Hello all,

Wanted to share a hand that I had in WSOP $365 Giant. Would appreciate your feedback.

Day 1 of The Giant, which is known by a really fast structure but relatively deep starting stack of 25,000
Level 9, ante 200, blinds 600/1,200. I'm in the SB with ~45,000 and find myself with AQo.

There's one early position limp followed by another limp from a guy in CO who just arrived to the table with a huge stack. I have no idea about his play style, but visually he looks like a typical pro: hoodie, blue shark glasses, all that. Action folds to me and I raise to 4,800. The BB and the first limper fold, second limper calls.
The flop is Q77 rainbow. I bet 6,500, and the CO raises to 19,000

And I find myself puzzled on what that even might mean??


Thanks in advance for a reply

bit bigger pre like 4.5-5x(but bb`s from limping stacks would be nice to know),snapfold now.

I put him on KQ or JQ, shove.

Thank you!
Yeah, forgot to mention theirs stacks. While first limper is around 18-20bb, the second (villain) is at least 70 bb.

I tanked for few minutes and eventually folded, so I don't know what he held. Something that affected my decision most was the fact that there's no folding equity: I can only add 15,000 with my shove, and no way how this provokes a fold with anything I'd prefer to fold. At the same time:
- trapping with QQ+ on an unknown table with a limper ahead of you and 4 more players to act? Rather seems like a bad play
- 77/QQ/Q7 wouldn't raise and would wait for me to commit my whole stack on further streets
- Other realistic sevens are pretty much 67s, 78s, A7s, but if this would mean that his range equally includes a lot of semibluffs KQ, JQ, QT, finally with the same hand AQ.
- And he has a ton of bluffs putting me on AK/AJ
I rather lean towards thinking now that I've made a mistake, and call/check-call would be the optimal play. Though even with this thinking it's still a slippery slope and pretty much committing my tournament life at this point does not sound super exciting. Or should I correct my thinking about the situation somehow?

Alot more pre and don't fold now

visually...hmmmm...need a more comprehensive read...anything u can add on a visceral level?

I don't give any advice but have a couple of questions:

After CO raised OTF the pot size is
200*9(antes) + 1200(EP limp) + 4800 * 2(Hero raise and CO call) + 1200(BB) + 6500(Hero C-bet)+19000(V Raise) = 39300
Hero has 45000-200(ante)-4800(pre)-6500(c-bet) = 33500
So, the hero's SPR < 1...Is it really OK to fold two pairs top kicker?

Also, when hero finds himself post-flop OOP, shouldn't he have a plan in case V would re-raise?

Finally, is there any direct connection between wearing a hoodie, glasses and all that and being a pro? I mean I have all of that, but ROI is still negative

Pre-flp I like a larger raise size since we have multiple limpers and especially since we are going to be OOP. I don't really want to go multi-way with this hand OOP. I like somewhere around 5.5k to 6k. I would do the same with most of my raising range which would consist of mainly value hands (top 6-8% of hands). I may size a little less with AA and KK in hopes of some play especially if my table is weaker. And I doubt I have much of a bluff range at these stacks in this position.

As played there is roughly 14k going to the flop and you have 40k behind (3-1 spr). You have flopped TP/TK on a paired/rainbow board. Its going to take an awful lot for me to fold in this spot.

My only thought is at this point is how to get stacks in by the river. I would bet small on the flop and size up on the turn setting up a river shove. I would bet around 5k on the flop.

Since we don't know much about villain it is tough to determine what he is trying to accomplish with this raise. A large majority of solid players are not raising here with a 7 as they would want to keep you in the hand. They could have anything from a backdoor draw, Qx, middling pair, or stone cold bluff that is just putting you to the test. Or they could have a 7 or over pair that has you beat (you would think AA,KK raises a large percentage of the time pre).

I think there are many hands that you are ahead of here(KQ,QJ,QT). I jam at these stack depths and tap the table if they show a 7 or over pair.

I agree with raising large pre. maybe like 5400-6k. You are out of position when flatted so I want to charge a little more when i have to play OOP post flop here. AS played, i guess its a read you have to go with.

I can't see a player raising a 7 in this spot on the flop, or player having KK or AA with pre action. I would guess player may have like 67 or 78 or a dominated queen. Also lets say opponent has QQ or 77, why would he raise. I just don't understand the raise on the flop. Maybe a bad player raises her but that raise is very odd imo and hard to understand. I lean toward maybe its KQ or QJ and opponent is trying to see where hes at.

I would probably get it in but maybe fold is good depending on how opponent plays.

since V limped in and then called the smallish raise, I don't put him on QQ or even 77 or he would have re-raised and not limped in initially from early position.

To call a raise he probably has a hand like KQ, QJ or Q 10 suited.

In my limited live experience, the hoodie + sunglasses combo in 2018 generally means the dude is not good. That said the hand is kind of a gross spot, I don't think we're deep enough or the field is good enough to have many bluffs here with something like KT w/ a bdfd so it really just becomes an issue of - is he raising a worse queen here for value?

I feel like our hand is too good to fold, but we almost never (100% never?) have a 7 here and we cbet this board a ton - so maybe the answer is x flop so we dont get put in this spot with a hand like AQ? I think my line would be raise larger pre, and cbet a smaller amount - like 1/4 pot, and go with it when we get raised.

sadly you're beat sometimes, gii

From previous experience in the Giant players will do all sorts of wacky stuff. Unless I have some kind of insane read I'd never fold here.

Never folding to blue shark sunglasses

[ ] OP folded pre
[x] spr etc... OP should gii
[x] if you re beat you re beat gg

yeah, now they typically wear scarfs and have a nicely trimmed beard....basically your typical hipster.

As played, it's hard to fold, but so often is the case that we're beat, still tough to fold.

First question that comes to mind for me is how is your table image? Have you been playing extremely tight thus far? Have you 3bet any hands at this table?

If you have a loose image. I would call this bet and Check/call turn and river on most run outs. He can be trying to make a play on you.

If you have a tight image and this is the first hand you 3bet at the table, he prob has you pegged as AA/KK/AQ and is trying to extract value from you with a 7.

Either way, I don't put him on a Q as I think he will just flat to keep in your bluffs.

I'd go at least 7k pre, maybe 8-10k or even just outright shove. His raise on the flop is of course silly with any hand, but just get it in, whether that be by flatting/calling any turn or just shoving.

Hand was played fine up until you folded. Yes, you can make it bigger preflop, but 4x is fine. I can see 5x or 6x, especially being out of position.

Flop bet fine. Don't fold to his check raise. You have pretty close to the top of your range here. Would you also fold AA? KK?

In the giant people do all kinds of dumb stuff. I would probably flat the flop and call a shove on the turn. I saw one guy call a flop bet with 3 players behind him and then donk shove the turn with a gutter. I also saw someone have half of their stack in on the flop and fold.

Its just a $365 tourney. With a fastish structure.

If you are going to raise pre-flop, then when you crush the flop like this vs one opponent you are going to have to gamble that he doesn't have a 7. I also think it is extremely unlikely he has AA/KK because your raise pre-flop would have been met with a re-raise.

You need to gain chips quickly in this structure and this is your opportunity.

Like many of the posters here I would have raised more pre-flop because playing AQo OOP sucks. I would try to take it down then and there. I would go about 6x to 7x (extra because of being in the SB).

Christoph Vogelsang

good post, +1