I feel I played this hand very bad. Just want some input on how you guys would differ.

I was 5th at the time
villain was chip leader

Full Tilt Poker $10 $1 Knockout No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t800/t1600 Blinds + t200 - 8 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

polak01 (CO): t45238
Macattack0690 (BTN): t39738
Hero (SB): t52841
Russ257 (BB): t111485
KevinO (UTG): t61729
bearbrother (UTG+1): t22574
INSIDE VEER (MP1): t23094
Plzd2beatU (MP2): t39631

Pre Flop: Hero is SB with A T
6 folds, Hero raises to t4000, Russ257 calls t2400

Flop: (t9600) 5 T 4 (2 players)
Hero bets t8000, Russ257 calls t8000

Turn: (t25600) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets t12800, Russ257 calls t12800

River: (t51200) J (2 players)
Hero checks, Russ257 bets t36800, Hero folds


Full Tilt Poker $10 $1 Knockout No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t800/t1600 Blinds + t200 - 8 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

CO: t45238
BTN: t39738
Hero (SB): t52841
BB: t111485
UTG: t61729
UTG+1: t22574
MP1: t23094
MP2: t39631

Pre Flop: Hero is SB with A T
6 folds, Hero raises to t4000, BB calls t2400

Flop: (t9600) 5 T 4 (2 players)
Hero bets t8000, BB calls t8000

Turn: (t25600) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets t12800, BB calls t12800

River: (t51200) J (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets t36800, Hero folds

Second hand..



Full Tilt Poker $10 $1 Knockout No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t1200/t2400 Blinds + t300 - 5 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Macattack0690 (CO): t182778
Hero (BTN): t104626
Russ257 (SB): t89894
KevinO (BB): t53982
hawk1010 (UTG): t66331

Pre Flop: Hero is BTN with Q Q
1 fold, Macattack0690 raises to t9900, Hero calls t9900, 2 folds

Flop: (t24900) K 4 2 (2 players)
Macattack0690 checks, Hero bets t14400, Macattack0690 calls t14400

Turn: (t53700) 4 (2 players)
Macattack0690 checks, Hero checks

River: (t53700) 8 (2 players)
Macattack0690 bets t53700, Hero folds

Hand #1: This is a very tough spot - and highly read-dependent. Is Villain more aggressive or more passive? Is he tricky? Does he regularly defend his blinds? Does he often raise the flop with TP? Fair enough - I like the pf-raise. After Villain flat-calls your raise in the BB, what range might he have? Unless he was very passive, I would assume that he has no pair and no two broadways (b/c he did not reraise). Let´s assume he has something like suited connectors, A-rag or something comparable. On the flop you should definitely be ahead of him as you have TP with the best kicker. Unlikely (though not impossible!) that Villain had hit a set. So you make a c-bet (which is a little too big in my opinion). He flat-calls again. Now - what he might have now? 67s is definitely possible. Would hands like AT, KT, QT, JT flatcall the flop? I doubt that. What else? 44 gets more possible now. Hands like AJ would have reraised preflop. So - the situation is not that clear anymore ... said this I had bet 5k on the flop. The turn is ugly as it completes some draws Villain might have had. Unless Villain was a complete donk, I had check-folded the turn. As played here I had made the same fold on the river.

Hand #2: Repop it preflop. The pot is juicy already - so take it. If Villain comes over the top with a 4-bet you should reevaluate. As played here, you have to ask yourself what it means that the pf-raiser suddenly pull the breaks. He is HU with you. Is he really scared of the made flush? Is he scared of the K? Did he normally make c-bets on the flop? I get extremely cautious when a pfr suddenly checks the flop against one single opponent. Anyway - you take your stab at the pot here. Villain flat-calls. That is suspicious again. If he had AKo - would he give you a "freecard"? If he had an underpair to the K - like QQ - would he call your flopbet? I doubt that. Maybe he has already flopped the nut-flush (with A Q) and now tries to milk you. So back off and let the hand go (as you did). Summarized - I don´t really like the flop-bet but it´s a nice, aggressive try to steal the pot. Not that bad at all ...

- Tackleberry -

Hand 1: Calling (keeping the pot small against the chipleader and disguising the strength of your hand) and raising are both viable option. On that flop I think your C-bet is a little to big, the board is not so drawheavy, some people see it as weakness, I would bet around 6500; also remember that once your stacksize shrinks relative to your stack, you should not only raise a little less pre, but also make smaller C-bets. If villain is aggressive check-calling is also a good option. Villain calls that could mean a lot of hands, 35, 45, 65, 75, T7 and better, 46, two overcards, 76, 22 and better, even complete air if he thinks he can take it away on the turn. Remember villains prefloprange is large, he has position. That 8 probably didn't help villain and we are most likely to have the best hand, if villain is aggressive you can still check/call, but betting out isn't bad in any way, size of the bet is fine; villain calls again, that means he now has 67, T8-85 (both unlikely) and better T's, a set or slowplayed overpair is pretty unlikely because I think with the draws out there he would put in a raise about now. River, you beat KT,QT,T9; you are beaten by JT, T8, 67 and any unlikely set or overpair. I think you can safely check/fold here because the range of hands you beat are checking behind on the river. So all in all I like it except for the relative large flopbet.

Hand 2: raise preflop to 35000 and shove every flop/call every shove, slowplaying here is bad very bad. On that flop I check behind, he raised preflop but checks the flop, that either means he is going for a check/raise with a high club, he has a flush or you have him beat by far. With toppair or an underpair or the nutflushdraw or air I would often expect him to make a C-bet, so him checking is very strange, in fact it is supersuspicious. I check behind and am only prepared to call one bet at the turn and maybe a small one on the river. As it is you have shown weakness by checking behind on the turn and you thus may have induced a bluff also your flopbet was pretty weak. I think if you bet the flop you have to bet the turn, this could also give you a free showdown. I think I fold on the river, you have acted very weak, so if he was bluffing he didn't need to pull out such a large bet on the river (you had no K obviously), I think he is betting so big in the hope that you read him for a bluff, I could be wrong though. But remember your decision is only so difficult because you made the wrong play preflop, on the flop and on the turn.

So it seems Tackleberry and I agree pretty much . One thing though; I think villain is calling often with a T on that flop because he has position and with some T's he is WA/WB.

Yep - that´s a good argument! If Villan was a solid player (which he should be this deep!), that makes perfect sense.