H1 I have 30k at start of aria $600. Everyone has 30k starting at 200bb level. I open k-10hh to 600 and 3 calls include bb. Flop 10-2-3 with 2 hearts. I cbet 1200 into 2100 and two folds with a tank raise by the bb to 3100. He took 40 seconds to raise lol. I call. Turn 9black. He bets 5100 I call. River 8. He bets 12.3k after another obnoxious tank. I blah call bc I feel we are at top of range somewhat kinda and he was a youngish kid so I feel he could turn a 45 or something into a bluff. Is river an easy fold? I’ll say what he had after. He had what I thought he could have (not 45 obv). Is this just a stupid spew- looking back I say yes river is prolly east fold.

H2 we are at Venetian for $800 75k. I have 50k starting stack after late reg. Rec women opens to 1600 at 400 level from ep, I flat 55 from mp and 1 other call. Flop 599. She leads 2.4k, I call and other villian calls. Turn 4. She leads 3.6k, I make it 11k to set up river jam. Other villian folds and she calls. Clearly she has overpair. River 3 of diamonds and now 3 diamond on board and we have red 55 I think. She x and I rip like 20-25k. She folds. Sigh. Ok with hand? Do we ever raise flop or nah? I say maybe at low freq but I like way hand played- maybe I need to make it chunkier on the turn over her 3.6k bet. Thoughts? I felt we could have set up a smaller river jam.

H3- 400 level and I have 60k? Maybe. Aggro foreign player raises to 900 from ep (he has been opening a lot) and rec player behind flats. I’m sb with red 10-10 and make it 4.5k. They both call. Flop 752. I cbet like 3.5k into 14.3k. Aggro calls and rec makes it 10k. I fold. Aggro flats. You like? There were two hearts on board and I had 1h. I think Rec is so weight heavily toward sets. Heard aggro had a 7x- I never understand how folks call 3! So oddly light. Board ran out Jh low card heart on river and aggro player wins after rec folds to bigger river bet. Is this hand played well? Do you ever call the flop raise? I swear these rec players- I’m clueless as to what their ranges are.

H1: Everything looks good here except yeah I think river has to be a fold. "I'm at the top of my range" should never be a reason for calling in the early stages of a mid-stakes live tourney. Almost no one is gonna be triple barrel bluffing during level 1 here into your range that includes all overpairs on this runout.

H2: Looks fine to me. Not many options that aren't gonna look really strong here for you, and I prefer raising turn over flop. I think your sizing is good.

H3: Personally I don't hate just flatting pre, especially in a soft field. But if you're gonna squeeze, I think size should be a little larger. Maybe more like 5.5k. Then I like a cbet size more like 40% pot. As played it's a super annoying spot but I probably find the sighfold as well.

H1: Have some different thoughts on this one, looks like good spot to hero call. Villian doesn't have many value on the flop: probably only 22, 33 and 23s. Furthermore, almost all draws/bluff miss (only JThh and 76hh hit a straight. His value range on the river is therefore really small and it is easy to overbluff. Even if he only bluffs 45 and some gutshots like A4, A5, 65, the call is probably +ev. In theory missed flush draws are good calling hands because your opponent shouldn't bluff with them often.

H3: 3-ways out of position as the 3-bettor on a 752 flop is a pretty shitty spot. It is therefore probably quite good to just check the whole on the flop. Folding after call, raise seems the best option though.

H1- yup I agree. The river to me- yikes idk why I call. I’m fine with how hand played out except I feel calling the river by me is just comically bad. Villian had 22 which I thought he would have a set or 45. I kinda weight against 45 bc I feel most live players don’t have the stones to triple barrel the first level of an mtt after I go call call on flop and turn- I know I don’t have the stones to triple barrel a hand like that. Kinda pathetic hand by me- I basically ended my tournament the first level due to a huge mistake making that river call- instead of having say 19-20k at 300 bb level- I’m stuck with like 7k and obv just tilted out of my mind due to a bad call I shouldn’t be making. Happens though.

I have 3 tournaments left in my vegas trip. I’m 1/26 in cashing in vegas lol. Not playing exceptionally well but I feel I’ve def played solid in spots- just kinda doing poorly in spots where I have a lot of equity (think 40-60%) in allin spots and losing. Play the 800 at Venetian yesterday and get lucky wit A8hh Vs qq on a 9-10-2hh flop after getting it in but later lose closer to money stages with AK v AQ and JJ for a solid pot. Tough game when you don’t win a few flips or higher equity spots- but this is what we sign up for with tourny poker.

Final note- ugh it kills me when I see people acquiring big stacks early to mid stages- it’s like ugh when is it my turn. 26 tournies and just the distribution of cards for me has been mehhhhh. Lacking JJ,QQ,KK,AA. I won a tourny earlier this year so can’t complain but yea was hoping I would get some more runs in vegas. 1/26 in cash department is just yikes. I haven’t even really been close to the money when poker is “more” fun in tournaments at least.

Feel some of my lines have been really solid. Felt with study, I’ve been playing fairly sharp and not over valuing tp gk + taking some creative lines where I will check back a turn to try induce some river spew by villians. Playing perfect- lol no and prolly being bluffed a tad too much in spots I need to just sigh call but feel I shouldn’t be 1/26 in the min cash department.

H1: My flop bet would be 600 vs 3 players. His raise would likely be 1800 the way he played it. But maybe 2000 or 2100. So it would have saved you some money in the long run. The flop favors the other players ranges. As for the river I do think its a fold as played. The 5100 bet on the turn is not really a standard raise amount its a solid value bet amount. Most bluffs will be 3100 there. Funny thing is I would almost jam on the flop. If he had made it a normal 4800 flop c/r I would have probably jammed and bought in again just about anywhere but the Aria where you would probably be on a 2 hour wait list...

H2: Flop call is good because other player could hit gutter. Turn raise was excellent in that she called. I personally would have called again to see if other guy calls or raises with a 9. River bet is probably excellent as well. Maybe sometimes she calls. Against me she would check I would bet 75% pot and win less than you did.

H3: I don't think there is a good way to play this hand. Your pre-flop sizing is perfect. Yet you got two callers. Your flop bet sizing is perfect as well. The Rec's raise however was small. It should have been like 14k. The guy either is bad and has a set or he is on a draw. Or he has like A7/88/99 and thinks your small flop bet means you don't have an overpair. I would be tempted to jam here specifically because you have the T (you didn't say what other stacks were) and because aggro guy just called you. If I don't jam I am probably calling though given stack size.


Here's the thing about tournament poker. When you win a couple of tournaments or cash big, the luck thing can go south for awhile. Its happened to me twice. The first time I won a $600 tourney at FW (basically won all my flips) after cashing in a few others and didn't cash again (for much) for like 14 months. Then recently in 2021 I placed 3rd in a huge Venetian tourney (lot of luck involved) and won a FW tourney (some luck involved) and went a little over a year with like three small cashes in 80 entries (so close to 1 for 26 three times in a row). In the last month and a half though I've cashed 7 times in my last 16 entries here in Prague where only 8% cash. And one of those was winning a big tournament (not particularly lucky on the flips) well a big tournament for Prague (they are giving me a trophy with my name etched on it). I'm hoping this will last through my Vegas visit which is coming up soon. But I've gone like 1 for 20 and 0 for 13 in Vegas as well...

H1: I think it's fine. I think the default is folding the river, but I don't hate calling that much. I would expect to see a set in this spot or maybe the player had T9/T8 some % of the time. I think based on the larger bet sizing I am more inclined to fold.

H2: It's fine the way you played it. I don't think you need to always raise the flop, especially with a player behind, it's a call more often.

H3: I think you need to call the flop raise. The problem with betting so small is you will induce a raise some % of the time. If you were to bet larger like 6K, then I feel more confident folding to a raise. But with such a small flop bet, it's extra enticing for the player to raise and see what you do. The raise is so small that you are getting a fantastic price. Although, you are going to be guessing where you are at, I would expect the turn to get checked by the raiser if they don't improve or they will bet huge with a made hand.