Thoughts Some Intresting Hands From My 125 Gold Nugget Tournament

[Duncanwf05 1]

135* dollar NLH tournament 45 min blinds.

Hand oneblind at 50/ 100 everyone at the table is around 12k in chips as there hasn't been a lot of big hands, played to this point.I'm in the big blind and look down at two pretty Laddies (QhQc). I have 6 limpers to me at this point, I decided that this simply won't do and I pop it up to 500, I get one caller from a guy who hasn't played a hand yet. Needless to say I'm going to play the hand pretty cautious from this point foward. I'm putting him on A-10 suited(prolly not) AJ suited (maybe) A-q (I have two highly doubt it.) AK (seems reasonable) AA-JJ ( Perhap) He just called my 500 though so in my mind AA-KK are prolly out, Then this flop comes out.Qs-10h-9c,The pot is sitting at about 1400, He checks, I fire in 1k, I want to see where I'm at. Maybe a bit on the highside, maybe not. He tanks for a while and finnaly calls. At this point I eliminate AA-KK, and have him on AK-AJThe turn is a Kd The pot is sitting at 3400,He checks I throw in a bet of 2200. He insta shoves, I take a slow breath and start to replay the hand in my mind. I don't think he is going to make this play with AK, as he seems like a competent player up to this point. I have shown strength the whole way through the hand. Want should I do?HAND 2Another hand that happened at that level that I found intresting I'm on the button with KQs There have been 5 limpers and I think why not, 100 to perhaps flop a monster, SB and BB complete and we go into the pot 7 handed.FlopJh10h9dGIN!!! but a nasty flush draw. UTG+3 leads into the 700 dollar pot with a 400 raise. Folds around to me, The sb has prematurly thow in his hand and the Big blind asked the waitress where the restroom is. I'm pretty sure I'm just up against the one guy and with the nuts I don't really want scare him off so I smooth. (Righ play I don't know A reraise might have been in order to define my hand, and with 1100 in the pot it isn't horrid to pick it up. But, with the nuts you want to milk... the flush draw is scary though I think I should have re poped.)TurnKqso 1500 in the pot and he fires in 800, I tank for a while and now realizing my error decided I need to price him out in all likely hood of a flush draw. The only problem is now a q alone completes the straight. I reraise to 2k, He insta shoves. What should I do?Hand 3100-200 I'm in the bb and have about 7k in ships. After having donked some off the hand before. I look down at two black Kings. UTG a tight player raises to 600. and 4 player limp behind him... I decide with 2.4k in chips in the middle I'm ok with taking the hand down right now and raise to 2k,folds around to a player who arived late and don't know that well, he reraises to 4k. so now, I sit back and start to think. He hasn't played a lot of hands what can he have I come up with AA, AK, QQ. There is 2400 in the pot from the players, 4k from him and 2k from me. Folding is out of the question, I can smooth call making the pot 10,400 leaving me 3k behind. If I shove and he calls I'm getting roughly in my math hope it's right 4-1 so, my call makes the pot 10,400 my all in makes13,400 his call makes it 16,400. so in my mind 3000 more to pick up 16,400 if he calls, and a nice pick up if he folds. Even if he does have the dreaded AA I'm 20% to win the hand. Seems to me the odds are right. What should I do? Shove or smooth?If I smooth and A comes on the flop I have 3k left to play with, not in great shape but playable.

[donk4life 34]

Hand 1: Don't bet to "see where you're at," either bet for value or a bluff. I hate betting the turn, what are you trying to accomplish? What are you going to get called by that you beat? And when you get jammed on you have to fold unless you're getting the right price to draw to a boat.Hand 2: I guess I don't mind limping pre, I might still raise. Raise the flop, not sure why you waited until the turn to raise, but I don't think you can fold.Hand 3: Probably jam, you can't smooth call and leave yourself 15 bbs. What do you plan to do if the flop is 853? Are you calling a shove? If you aren't then just fold preflop because you aren't getting the odds to set mine.

[TrueAce13 18]

how does the man make it 300 at 100/200.and for the hands themselves: hand one, horrible bet on the turn. i'd check/eval river. Hand 2 I'm calling/eval river. hand 3, I can't get over the makes it 300, so I haven't read the entire thing.edit: finished reading hand 3, and ya just get it in

[Duncanwf05 1]

my bad, fixed and corrected.

[answer20 5]

These are some interesting hands ... very suprised that you got shoves in the first 2 hands. Are they in a hurry to go somewhere?Hand #1 ... Based on your description (mainly the tanking on the Flop) I would put him on JJ, maybe AJs. It is possible that he puts you on AA which makes KK the only other shoving hand here, but makes no sense since you could just as easily have JJ. I don't really like betting the Turn here since he has told you he's serious by calling your nice Flop bet and you control the pot size on a board that just got more dangerous (no flush draws=bonus) ... you also don't give off too much more about your hand AND can see a 'free' card to boat with. There are cards that can help your hand if you are behind (except to KK) and you also give him the opportunity to bluff at this board or get paid if he hits 2-pair if you are still ahead on the Turn. There was also a very slim possiblility that he is bluffing here, but that would require him to have a pretty good read on you ... just doesn't seem right this 'early' (100BB+) in a tournament, but that may make it 'right' also!!Hand #2 ... Could have raised pre-Flop yes, but with the Button this is not a bad spot to just 'call with pot odds' and not define your hand ... and you are inflating the pot where most callers will probably be ahead of you with AX or small pairs. Yes, you could have raised the Flop bet to see how serious he was but since you are heads-up you can play this either way ... again, you have not defined your hand as of yet and calling here really doesn't say a whole lot. Personally I don't like switching gears in the middle of the hand ... not sure what suit the K is either right now but I am assuming it is not a heart ... so I am not raising on this Turn card since you didn't get any better and your opponent may have. It opens the door ... as in Hand #1 ... for a shove you really don't know what to do with ... he could have QhXh and in a freeroll posiiton right now. If this Turn is a blank, then it's ok to raise his bet since there is no way for him to have improved to a hand better than yours and the flush draw is still out there ... although it sounds like double talk, I don't consider this action changing gears.I don't think you can call either of these shoves and assume you didn't based on your comments and chip counts.Hand #3 ... There is at least 2600 and maybe 2700 in the pot including your 200 already in there and maybe 100 from the SB if he folded ... so if you only call, that would make it 3100. You only raised 1400 into 3100, this is less of a raise than you did in Hand #1 (by percent of pot) and left the door open for any caller who wants 3:1 on their call to see a 'cheap' Flop. If indeed you did want to take down the pot here, you needed your raise (not total bet) to be at least 2000 up to 3000 (maybe more) to let the others know that you are committed to a shove (even if you aren't). By raising an amount that 'technically' commits you to a shove (35% of your stack or more) there is no way you face a bet here that still leaves you fold equity in the other players' mind (5000=25BB) ... so they either have to call or shove, not min-raise. He very well could have thought you were on a steal and just wanted to see how serious you were since (in his mind) you do still have fold equity with the 5k behind. As the hand actually played out you need to shove and not deal with a Flop decision that really isn't a decision as the only Flops you don't shove are ones with an A or K in them. And even if the A shows up, you should shove anyway and hope he was on a smaller pair and not AK or AA. Don't you want your money in there with KK? Since you are out of position, they can still get away from their hand OR IMPROVE for 'free' post-Flop with you to act first ... you are only getting called post-Flop by hands that beat you anyway unless you spike a King. Can't imagine that you folded this with the memory of the other 2 hands in your mind. Hope this helps ... let us know.

[MIddLES 0]

hand one: preflop fine. bet smaller on flop, c turn, fold as played.hand two: raising pre is probably fine at this stage but whatever, raise flop and build a pot, just call turn...hand three: high five yourself and get it in... you might even just consider open jamming pre, with that much in the middle it can be perceived as weak enough in many tournaments imo... if the dude who clicked it back on you is over the age of 50 and you are feeling like a superstar you could muck your kings face up for the story