Hey all, I’m in Vegas for two weeks and just want to post some interesting spots and see what others think-

$400-150k

H1- have 80k (2x starting) at 100-300 w 300bbante. I open 10-8cc to 900 from utg (6handed) (running well so far and have solid image but prolly slightly loose due to my age- 30s and look like internet kid). Bb and utg+1 call and we see flop of 9j5 with one club (r). I check, utg bets 1200 (omc that is a tad looser in call ranges pre, not aggressive also) calls and bb (kinda nitty mawg man that is weak tight) calls. I x raise to 4800 with plans to barrel club and straight turns + others. Utg+1 tank folds, bb tank calls. River Kclubs, I lead 6.5k into 13.6k and he quickly folds. Solid line to take?

H2- I have 90k at 200/400 and playing pretty solid tight and just making hands. Ok 2 right of button opens to 1200 (weak tight nitty mawg from last hand). On button I make it 3600 with 75hh with plans to 3bet/f here at a kinda tight table. Guy 3bets to 9k and I fold. Is this a bad spot to deviate from standard 3bet range. I see charts say this is a pure flat but just wondering if deviating is ok ever here.

H3- really weird spot I need thoughts on. Ok, we are at 1k-1.5k and I just doubled to 80-90k prior few hands at table with some people with more than me. I open cutoff with A-10d to 3500 and button,sb, bb call. Flop A57 with 2 diamonds. I cbet 4.5k into 15.5k after xxx. 2 folds, bb raises to 17k (30s something player that looks like he could be aggro but former history, he went xxx against me in a pot where he had massive range advantage defending from bb I thought was kinda meh and I showdown A high to win hand). I peel 17k and turn is 2x. He jams 120k. I had maybe 66k behind- so he basically bets more than pot- like my effective stack into 49.5k- my stack was like probably 65-70k at turn. Do we call/fold here? I feel his range is a lot of flush draws, 2 pair, sets, straight draws, and maybe some funky played 67/78 maybe? I will post my decision in spoiler



As always thanks for any input on hands or theory. I plan to post many hands coming up in this thread for some feedback. Hopefully I can find some runs and interesting spots for discussion.

H1: IMO your line is just fine. Maybe bringing in 10-8 for a raise UTG is a tad loose, but I am always in favor of making aggressive plays with the bottom end of your opening range, esp. at a tight live table surrounded by OMC's.

H2: IMO it is never a big fail to deviate from what the charts say you should do if you have a hand with good attributes and you are in position. If you always do what the chart says you become very easy to read.

H3: Did you have A-10 DD or only 1 D? if I had A-10 DD and flopped A xx (DD), I think I would advance a hefty 3-bet after villain raised, and I am in it for stacks if necessary. As played, if I had only one D I would hate life, and I'm not sure what I would do in the moment. For sure I would peel on the flop, but I might quail on the turn because I am a chicken, and A-10 no draw is pretty weak, since you only beat bluffs and worse Aces.

H1 - pre it’s a fold utg but 109s is a pure open so you can’t be losing that much.
The j hi flop gets checked a lot but you should also cbet this combo at a medium? Frequency when this flop hits
Turn sizing is I think small? Probably want to go a little bigger I don’t think half pot is getting used

Which charts are saying 75hh is a pure flat vs 3x otb vs hi jack? Cuz I’m pretty sure it’s a pure fold you can roll like 25-33% 3b i think

Hand 3 - vs people who are never bluffing the ev of this bluff catcher goes down alot- if you have pio you should node lock a very tight range and then see the ev of the call/then look at a the gto range and compare the ev of your combo for bluff catching. Blocking the a matters and the t is kind of neutral. If dude is just never bluffing then you can fold but if you are trying to not get exploited equilibrium strategy prob has you calling off
If you feel like damn he’s prolly not bluffing enough but I need to defend some then roll like 30-50% calls and let the rng determine your fate
Like a7s/a5s/aaa/777/555 are all pure calls now you have all your ax one pairs so you probably need to fold some of them. A8/a6s are gone be the worst bluffcatchers along w like a4/a3 cuz you want to un block the straight draws.
So a-10 - ak end up as your main bluffcatchers. There’s prolly other card removal/bluff catching considerations but at the table I’d just say ok I wanna unblock his draws and I can’t just call every a so let me just like call a medium % here and then I’d call time open my rng app and see what happens lol

Finally -
I also don’t know if 1/3 gets used on a57 w two suits think the 3/4 is the preferred size but multi way who tf knows

No one studies charts in live $400s in the summer in Vegas. Anyways it’s not a can I be read discussion it’s a is this hand +ev or not to put $ in the pot with.
75s gets 3b at a low frequency but if you start 3b this combo too much you can start torching $/ev

H1 and H2 seem fine. H3 I was going to say V has few flush draws since you have AdTd. But looks like you only have Td. Either way, it feels villain is strong. I played at the Venetian too for the $600 tournament and I was put in a similar spot. I relied on my live reads to make a call. But in your case, Villain clearly knows you likely have an ace. So his overbet is that much stronger asking for you to pay it off.

I goofed. I had the 10d. Not the Ad. A was another suit that was not relevant to hand- just a black Ace. I’m pretty sure I would pop the flop x-raise if I had dd in this spot and loads of equity.

I think having the 10d is a bad thing in this hand somewhat as it’s more unlikely slightly that villian has a flush draw he’s playing aggressively.

What I said about charts was in response to this: If you always do what the chart says it becomes very easy for your opponent to make an accurate estimation of your range in most situations. Telegraphing your holdings is a -ev play.

Anyway why is it a "is this hand +ev or not to put $ in the pot with" discussion exclusively, and a "can I be read" discussion is out of bounds? Seems to me like both questions are legitimate if the purpose of this forum is to improve our tournament play.

1. Line ok 3-way, bigger turn

2. Unnecessary. Flat some. Fold some.

3. Fold to flop cr holding Td blocker to fd

Are you guys fine folding like 10-12 bbs on stone bubble with 88 from utg at a 7 handed table? A few players probably had like 3-5bb stacks and the min cash was your buyin back.

Btw live poker is alive. On stone bubble I pick up Kk, cutoff opens little over min, button flats, I jam Kk with about 14-15 bbs maybe? Co calls with AJhh to bubble. It’s insane how people don’t understand icm.

Also I rip maybe k3o from sb with 10-12 bbs much prior to bubble and bb tank calls A8o (mawg). He took 30 seconds to think about it which was kinda comical. Then complained after I won hand.

Hand 1 - It seems the turn is missing. I can't advise without info. But I guess you made your flush?

Hand 2 - I think this is good to do once in a while. You want to mix something like this in some of the time.

Hand 3 - Tough spot. I mean I can see argument for calling and folding. I think if you are going to call the flop, you are usually planning to get it in on a safe turn. This is opponent dependent. Not all players will c/r just naked flush draws. If you can put villain on combo draws, 2 pairs, and sets, then I think you can let this go.

Help on river spot here?

Ok so nitty guy opens to 800 from 2 off button at 200/300 and 30k. I have 45k and 1.5x starting stack. I 3bet 56ss from button to 2400. Folds and raiser calls. Flop 45J with 1 spade. Xx. Turn 3 of spades, guy leads 75% pot and I call. River 7of spades. He leads 11k. What do you do here? He hasn’t played many hands so hard to say what type of player he is. Do we just call or pile? He most likely started hand with 25-30k as he hasn’t played many hands

Why would you ever pile ... especially with nitty guy? Isn't V only going to call with better?

Bc I’m jkpoker10 and clueless and piled. I kinda went out to smoke a cigar and boozed prior (after cashing a bigger tourny for like 3 buyins) to this so I obv piled. Not thinking straight.

We've all been there.

Ok more hands from $600-150k today.

I have q6o from sb at 1.5k/3k with 250k stack so very deep and doing well. I complete and middle aged guy checks bb with stack of 150k from bb. Flop A28, I lead 3k, he makes it 7k and I make it 26k. He calls. Turn blank 8. I check he rips. I fold. Are you ok with my raise to 26k? I feel he never has an ace here or strong hand on flop so I feel he’s raising with air and I can put him to the test by the raise on the flop. I plan to shut down when he calls the 26k. Maybe a little spewy but I feel he’s raising a lot of ax pre etc. I fold to his turn shove obv.

Ok, I then I’m have 550k at 2.5/5k and we are playing final 5 hands of night. A very good reg jams cutoff to say 16-18bbs and I’m in sb with A-10o. Ugh I sigh fold sb but is this ever a call? I feel he’s prolly ripping super wide but feel we don’t need to wear the variance here even though it’s prolly a +ev call. I looked up in preflop + and says it’s a tad over 2+bb call- bb was a nitty guy with heaps like 300k and I didn’t want to call and be put to test if somehow jammed.

Final hand- are you good with sizing here on turn and river? I open JQcc to 12k at 2.5/5k from cutoff. Semi aggro calls bb with maybe 200-300k and I have 450k ish to start hand. Flop is Q52 with one club. I lead 1/3 pot to 12k and he peels. Turn on 8c. He checks and I bet 36k. He calls. River is a red jack.he checks and I bet 88k into maybe 120-130k and he tanks for a while and folds. Later on he told me he had AQ which I believe. Do we ever go smaller with sizing. I feel going 70% pot looks kinda bluffy and we want to get max value. His fold is pretty good if he’s telling the truth.

Btw I bagged tad over 540k and have a solid stack going into day 2 of a $600-150k so I’m slightly pumped. Hoping I can find some day2 heat and bink. Insane day. Had 40k run down to 20k and spun it up to over 500k which I didn’t think would happen. Structure for the tournament is amazing.

Hand 1 (Q6o) start by checking a flop that your range (and actual hand) also misses. bloated pissing contest as played.

Hand 2 (ATo) CO 17BB jam should be 16.7%, 22+ A8s+ A5s-A4s ATo+ K9s+ KJo+ Q9s+ J9s+ T9s, but given jam range likely capped (with premiums tending to 2 - 2.5bb) prob call in BB fold in SB

Hand 3 (QJs) really dislike turn bet holding strong sdv with V having KQ 55 22 and all suited 2pr combos.

So, on the flop the spade was the jack, otherwise I don’t understand your question.

Nice stack for day 2. Good luck.

Old silver, I mean I agree on h1. Sure we have a semi weak range but I play a limp strategy from the small blind unless with really big hands or people that we can almost guarantee to trap 3bet if we limp strong hands. Live players are hard to read and will check back good kx/Ax hands from the bb. I just feel this player seemed tilty after taking stack from say 400k-500k and would fold. I agree it’s a pissing match and probably stupid to take but sometimes we take stand no? I feel we can’t always do everything by the book and nit it up. But sure this spot may be bad

Hand 3- yea maybe betting turn is goofy bc we can be put to the test with a X-raise here. Hmm what’s sizing for river if you check turn. Feel we gotta go very big like 100% probably when we get the runout. Also if villian leads river- what size are you raising 2pair to? Thanks for all thoughts on hands here. Very good nuggets


@jj sry mate, accidentally edited your post while quoting response, hope I didn’t delete anything

If you pile, doesn’t he only have about 10k left and is getting about 5-1 to make the call. I think he can call with worse.....

Old silver, I mean I agree on h1. Sure we have a semi weak range but I play a limp strategy from the small blind unless with really big hands or people that we can almost guarantee to trap 3bet if we limp strong hands. Live players are hard to read and will check back good kx/Ax hands from the bb. I just feel this player seemed tilty after taking stack from say 400k-500k and would fold. I agree it’s a pissing match and probably stupid to take but sometimes we take stand no? I feel we can’t always do everything by the book and nit it up. But sure this spot may be bad.

You know your limp range includes Ax
He’s thinking you’d raise Ax pre

Hand 3- yea maybe betting turn is goofy bc we can be put to the test with a X-raise here. Hmm what’s sizing for river if you check turn. Feel we gotta go very big like 100% probably when we get the runout. Also if villian leads river- what size are you raising 2pair to? Thanks for all thoughts on hands here. Very good nuggets.

Yw
River size live would be so player dependent but yes would exploit bomb this on occasion
Just don’t forget if you bet small and he has no sdv you can induce cr bluff

Hey all, have a day 2 hand I have a question on regarding sizing.

Ok I have 600k at 5/10k. Villian has maybe 300-400k to start hand. Violin opens 22k from cutoff. I 3 bet from bb to 80k and he calls. 3bets bb to 80k. I call and flop is 10-9-4 (rainbow). I check, villian checks. Turn 5 either 2 spades out. I lead 60k into 180k? And villian peels. River A with no flush draw completed. I think and get roughly 400k into 300k pot (not sure I have #s right but this was my sizing). He ranked for a while and folded- said he had ak.

Are you ok with this huge sizing? I was targeting aq/ak and thought he would call honestly if he gets to river. Do we ever bet smaller to get the call? Villian ranked for ages.

I’m still alive on day 2 with 19 players left. A little below average but hopefully I run pure late.

what's your hand

Oops 10-10

Cbet 1/3 flop after the 3!

Do I get turn in this spot?

Ok we at 100/300 with no bb ante. Utg opens to 800, ep call, button call, and I call bb with Q9ss. Flop Q95 with two clubs. Xxx, button bets 1k and I raise to 5k. He peels. Turn red K. Xx. River I check bc I don’t think I get called worse and he bets 5.4K on 8 river. Guy had 88.

Hmm is it bad I don’t bet turn here? Idk I just feel we see too many j-10/55 etc combos here. Just seemed like tight standard live player.