It's Sunday morning and I head back out to Vegas tomorrow for some more tournament fun. This is a great time to get back to my journal writing and recap some hands from the summer, hands that were interesting and/or hands I would play differently. Here they are in no particular order. (bet sizes are approximate as I don't remember exact amounts):
3k No-Limit Event #38:
hand 1: I had just doubled up with AK vs 99, hitting a flush on the river, and I now had about 50bb. I raised 2.2x utg1 with AK. I am in s2 and s6 three bet me to 5x. He seemed to be a very good player, he had we well out chipped and I'm sure he has noticed I hadn't played a lot of pots. What do I do now?
a. fold? seems horrible. not under consideration
b. call? seems weak, but my hand is very hidden and I should get a lot of value if I flop a pair. If I whiff I only have ace high and can live to fight another day with a 45bb stack.
c. raise 12x? seems reasonable, but the problem is how much to raise it? If I click it back to 12x or so he can call in position, the pot will be around 26bb and I will have 38bb in my stack and if I whiff the flop he can call a continuation bet and I'm in bad shape.
d. raise 16x? I've put a third of my chips in the pot and I really don't want to fold to a shove, and again if I'm called I'm out of position but have about a 1:1 stp ratio.
e. raise more? If I raise more than this I might as well shove and I'm only getting called if I'm crushed or tied, and I've made him throw all his bluff hands away...
I chose to call, and I folded to a bet on a flop of QQdTd. I could have called one bet on this flop but didn't feel like expending chips out of position versus a very competent opponent.
On a side note I'm watching a $2500 NL final table this morning and S8 with 40bb raised 2x utg with AK. The chip leader rr 5x from utg1 with JThh. S8 rr 12x and was called and had to check fold a flop of J43. four betting small in this spot seems like possibly the worst play? I'd love to hear how to play AK to a three bet with a 40-50bb stack size. If you have more chips you can four bet and continuation bet, and less chips you can just get it in pre flop. The 40-50bb stack size seems to be the most troublesome?
hand 2: Like most hands, the dynamics at the table and with the players weigh heavily in the decision making process. This hand was the first hand back from break, starting 100/200/25. We were nine handed I think and at least one player wasn't back yet (s9, the most aggressive player at the table). s4 r525 from utg with 7000 behind. He was on the tighter side so far so his opening range should be a little stronger here. But it's also a chance for him to open the pot as a couple seats are empty. s5 moved all in for about 3000. If folded to me in the bb and I looked at AQ with 19000 chips. I don't do a lot of hand range calculations at the table but it seemed to be a very close decision. I think I'm in great shape vs s5 and my hand should be ahead of the opener's range. But he does have a significant amount of chips behind and if I'm behind it's for 40% of my stack.
Going into this event I felt that there would be stronger players in this event and I wanted to take close spots where I thought I had the advantage. Versus weaker fields I try to avoid these spots and wait for better situations. I used this fact, along with the fact I'd have plenty of chips if I lost, to guide my decision to shove all in and isolate s5. However, s4 had AK and we lost.
I asked three of my pro friends what they would do. One said the shove was a no brainer. One said it was close but he'd probably shove. (He made a great point that it was very close because I would never shove AJ). One said it was close but he would tend to fold as s4 had too many chips behind him. Another friend said to fold and preserve my chip stack. Not sure what I would do in this situation again, but I did notice that later in the tournament another player in my similar spot isolated with AJ.
hand 3: I had roughly 21bb to start this hand at 300/600. I opened 1200 in the lojack with KT. It was the first chance I had to enter a pot in quite awhile and I felt this was a reasonable open. Both blinds called. The flop came out T93. The sb checked and the bb led out for 2100. This was first time I remember him leading a flop and his bet was for just over half pot. I definitely liked my hand as I don't even think he has top pair here. Most likely he has some kind of draw or possibly nailed the flop with T9. I call figuring worse hands except for draws won't call a raise. The small blind folds and the pot is about 8500. The turn is an A which is a great card cause if he did somehow have TX then I was already losing to AT, and the A doesn't complete any draws. The bb leads out for 3300 here and I have about 10k back. I thought about shoving all in here but I felt really good about where I was in the hand; probably only a picture card hurts me and all other cards he very likely bluffs the river since he had a mountain of chips. I called the turn ready to call most non picture card rivers and fold to one of those bad cards. The river was a Q and after a bit of thinking he put me all in and I folded.
Very certain I folded correctly but I think next time I would just put it in on the turn. I think. Given that I think he bluffs the river and I get the chips if he misses but can fold if he hits made it an interesting situation. I saw the villain the next day in the sit n go area. He was a very nice guy and spoke little English. I asked him about the hand and he told me he rivered a straight. That made the most sense given the line he took.
hand 4: this was a small hand early on before antes but I think it can be instructional for my upcoming tournaments. There was a raise pre flop and I called the button with J9. One of the blinds might have called and the flop was T83, The raiser bet and I called the button and we were heads up. The turn was a K and we both checked. The river was a 5 and when my opponent checked I bet 4/5 the pot (bet 1000 into around 1200) and he insta called with 44. I had been pretty active as we were short handed but his call is still a bit light. I should have a T there a lot of the time so the instructional part to me is to value bet bigger if the situation warrants. If I did hit my J or 9 a value bet was clearly warranted and I don't know if that was part of my plan on the turn.
I really have to pay attention to my value bet sizes throughout my tournament and maximize as much as possible in all situations.
1k NL Seniors Event
hand 1: this hand happened during the first orbit: there were 4-5 limpers and the small blind (an old guy, oh wait, I don't need to describe any opponents during this tournament as they are all the same!) makes it 500! I mean, that HAS to be AK, right? I have 99 in the big blind so I don't really want to fold given I have position and I don't think this guy will bluff me. I call and we're heads up to a flop of 9h84h. the sb checks, so he HAS to have AK! RIGHT? So I check, hoping he catches up, and wala! an A on the turn. The sb checks again and when I bet 1000 he chucks his KK into the muck! I have no clue how he checks the flop and how an A comes on the turn, but if I had to do it again...
I would bet 200-300 on the flop. Something so small that he wouldn't fold AK and if somehow he does have a huge hand he can check raise me. Almost always I bet my monster hands but here it was so unlikely he had a big hand I decided to check. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.
hand 2: this was the last hand before the dinner break, and after having a very healthy stack and trending up I had three hands in a row that went sideways and lost a lot of chips when my opponents made big hands. I had about 18bb to start this hand and I min raised 88 from utg1. I don't want to fold a hand this strong and I certainly don't need to shove when the table is this soft, so I chose the min raise. The button and both blinds called and the flop came out JhJ3h. I have so few chips to find out where I'm out four handed so I decided to check back and hope to get to the river. The button checked and when the 6h came on the turn the bb bet, we all folded and he proudly showed A6.
Next time I would definitely bet 900-1000 on the flop (less than my pre flop raise). The pot was so crucial to me and my opponents were so bad it's going to work if I have the best hand. I gotta take a shot. Can I call the turn? Maybe, probably should have, but my biggest mistake I think was on the flop.
