Hey all I have some interesting hands from a $350 at turning stone I would like analyzed. Some kinda trivial just wanna check on-

H1- we started with 30k and first levels of day. Ok at 100-100 I open AQdd utg to 300, small blind is old guy that is omc look and he 3bets to 1200 and I peel. Flop 2-8-10 with one diamond. He leads 1800 into 2400. I peel with the dd and two overs. Turn black K. He bets 200, I make it 4k and he sigh calls. River brings a spade flush and is a low car like a 6. He checks and I bet 12k and he mucks JJ face up. Solid play? Is this too spewy to take line like this. The 200 turn bet I’ve seen a lot lately and just screams weakness. I thought turn we could easily go raise/bet river to get a fold and he did. Is this too high variance or good way to pick up chips early?

H2- we play villian from H1 after we showed the AQ bluff in this spot. Ok I wanna say I have 40k and it’s 200-400 400. Ok he opens to 1600 from cutoff, I make it 4500 from sb with KK. He peels and flop is Q92. I lead 6k and he makes it 18k. He has a fairly big stack also and I don’t have the exact info on hand. I take my time and think about what he’s raising here and decide to call to keep his bluffs in and weaker dominated hands. Turn is a 4 and I check. He bets big like 75% pot and I call. River blank and i check to induce. He jams and I snap and he has AQ and I take his stack. Do you like the line on flop. I saw no reason to raise as it blows him off his hands I guess even though I don’t think he is folding AQ here. Thought he could have some weird straight draws i could induce with if I go xx on turn and river. I don’t have specifics of hand but thought I played it fairly well even though I feel he calls a flop jam if he thinks AQ is the nuts here which some casual live players will do.




H3- end of day this is a huge hand I need help on. I have 120k at 2.5k bb level. 8 handed, utg+1 is a white guy that has been snug and he opens to 8k. Button is a splashy white guy I made a final table with in past. He got drunk earlier in day and seems super meh at poker. I have AKo in bb. What do you do here?

I 3bet to 38k hoping we get button to fold weak hands. Well utg+1 calls and button calls. Flop 10-8-2 sss and we don’t have a spade. I check, utg+1 bets 50k and I and button fold. Is my sizing pre terrible? I feel we have to 3bet Ak here but idk is it bad? 38k out of 120k is probably a bad way to play AKo here but I feel we easily get heaps when we flop an A or K here. If we check dry A or K high flops, feel we get solid bet turn and river spots but idk. Thanks for any thoughts

Hand 1 I probably wouldn't float too light on the flop against an old guy but I like your line after the turn and I think you read the situation right.

Hand 2 the pot numbers don't add up, if you had 40k or so you'd be in for 22.5k after the flop and have about 40% of pot left in your stack going to the turn. I'd raise more OOP with KK, especially if you think that guy is expecting you to try to push him around.

Hand 3 - What are the other two stacks in the hand?
If UTG+1 has been live-old-guy tight and no one else is in the hand I might just call pre.
With button in I might even just jam pre; it's an overbet but generally if a normal raise is going to put in 1/3 of my stack I just go for the whole thing.

In general it seems on these last two hands you're talking about trying to get tricky and induce moves in spots you've got at least 1/3 of your stack in the pot or more. Once I get that much in I'm just going for the rest; there isn't really any poker left to play at that point.

H1 - I think you should be folding an OMC Cbet that is so large. Turn, I like your raise. I would honestly give up on the river after he calls the large turn raise. But it worked out for you.

H2 - I re-raise larger from the sb. You can't be folding this at any point. I don't understand how you can call a 75% pot sized turn bet and it not be all-in? After he bets the turn, I would probably crai. your reasoning that you just call to keep the bluffs in. If this is an OMC, he doesn't have any bluffs. I think you are looking at JT at the worse case scenario.

H3 - I think you either just jam the flop or check and give up.. Who are these players that call 1/4 or a 1/3 of their stack preflop? You now have less than a pot sized bet here. If these guys are bozos, I would probably just rip it in on the flop. If one of these guys wants to hero call you with 9s or something, not much you can do.

Any thoughts on the sizing in H3. It’s like 4.75x the original openers raise. Idk what to do in this spot honestly. I feel not 3 betting is just super passive weak play. I feel we have to make it big to try and atleast get a fold possible if they aren’t light. Bb, I feel I’m light years ahead of his range (he said he had an A here- I wouldn’t be surprised if he some stupid A-10o or AJo here- maybe even weaker As bc he just seemed like a blaster)

I felt like jamming could be viable pre but 40+ bbs seems way too light and I feel it’s easy to call if with say JJ or QQ for utg opener bc I just think most people aren’t going to pile AA/KK there pre and allow for easy folds from original openers. I’m def ripping 25bb in that spot but 30+ seems like too much if you ask me unless we know utg+1 can have a wide opening range from EP. from the way he looked and his play for short span of time at my table, he seemed snug so i couldn’t see him opening wide enough to warrant this play.

H1 is super out of line for me normally. I’m generally super tight early on in regards to bluffs- I only bluff if I have blockers generally and can rep some sort of bluff that I think is likely to work (aka I bluff at a super low % and only if I perceive it to be highly likely to work which for me is something I don’t find often early in mtts- my bluffs are generally Cbet and 3bet fold spots).


Btw just a comment- I love live poker tournaments due to what people do. It’s insane when I see people call from the blinds to a late position raise in a spot that for me would be a 3bet fold with the hand they showdown. In one hand, I open Q-10o from button deep into tourny where stacks are getting shallow. Guy flats Q9 suited from big blind. He ended up bluffing me in hand after a J10x flop where I checked back flop, bet small on turn and he raised 3x and then open rips a blank low card on the river. Maybe I’m supposed to call there but he shows the bluff bc we were kinda talking to each other during play (I could tell he didn’t like me bc of stuff I said at table). He was an middle aged white guy so I just sigh fold river bc I don’t see point of bluff catching even though maybe I’m supposed to call there. I peeled his turn raise bc I just didn’t think he would have stones to bluff river but he did and I folded ha.

I guess with live lower stake mtts (say $200-600 ranges), people just play way too tight for the most part. I feel if you don’t have a 3bet fold range (which I think majority of live players at these stakes don’t), you just become easy to plays against bc a 3bet is almost never light.

My kk hand- I normally would 3bet bigger oop to like 3.5x or 4x but I just feel stacks were shallow somewhat enough where I want him to call and we play post. If I think he calls 4x, I’m def making it 4x (mistake on my part bc I think he probably calls 4x against me and our past history at table).

A final hand I wanna bring up that is why live players are sometimes clueless- some guy opens min to 5k with heaps. I jam 20k to his left from mid position with AQdd. He snap folds when he gets back to him with no other action from other players- all folds. From prior poker coaching, my coach told me you almost can never fold to an under 10bb stack bc the math is always on your side- sure if you open 22 or 33- I could see folding bc you never are in a good spot but still- shouldn’t open the hand if you can’t call a shorty jam.

I'm just still very confused about the action in H2. The pot should be a little over 45k on the turn, so a 3/4 bet would be about 33k, you call, let's call it 110k in the pot now, and you still have a stack he can try to push off the river? It makes sense if you both have 100k to start but it doesn't add up if you only started with 40k like you said. It's tough to answer this because the action as described is deep but you say you're shallow.

Hand 3, like I said, if I think a standard raise for the situation is going to be that much of my stack, I'd rather just rip it in. Especially considering you're going to be OOP with AK with a pot-sized bet left if you get one call, let alone two. If you're really worried about getting called by JJ/QQ, then I guess make whatever raise you'd make with AA/KK, but I think that's too specific a situation to worry about.

Sure it's an overbet shove, but again, given how much of your stack the standard raise size is at this point, in tournaments I just err on the side of ripping it in when that's the case, and letting the other players worry about what I have.

H2- not sure of specifics but hand played out in that manner somewhat. I may have started hand with 60-70k actually and villian obv had probably atleast 40-60k to start hand. I remember most I cbet about 60-70% of flop bc board was somewhat coordinated and he raises roughly 3x or more or my cbet. Not going to lie I thought about it for 30-40 seconds before calling bc normally with that action against an omc- it’s generally against a set (from past experience). With bluff shown though, I can see how this is an easy stack off and somewhat low-medium sprs.

H2- not sure of specifics but hand played out in that manner somewhat. I may have started hand with 60-70k actually and villian obv had probably atleast 40-60k to start hand.

I got more hands from day 2 today.

H4- hmm we are around money bubble. Maybe 100-110 left and 81 paid. I have 77 from cutoff. 2 to my right open limps (weak passive player). It’s 3/6k and I have 120k. I just rip with red 77. Are you ok with this play. I didn’t want to raise and get 3 bet at a snug table and have to fold. I thought just ripping would be better. Old guy to my left snapped with 10-10 and we somehow bink a 7 on runout. I’m not being results oriented here but is this ok to jam here on an awkward stack? I say yes- we generally pick up 3.5 bbs when the limper isn’t limping a strong hand which is normally unlikely.

H5- I have 240k at 3/6k. We are in the money and I’m playing to win- don’t care about laddering at all. Ok old guy utg+1 with heaps (400-600k) opens to 16k. Weak player to his right flats on 150-200k (this isn’t necessarily strong as this guy is bad at the game from history). Weak short stack black guy who is happy to min cash after a blunder hand jams 30k. I have 99 in small blind. I’m thinking I might iso raise here but decide to fold when I see old guy make a mistake and put in a big raise like he doesn’t know I’m waiting to make a decision. He’s not angling. I sigh fold and he raises and gets AQ in against a small pair and holds. I would have flopped a set in this hand sigh. I just wonder if you are ok with my hand reasoning.

I think old guy has like AK/AQ in best case here and I don’t want to flip per se here.

H6- I open JJ utg to 16k on 197k stack. Old guy from last hand 3 bets to 42k (2 to my left). He has kinda 3 bet me before and just gives me the vibe he can be aggro per other player comment (some dude is like this old guy plays like he’s 22 years old- I just take it he can be aggro and not your standard omc). I think about it and just rip and he snaps AA. I say it’s just a cooler. Thoughts? I don’t see just flatting pre here and giving up. I think we just gotta wear the variance and hope he doesn’t have aa/kk/qq here. Am I wrong?



Goofy hands I saw through the day that make me hate live players- saw a guy early in day 2 blunder an avenue to heaps. Bad player opens, he flats 66 from sb or bb. Flop Q69- he check raises his 66 on flop. Turn 2. He bets and gets a call. River blank. He checks and opponent checks. He’s like I was worried he had QQ. It’s like dude- you are supposed to go broke there on shallow stacks (30-50bb avg on day 2) in a set over set spot. Not firing a value bet on the river is just comically bad. Opponent had AQ and checked back river. I think 60-150% pot bet on river is just great value in a bloated pot. Don’t see why someone wouldn’t go for the kill and heaps at a crucial stage in a live tournament where you really can abuse the bubble if you have many bbs (think like 70+ when the avg is 30-40 and trending down).

Another hand was the most embarrassing hand I’ve ever seen. Ok, this weak splashy black guy opens to 16k with maybe 155k. Ok this weak mawg guy that you can tell is terrible at the game based on his talk at the table 3 bets to 125k. Black guy tanks and calls. Flop is KJ2 and mawg white guy puts in 60k to just put other guy all in. Black guy folds QQ face up. Other guy shows QQ which is comical. This was on the stone bubble (maybe like 3 left till itm). I didn’t say anything but to the black dude, I wanted to be like bro- if you lose with QQ on the bubble with like 20bbs- it is what it is. I wouldn’t just flat a 3bet pre and fold to a bad flop. How can you put in 125k pre and then fold when you have 30 behind. The min cash was $625. It really irritates me when live players don’t understand the min cash isn’t that meaningful. I know you have to be aware of the bubble- but I’m never showing qq face up if I flat a 125k 3bet pre hahaha. I’m either folding to the 125k to not blunder post (if I want to min cash that bad as a Rec) or I jam pre with qq and 30k more and say hey if the villian has me beat- it wasn’t my day. Flatting 125k pre then folding a flop with 30k behind is just horrendous.

H4. Looks fine. We are actually a fair bit away from the bubble.
H5. Once you get the free information that opener is never folding, I like your fold.
H6. Looks ok. Your read is he his not a nit; he will have hands like TT, and maybe some stuff like KQs that he was going to raise fold.

Goofy hand 1. This is why I love live players. Especially when they give you their reasoning. Now you can confidently fold to his aggression in other spots.

MEHIES. Yes, that was bad, but you never know. Maybe he was in on a satellite or something. I will say that you do undervalue the min cash based on what you have said. Typically, 25-30% of the prize pool is in the min cash; additionally, in medium+ size fields, getting a double from a short stack is not nearly as valuable, as once the bubble bursts the extra chips really only help significantly if you make it to the last 3 tables.

I would say I’m cognizant of not spewing super hard on the bubble. But I’m not going to complain if I lose on the bubble with say jj/qq/kk/aa etc. like I’m not going open rip say 15-30 bbs on the bubble with AA or KK bc I’m scared someone is going to flat and somehow crack my hand. Gotta take the play that will make most chips long run. I’m not going to die if I don’t min cash.

Yes it sucks when you finish say 82-90 when the min cash is 81 players. But I would rather give myself a chance to win or take most profitable lines with hands if I have the stack to do so. If I have 4bbs, on the stone bubble- sure I almost have no chance to win and the min cash should be the main goal.

That all looks right, JP. My last tournament before Corona I busted the bubble with JJ, so I am with you there…

H1 - Great turn read. I am starting to do that against low blocking bets (though this one was absurd). I see some 1/4 to 1/6 pot bets and I know its a draw wanting to see the turn cheap. I'm folding the flop because bet is so much. I would call a 33% to 50% pot bet with BDFD and two overs.

H2 - pre-flop 3-bet should be like 5400. Something as small as <3x reeks of a big pair inducing. I try to keep all of my bet sizing consistent pre-flop so as not to give away hand strength.

H3 - I wouldn't raise OOP >30% effective stack. Its a shove or call. Personally I call here mostly. UTG+1 may have a big hand and I would rather see the flop than bet the entire tourney on a flip when we have 50 bb's. If we call and miss its a small loss. <40 bb's I probably go all in.

H4 - Limp shove is fine with 20 bb's. Prefer to have more limpers but this is fine. I did it yesterday in FW $500 with KJo after one limper with 20 bb's and a guy in the BB tanked and folded. As did limper. Ironically by not 3-betting much and only with strong hands everybody was folding to my 3-bet shoves when I had between 12 bb's and 25 bb's.

H5 - Easy fold when you see OOT re-raise. I usually avoid shoves vs chip leader opening EP unless they are raising often from everywhere.

H6 - I just call and set mine. Old guy is never folding to a shove so no fold equity. Your UTG open is strong and he didn't care. Also his under 3x raise is inducing a call/shove. Tricky if flop is all unders and he cbets 1/3 pot. I likely call but I know I'm getting sucked in.

H4 is fine with this stack size I think, maybe not "ideal" but if you always got ideal situations in tournaments they would be easy. Shove is probably the best of all your options.

H5 is fine once you get the tell that the old guy is planning to raise himself.

H6 is very read and situation dependent. Totally depends on what you think of opponent and his range here. The early position might incline you to tighten up somewhat but I'm still not sure what the right play is with JJ. Assuming this isn't the final table; that might change my calculations-- depending either on other stacks and payouts etc. or if I've seen that villain is aggressively trying to command the table.

I guess h4 is my biggest question. I feel raise folding here is just odd and bad on 20bbs +‘I feel we are going to get peeled often here and get in some sticky spots if only 1 player calls bc we probably have to cbet in position with 77 which tends to do poorly post if we don’t flop a set. Let if we make it 4x limper and cbet, etc that’s a big % of our stack to pitch if we give up. I thought in hand jamming would be best bc we steal 3.5 bbs when players behind have meh hands. Just wondering if this is solid tourny logic bc this spot is odd. I would hate limp behind here and having to call a raise or fold to an iso pre

I think it is solid tourney logic, yeah. You pick up a decent pot, from the info at hand the weak player isn't calling, you don't have many other players to worry about behind you. You could probably run it with expected calling ranges behind you to figure out the actual equity of pushing, but my instinct is that you pick up the pot a large majority of the time. It does depend somewhat how lightly you get looked up, but bigger pairs are only 3% of hands are so (and I wouldn't be sure in a live tourney of these stakes that one of them would look you up with 88/99), so even if they're calling you a little lighter your equity against their calling range improves if they do.