Hey everyone,

This is my second post. My first post is here if you are curious https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/2.../#post58460531

This hand is a little different. It is not the first hand.

The table is 8 handed. Blinds are 200/400. My stack is around 25k.

I have KJ suited of clubs.

UTG: flats
UTG+1: flats
UTG+2 (Me): Raise to 1600
HJ: Calls
CO: Folds
Button: Folds
SB: Folds
BB: Calls
UTG: Calls
UTG+1: Calls

Pot is ~8k

Flop: J 10 K (rainbow)

BB: bets 2k
UTG: Folds
UTG+1: Raises to 15k
UTG+2: i jam for 24k
HJ: Struggles to fold (he folded JJ)
BB: folds
UTG+1: Calls with AQo

Turn: 2

River: 7

I’m out.

With my stack, this guy limping, and his big raise I cannot justify it being AQ. Then again this guy hardly raises preflop. He either limps or folds.

I think im going broke no matter what, especially with JJ folding a set behind me.

What do y’all think?

Raise more pre, fold flop

Ew, tricky spot. I think top 2 is too good to fold since you could be up against lower 2 pair or something like an overplayed KQ, or even AK perhaps. With the piles of dead money I think it's close, but fine.

Most important takeaway from this hand is to keep playing these players. Man, these guys are atrocious. Flatting AQo is atrocious. Folding JJ is absolutely atrocious. Even if the straight was turned over he should call for full house outs.

Yeah, 5x pre is probably a more optimal raise size with these limps, although I don't hate going smaller to have a more manageable pot size. I might limp if I thought for some reason the opponents were more likely to be strong and I wouldn't face a large raise behind me if I overlimped, but mostly I'd raise.

I'm not sure what to do on the flop. The lead is obviously weak; it's all dependent on what you make of UTG+1's range here. And the way these players play is so non-standard that I'm not sure I could confidently assign ranges to them.

In hindsight, I would note that UTG+1 may be a weak/tight player who only piles money in when he has it.

My biggest takeaway from this hand is that, indeed, these are not good players and they should be very exploitable and profitable to play against. Almost certainly you can hammer on them most of the time and then back down when they show aggression.

Where you surprised when villain called your reraise and showed AQ?

Hard to say yes. In freeroll, bar poker tournaments the status quo when you have the nuts is to play cute and sneaky with a check/call, check/call, and then jam on river. My mind sort of compartmentalized "If you have KK, you would've raised pre (plus I'm holding a K so it is less likely), if you have JJ, you could've limped. If you have TT, then sure. If you have AQ then now I have a greater sense on how you play for next time.. Take the information even if I go bust"

In this local, bar, freeroll tournament it tends to be the same 25-35 people every Monday and Wednesday night. I'm starting to wonder if in the first 3-4 blind levels to respect big bets like this because after the break when the stacks are less deep, people get wayyyy tighter and don't limp a lot.

thank you all for the replies!

So neither of you played it like you had the nuts.

This was a bar freeroll? Ya, raise more pre-flop... on the flop, I guess gambool for what's left. If it wasn't a bar freeroll, you should be folding the flop.

You are correct sir. A bar freeroll.

It's definitely hard to offer advice on a bar freeroll type tournament just because so many people won't be taking it seriously or even trying to play their best. Like what's theoretically correct is not necessarily going to be correct against people who don't care and are splashing around for fun.

That said, a hand like this was played surprisingly passive for a bar freeroll.

And it never hurts to discuss things from a theoretical perspective. Even though you'll want to deviate from GTO lines to exploit players like this, having your theoretical / GTO lines and situations down gives you the baseline from which to deviate.

I'm going busto everytime on this flop.
If you think for a minute, BB led small into a pretty large pot and got raised
which could easily be an AK trying to protect a hand which you have drawing to 7 outs

At these levels the activity on the flop can be such a wide array of trash.
Which I would probably never fold this hand at an under 30$ buyin tournament

Probably the best thing you can learn from this hand if you ever play one of these again is... raise more pre, so it's not this multi-way. Second, that people are over limping strong hands.

I couldn’t agree more.

I will say some of the advice you gave among others have helped me in certain situations and spots in these bar freerolls. I hope it doesn’t feel like the advice goes up in smoke. It doesn’t.

Here soon, I am going to see about getting back to online poker. Either ignition or bovado since gambling is not legal here (which I find ridiculous but it is what it is).