At 4K BB, I have a top 10% stack of 340K. About 300 left with 150 getting paid in this flight (to be combined with 2 other flights, so more like 1200 left). I open 99 UTG, get called by a MP and Button. Brand new player (who turns out to be Joseph Hebert, but I don't know that), with about 450K behind squeezes to 70K. Even in position, my 99 is going to be tough to play on most flops; so I rule out flatting. Perhaps this is a mistake. Down to 4! or fold...I could click it to 140K, but that looks bizarre. Jam or fold was left...

Given you have no reads on brand new player and he has no reads on you I would fold. You have opened UTG and he didn't care OOP.

To set mine I would want effective stacks to be at least 480k so I agree flatting is out of the question.

If I did flat, I'd probably have a 'call 1' strategy on dryish flops like J42, so not strictly a set mine. It is a very high variance play, as well.

What was your open? A 3! of 70K seems large if it was 8-10K.

9K/4K BB

This. Because when I flat in these situations, I am assuming that V''s range is not just over pairs, but includes at the very least AK, and usually AQ (and then throw in some rare under pairs and spazzes). This is especially so being IP, where your flat range should look very strong to V and slow him down on a lot of boards V missees.

Yea think 3 for 3 poker is spot on here. I couldn’t set min here without getting 15-1 which we need stacks to be like 915k to set mom correct here which isn’t even close. I would lean fold against an unknown. Like at best, we are against AQ/AK and dominated by 10-10+ a lot. It’s a good spot to squeeze but still not great to 3bet light an ep opener.

You could 3 bet click it back and look super nutted. Kinda lame though bc you probably have to fold to an all in or 4bet. Would probably not do this unless you really think villian is light and will fold to a 3 bet in this spot or jam all in in which case he has you crushed.

You can't call here, its either a 4 bet shove or fold and given the stacks and situation I would not ship here, fold and wait for a better spot.

Thanks for the responses. In game, I did find the fold button. After playing with Hebert for a couple of hours, I think jamming would probably have been ok, he was quite aggressive in all parts of the game tree, including a lot of light 3!ing.

I was worried that I was just practicing avoidance of tough spots by discounting the flatting option. This part of the tournament is where I tend to play too tight, having a big stack where I know I can keep variance down, and cash some huge percentage of the time, when I need to keep building my stack for a deep run.

Yep, 99 generally fold v BB squeeze once MP and BTN flat pre - but it can be called occasionally

If you did decide to call and it went heads up, then we'd be looking for a little extra equity like bdfd or sd before peeling A-rag flops, but paint flops even with bdfd equity are death

Flops like 8c 5c 2h are quite interesting. Super high freq check from Herbert (50%+) so we get to check back and realise our equity IP with 99 rather well (pure check down, we never bet unless the 9 drops).

Also, if you played for a couple of hours with Herbert then there's a high chance he's adjusted and is exploiting. But when he's just sat down with unknowns, there's a rly good chance he's playing standard squeeze ranges - and 99 is nearly always a fold

wp

I would just fold. Never 4-bet. Call occasionally.