peel one and fold if there is more betting but just wanna hear what people think.

Final hand- at 500/1000 (1000 bb ante), I have jj with 25800 to start hand. I elect to min open to 2k. I get 4 flats and lose on a j-10-8 flop against a9. Should we ever manipulate pre flop sizing here and go bigger if table is playing very stationy. I wanna say to this point, it was rare for my raises pre to not get less than 2 players calling. I feel jamming 25bbs is terrible here and spewy, while I def want action here. I’m opening to 2k here with AA,KK, prolly small pairs, kq etc. one player was super aggro at table in late position compared to me and I was hoping for a 3bet I could rip over. Is the 2k sizing ok here or do solid mtt refs open larger to see flop against less opponents hopefully? I feel I will get the standard 2k is fine and just bad luck UL. Thanks for feedback.

hand 1 you should bet the flop almost every time in position. because 1 if a q hits or a 10 hits it kills your action and someone else can be choping with you. and two there is a small chance someone can boat up on you like what happen in the hand. so yeah bet this pot multi way almost every time. your turn raise is fine, thats why you checked floped to raise turn, honestly he should be reraising this turn. as played calling river is good. there is too many hands that beat us to raise, although i would be kind of shocked to see the kings full.

hand two, you should call the flop, if you think their ranges are so strong pre then fold preflop, but calling pre then folding when you hit top pair, doesn't make any sense.

hand 3. i like raising a bit more than 2x like 2.5, 3x. its probably fine to go 4x. though there is nothing wrong with 2x.

Hand 1: I would always c-bet flop. BTN raise range is so wide I would expect calls from single pairs and gut shots. I am trying to get as much into the pot as possible.

Hand 2: I would consider shoving. You don't say if flop is rainbow but if it isn't this would be a very wet board. Both of the other players could be on draws. If I'm not shoving then I am calling.

Hand 3: I don't have a problem with the min-raise. What I do have a problem with is sizing your pre-flop raises based on the strength of your hand. I personally almost never min-raise. I prefer a 2,250 raise.

With 4 callers preflop and this flop I would consider shoving. Especially if the flop isn't monotone. There is 11,000 in the pot which is enough to win rather than give somebody with a draw the right odds to call.

Regarding hand 4, I tend to stick to same sizing when I raise and I really love min raises around 20-45bb stack range bc I’m pretty aggro especially in unopened pots during mid stages. I think in love mtts, I have a huge edge post flop against non internet wizards or solid mtt regs which are rare in lower buy in mtts. I’m a fan of playing lots against bb or sb defends with 2x raises as I have position and against wide range post flop. I’m very confident in my post flop play when not at a sharp table (rare for 250 buy in mtts I feel)

Thanks for advice on hand 1. I prolly should c bet. I normally would c bet my air a big % of time against 1-2 players. I’m very lucky I didn’t Cbet this flop as I prolly bust my stack or lose much more on this hand but I know from a long run point of view, Cbet is a must here. Thanks for feedback!

H1:

A basic rule that will almost never be wrong: When you flop the nuts (or effective nuts) after raising pre, with a well-concealed hand, you bet. Flopping a straight with QT easily qualifies here. The same applies when you flop a flush with 76s or when you flop a set of 3s on an AQ3 board. You’re just missing out on so much value when you check, and then when a scare card hits the turn, you’re folding out worse hands and getting called by better ones.

If you want to check when you flop A93r holding AA, that’s fine. Or even when you flop QJTr after you 3b pre. But never here.

Great analysis. If I Cbet flop and get raised which I assume would have happened.... do you raise again there? I would say yes. The player that had kk was an older man that I could tell was a massive nit (basically he is never check raising without a huge hand). I feel if I Cbet and get raised, we get it all in on the flop most likely.

Absolutely. People inherently want to call with their big hands, and the only hand you really risk folding out on the flop with a 3b is KQ, and even they will continue sometimes. Getting it in way ahead of KK is a good thing. Sure, they still have strong equity against you but you’re still far ahead. If you both go all-in on the flop and the board pairs afterwards, oh well, that’s poker.

With a concealed nuts hand I’m going super hard. If I had QQ and the flop was Q43r and someone raises or check-raises me, that’s a much different situation.

I typically don't re-raise when I am in position. It keeps a much wider range for me.

When you get c/r'd on the flop it is usually a big hand or a draw. If you had AK would you be re-raising against two pair or better on the chance that villain has a draw?

Once you re-raise you let villain play pretty close to perfectly OOP. In this case it doesn't matter since villain has top set but given the action his hand is very unlikely. You might get any two pair to fold which would be a bad result. Also when the board pairs you get to re-evaluate vs what you know about this villain. It might save you from getting it all in bad.