This is from the early stages of the $69+6 stud tournament on Full Tilt. I don't have any particular read on this opponent.

Tournament - 7 Card Stud High (40/80), Ante 7, Bring-In 10 (converter)

Seat 1: 1,934
Seat 2: 3,400
Seat 3: 3,116
Seat 4: 3,494
Seat 5: 2,811
Hero: 2,726
Seat 7: 3,519

3rd Street - (1.23 SB)

Seat 1: xx xx 3___folds
Seat 2: xx xx T___calls___calls
Seat 3: xx xx 4___folds
Seat 4: xx xx 8___folds
Seat 5: xx xx K___folds
Hero: T A A___completes
Seat 7: xx xx 3___brings-in___calls

4th Street - (4.23 SB)

Seat 2: xx xx T 5___folds
Hero: T A A 7___calls
Seat 7: xx xx 3 3___double-bets

5th Street - (4.11 BB)

Hero: T A A 7 K___calls
Seat 7: xx xx 3 3 Q___bets

6th Street - (6.11 BB)

Hero: T A A 7 K 4___calls
Seat 7: xx xx 3 3 Q Q___bets

River - (8.11 BB)

Hero: T A A 7 K 4 A___calls
Seat 7: xx xx 3 3 Q Q xx___bets

Total pot: (10.11 BB - 809)

What is your tipping point for getting away from this? 100/200? 200/400? I think it all depends on the bb relative to your stack.

this looks completely standard to me, especially with a 3 dead.

If your read is that he plays his board then it's a super easy value-raise, no ?


What's your thinking behind a call vs a raise ?

Wait, don't you have him crushed on the river unless he has the 3 in the hole?

Or any Q.

which is what he has been repping...

With a dead 3 I play it the same way. I may raise 4th to see where I'm at.

on 6th
you are getting 2:1 to make two pair or aces up
and getting 8:1 implied pot odds (If andy makes his hand then he can expect to take down an extra bet if villain bets) if villain checks andy still bets and takes down an extra bet)
but what's the chance villain has a FH already?
Let's say 45% he has a FH
I have class gotta go!...

I'm new to odds so anyone that could finish this, please do

just calling the river is better than raising because:

- a smart opponent may not call our raise with Qs up since our hand is pretty transparent.
- we don't risk getting 3!ed by a boat

I know it's pretty unconventional - I was just curious...

Basically,

IF we take the line that he isn't full and his river bet is FOS then we can represent some draw (b/door diamond probably) which may or may not have hit - he'll bluff catch and we'll be richer !

Just curious.

If this opponent is that "smart", then I welcome him to any stud game I am playing in, and I will serve him a steady diet of river bluffs when I miss.

dr. razz,

so if you're in villain's spot, do you b/c the river with Qs up? check behind?

I think if villain is betting Qs up on the river here, even I might beat him at stud.

yeah ok i'm dumb.

so do you think andy should fold the river here? fold earlier?

what if villain checks 7th instead? bet for value? fold to a c/r?

I don't think that the stakes relative to the size of my stack enter into it. While it's hard to know what folks are thinking, I think that most folks toss split Treys for a raise when there's a Trey gone. I therefore thought that the other guy probably had something other than trips on fourth street. I did give sixth a bit of thought before calling, but I figure I'm drawing live most of the time here, and the pot is fairly substantial. I didn't like calling the river bet. Why would he bet when his entire hand was on board? This is the eternal question, one for which I have no answer, but he had JJ down and my hand was good. He must have been hoping that my hole cards were specifically QQ7 or QQ4.

I think that the pot is big enough to justify calling hoping that opponent is betting his board. I don't think I should risk a raise, especially in a tournament situation, when my opponent "should" have me beaten to make his river bet.

So you fold if he three-balls? Or if he check-raises fifth? Or will you now feel priced in? Raising for information only makes sense if it's somehow worth what you pay for it. Usually, it isn't. This is especially true when you don't act on that information.

no, I think Andy played it fine on the early streets and is clearly priced in to chase on the late ones. I'm never folding on the river here, and probably raising. If villain folds, great -- now I know I own him. The key piece from Andy's OP is:

The early stages of a limit tourney have the peculiar characteristic that you're almost certain to be playing with the same group of players for a long time (as bustouts are rare in the first few levels), and the stakes keep going up. While I agree Andy was right not to raise for information on 4th st here, raising the river will give you a lot of information about just what this villain is made of. It could prove very useful in later levels when each bet means more.

As an added bonus you cant really lose with the 7th raise. If he folds, you know you can own him at will. If he calls, you will get all the action you could ask for as the blinds increase.

Most other limit tournies I've played start with smaller stacks, and the limits basically double every round. I like FT's structure a lot more, and I think you'll see me in more of these.