£20 buy in poker tournament in North London. Limited re-buys at £20 each before the first break (3-5 per tourney until the organisers run out of chips). 18 players, 18 left, top 4 get paid.

My first time playing here for a while but it's a well run tournament with loose play preflop, aggressive play postflop.

Villain is a regular who plays most weeks. Based on his table chat with other regs he has a reputation of calling light preflop with junk and trying to outflop or bluff. Today, he's been caught out with some janky hands and won a chunky pot with his KK vs AQ on a Q high board.

I've not played many hands. I've shown down AA winning a decent pot vs AJ on a J high board. My image is pretty tight and possibly someone who can be pushed off hands. Everyone else at the table talks like Vinnie Jones. I sound like Benedict Cumberbatch getting out of a warm bath.

This is the first hand after the break (no more rebuys allowed). 5th blind level. Stack sizes of the other 3 callers were around 30-50BBs

Blinds 200/400
9 handed table
UTG+1 (Hero) - 17,500
CO (Villain) - 25,000ish

Preflop Hero dealt AT
UTG folds, Hero raises to 900, Call x4 (UTG+2, HJ, CO (Villain), BB), everyone else folds

Flop 567 (pot = 4700)
Hero - 16,600
Villain - 24,100

Hero bets 2500, UTG+2 and HJ fold, Villain calls, BB folds

Turn 567A (pot = 9700)
Hero - 14,100
Villain 21,600

Hero checks, Villain bets 5000, Hero?

I'd love feedback on all streets and opinions on Villain's range.

Many thanks!

I wish more hand histories contained sentences like the above.

I wish fewer hand histories contained c-bets multiway and OOP with no hand equity or fold equity.

Check-fold flop.

Out of position, mediocre hand, no equity, lots of players to act behind you, a coordinated board which completely misses your range. If there was a checklist which you had to consult in order to c-bet a flop, your checklist would have absolutely 0 boxes ticked on this board. You're done with this hand, move on to the next one.

Honestly think I'd fold pre, although OP has raised small it doesn't sound like the sort of game where he's going to get many people to fold with a decent live raise, so why play ATo OOP against multiple opponents, seems really hard to construct too many flops we want to see. And this flop isn't one of them, check it

Fold preflop. Loose preflop and aggressive postflop means you're always going to be called pre and are out of position postflop against aggression when you are most likely to miss the flop. Normally position is important but without fold equity preflop you want to play much more in position and play hands that can flop better out of position. So you can still play some hands, but raise JTs rather than ATo.

Oh as played the cbet is giving away money. It's pure charity.

Thanks for the replies. I agree the flop bet is pretty horrible and won't be doing that again in a hurry.

Considering the hand as played, any thoughts on the turn?

1) Tend to agree with folding this PF if your own image read is correct. You'd be better served sliding in the occasional 'mis-direction' holding than a medium Ace that might be hard to fold ... like in this hand!

2) C-betting this Board will rarely get through, but it should thin the field a bit. You just wont know where you stand against anyone sticking around, especially the guy who did stick around.

3) Like the check (to induce?) on the Turn. You're just faced with a decision. You still have 35BB if you fold. Your check 'should' mean TT-KK and our action Player has taken the bait. This issue is what Aces do we beat? Not many (5) on this Board and the V is way more likely to improve than we are on the River with his range that either has us beat or is some sort of combo pair/str/flush draw.

Most here don't want to teach you how to get out of jail here ... they want to have you stay out of jail to begin with (fold PF, don't bloat pot OOP). You are really just playing the cross your fingers range game against an unpredictable opponent.

I have to assume that a reg knows that the re-buys are done and he has to 'get serious' now. It's possible he doesn't have that gear/ability in his game so you just need to make a decision as to whether there is a better spot for your 35BB. Certainly the possibility to push your way up to 100BB is attractive as this will allow you to play more of a waiting game in the next level or two.

I just sense an Ax two pair or AJ/AQ being shown here a bunch. A naked AJ/AQ doesn't really explain the Flop call (against you), so I lean more towards 2 pair or heavy draws, maybe a few sets.

35BB is still enough to enjoy your first time back at the table, but it's up to you here. I don't like calling OOP, so I'm leaning towards more folds than shoves. GL

If you could have folded preflop and definitely should have checked the flop you will never encounter this situation ever again. Why is it then important to know what to do on the turn?

Based on what you know of your opponent, I'd check call turn, and check call river if it didn't bring 4 to a straight

Turn play depends on who is more likely to mess up the river. Given that you are out of position and what happened in the hand so far, I wouldn’t be too optimistic.

Thanks for the replies and thoughts. I was pretty sure I'd screwed this hand up on all streets and thought it might be a good one to learn from.