Hey all,

Have some spots from a tournament today I want some feedback on.

H1- we are super early and have maybe 30k-40k at 100-100 (100bba). I open AQo to 300 and some middle aged black guy 3 bets to 1200. Some weak spewy lady calls from small blind and I just sigh call from ep with AQo. Flop is QQ10. Lady checks, I check and black guy bets 5k into 4400. Lady check raises to 10.5k and I call and black guy calls. Turn is a 10. She checks and I bet 6k into 35.9k. They both fold. Should I check turn? I asked a friend and he said to check turn but idk. I feel I can easily jam river with much less than pot if I get a call from either. It was an odd spot and maybe I’m supposed to check turn to let someone spew? Idk.

The mabg seemed kinda snug to me so I was like idk if I should let a card peel off but idk probably a bad play by me? I was really hating the call pre but I’m like I gotta defend AQo there. I felt his range to 3 bet was probably pretty damn tight.

H2- this old white guy moves to my table and this is his 2nd hand maybe. He limps utg at 400/800 and I’m 2 to his left with JJ. I make it 3.2k on maybe a stack of 60k. He has 50k maybe? Folds to him and he kinda takes a while and I think he looks like he is going to fold. He asks me to see my stack and 3 bets to 11.4k. I just sigh fold. I may have seen him before and I never think he’s light here. Is this just an easy exploit fold? I feel like it was odd to call pree here and feel he has a lot of QQ+ here he’s limp/ 3betting. I fold and don’t show obv but felt the fold was really good.

He ended up playing super tight the rest of the day- he got some kid to my left to gift him a huge stack- he ends up 3 betting AA against this kid. The kid has Q7 of spades and the kid turns it into a bluff on A52 with 1spade or some odd flop. Old guy bets 10k on flop, he makes it something goofy like 35k, old guy calls. Turn is a blank no spade and the kid rips like a massive stack when guy checks and he snap calls- was such a bad punt I felt. The old guy had a stack of 150-200k rest of day and barely vpiped like someone like an internet wizard would so I think my fold was very good (JJ).

H3- we are late in day and I have 100k at 3k bb level. Some high stakes aggro cash game player opens to 6k, and 2 middle-older guys flat and I have QKo on button. I make it 25k and they all fold. Easy squeeze spot? I thought so. Was very nice spot to pick up 8.5bb without showdown or a flop. I was going to fold to a 4! Obv. The cash game player seemed super spazzy so I thought if I could get through his open- I’m gold with the squeeze.

Final hand- maybe have 120k and open to 6k at 3kbb with A6o from cutoff. Small blind and cash game player call (from bb). We are flop A23 (2 diamonds). Check, cash player leads 6k. Not sure what I should do here but I just flat and sb folds. Turn 6 with 2 flush draws on board now. He checks and I bet 15k and he folds. Not sure what he’s donk leading flop with but I thought it was bad.

I ended up pissing table off after saying he should probably lead no hands there (maybe I’m wrong but idk). Think bb would be better off playing X/raises from that spot if he thinks I’m cbetting too wide but idk. Turn was great for me so it was cool. I was a little worried he would be leading 23 or 45 so turn could have gotten really iffy. Thoughts on what a lead from bb range would be there? I say maybe 2 diamonds or a goofy pp/ 3x but I have no idea honestly. Not sure what stack sizes were but think I had 120k and he had maybe 70-80k at start of hand.

H1. Hard to see how you are going to get much value here when your flop play screams Qx+ or maybe TT? I guess you could be making some awful peel with KJ, but, no. Checking turn is just giving some 1 or 2 outers a chance to get there on the river.

H2. The limp reraise from that player type is just never anything but super strong hands. Maybe, you'll find the occasional AK, but, it is mostly KK+. That was even before the rest of the read, so, yeah, JJ is only a set mine there...

H3. Good squeeze.

Final hand. I'd guess the donk is something like 88, sort of a merge, getting folds from 2 overs and maybe even some 99-JJ with you in the middle. I know solvers don't lead here heads up, but do a lot more donk betting multi way. Bottom 2 pair, if he has it, is probably an ok candidate for that. I doubt he is supposed to lead the nuts there, even on a 2 flush board, but it is a good hand to start building the pot with against your weaker Ax and PP that are checking the flop.

Pair plus straight draw hands make some sense for the donk as well, so 44/55/34/24 etc.

I'd never, ever, never start giving strategy thoughts like you did.

H3- yea I’m not trying to be a douche but I just thought it was a goofy spot to lead for bb. This was a person that had a mask on and it kept falling below nose and dealers/ floor had to ask person to follow the rules so it was kinda obnoxious. A lot of things I see live mtt players do just make me laugh inside. I guess most people don’t study even a tiny bit though




I’ll post some hands from day 2 today that are simple but wanna hear if ok?


H1- we have like 140k at 2/4k and 30 from money so no real icm I feel. Button opens to 10k on 21-22bb stack (hasn’t been active so far but like young mawg). Sb flats on maybe 120-140k and is a snugger mawg I guess. I have J10ss in bb. I think and just elect to rip and they
Both fold. Think it’s a great spot to rip and take equity if they have a hand but feel they are going to fold a lot. I’m only worried about button honestly as I feel sb is probably stupid weak (he might have KQo or something goofy like that he will fold). We can call but against 2 villains I feel this is good spot to just rip and pick up 6bb when they fold?

H2- this spot is super odd. I open AQdd to 10k on 240k stack from HJ. Bb id a woman that seems only slightly competent and she rips 20bb. I hate to do it but I sigh fold. Think she has a lot of pairs and AK and maybe some AQ. Sure she can have AJ but I doubt it. I saw her also open to 8x from ep which odd in other hands. Think AQ is just a fold here.my AQ may have been unsuited but not sure.

H3- earlier in day I have 160k at 2/4k and open 99 to min 8k from LJ. Small blind calls, Old guy that is slightly spazzy rips 300k. I just sigh fold. This was prior to money- I think he has AQ/AK a lot here but also some pairs over mine so just an easy fold. I saw this older guy (who looked liked a redneckish omc) 3bet K9dd from button over a raise and call and then called off a SB woman jam of 20bbs (think he 3bet to like 8-9bb but not sure) think his call was just due to math obv. Do you ever wear the variance here and call 99. And also what hands are we calling when he just rips 300k over a 8k min raise? I’m going to guess JJ+ but just wanna hear people thoughts? I found ripping 300k over a min open and flat to be very odd bc he’s not doing that with AA or KK.

The old guy said he had AQ suited which I believe. Felt it was kinda punty spot to rip 60bbs? Am I wrong. Think it plays better as a 3.5-4x 3 bet. I’m only calling with maybe AK+ jj+ so idk what he was thinking (well he probably doesn’t think honestly).

H4- is this spot an easy cbet? I open AQdd from lp to 10k on maybe 320k. Bb flats- he’s a young looking kid that was playing online from cell phone prior day so I assume he’s very competent. Flops 236with one Diamond. Do we just cbet this flop always? I checked back. Turn 7 (not diamond), and he leads maybe 20k and I call. River J and it goes xx. He had A7o. Is it a big mistake to not cbet this flop small? I would guess yea but I felt the flop smashes his range and he can easily check raise a lot here. Maybe just bet flop and bet diamonds/A/Q on turn. Any thoughts on flop cbet sizing also? I generally go 25-33% when stacks are shallow around 30-50bb. Just feel he’s peeling a lot there and I shut a lot of turns down? Idk maybe I just gotta cbet that flop always.



BTW as always- live tourny poker is so juicy still. I see people opening to 4-5x on day 2 of a tourny near the money bubble and in the money. I still find it very odd why everyone isn’t min opening when the average stack size is 30-40bbs. It seems like such a leak. When you have hand you open and can’t call a 3bet, you are just giving away extra chips and making pots bigger postflop so you kinda gotta cbet more etc when stacks are super shallow. I’ll never understand people that open 2.5x+ when stacks are so shallow. Seems like such a leak. I also think some people will open super big with hands they are scared to play like 44/55 or AQ/AK to 4x bc they don’t wanna go to the streets. I just find some people making Goofy mistakes I don’t even think you have to study to realize- like when stacks are shallow- a min open is just as effective as a 3x raise plus you risk less when you have to fold. I also think people are timid of a bb defend. It’s sticky and can be tough sometimes but I welcome a bb defend against me when villian is out of position. I’m going to cbet most flops that favor my range super small and let them play fit/fold poker which I think a lot of live players do honestly.


One final theory question if anyone wants to discuss- how do you react to a 3x-4x open when stacks are so shallow? I find it so odd. I feel older players tend to open to larger sizes. I think they generally have much snugger ranges than someone like me. I think the bottoms of a gto range are probably folds for them however they do raise to a bigger size. Anyone got thoughts on how this should change our calling and 3 bet ranges / 3 bet sizes? I find it very difficult to adjust bc it’s odd to see people opening so large and when stacks are very very shallow at most important stage of a tourny.

H1. While the squeeze was successful, was this the best hand to do it with? Mediocre blockers and a hand that plays very well as a call. A hand like A5 might be better.
H2. In theory a call, but I like your read. Was this a 2.5 open or a 2.0 open?
H3. 40BBs is a lot to call. You might see some 88 or so, but in general, this isn't a good spot.
H4. Range bets almost all the time. This hand is even good enough to call a check raise.

Theory Q. If they are opening much bigger and tighter, you can call much tighter, and forget about 3! shoves with light hands. And don't be afraid to jam top of range for value, since they aren't raising 4x off 20BB to fold. Of course if you see some of the hands that get shown down, you might adjust this. Also, if they have 2 sizes, that could easily be a sizing tell; if they suddenly go from 4x to 2x, it might be a hand they aren't interested in playing for stacks, like an AJ/KQ/77 type of hand, or it might be AA only, that they are inducing with...

Day 1 H1: I don't think it matters much. 6.5k is about 25% of your effective stack but it looks like an inducement not a blocking bet. You are now tied with Qx anyway which is the hand that will call any bet. I doubt the old lady can have Q9s/Q8s but if she does then you could win all of her chips if an A comes as long as you shove the turn. Similarly the black guy might call with AA/KK because he is getting the right implied odds. I'd rather see AA/KK fold so I would just shove the turn. You could make the argument that AA/KK might call a river bet after the turn checks through.

Day 1 H2: Good fold. When an old guy tanks and then 4-bet raises its always bad. For me. In theory you could have just limped behind because it is an old guy and we don't know if he is just loose/passive or going to limp re-raise. But I think I prefer the raise/fold rather than get into it multiway.

Day 1 H3: Well done. You block AK/AQ.

Day 1 FH: I would call on the flop as well. Sometimes they are seeking info and the call doesn't give them much. In this exact spot at the Borgota I called. The guy led out the turn and I shoved with AK (TPTK). He had 54 and I was done. I generally think its a bluff or a weak A because Hero is almost always going to cbet on this board. But I'm guessing that solid players will sometimes lead out with hands like A3/A2/22/33/45 so that SB & Hero don't get to see a free card with 44/55 or any PP really.

Day 2 H1: Not a fan of this. We don't block AK/AQ/AA/KK/QQ and we are risking a lot to win not too much. I prefer playing JTs 3-way so I would call.

Day 2 H2: I don't mind the fold. We could be up against KK/AK. But I now often call 3-bets of this size with AQs pre-flop if I think the player could do it with AJ/ATs and most PP's. Not sure if this lady fits the bill...

Day 2 H3: Good fold. Maybe old guy realized you are very good and didn't want to play postflop.

Day 2 FH: HU in position I will cbet most of the time. If you get c/r'd it seems like a fold here.

In general if somebody is consistently over raising pre-flop I will 3-bet them with very strong hands only (3x IP and 4x OOP). If my raise would exceed 30% effective stack I jam. On the other hand I will call very infrequently from the BB.