10 replies to this topic

[screech]

Ok, after I posted my first sng hand, some people suggested that I leave out the results, which I think is a good idea. Final table of a nl sng. Limits 200/400. 7 players left. I am second in chips with ~ $5500. Chip leader has ~ $8000. 5 other players ranging between ~$1500-$4000. In MP I get dealt A J Everyone folds to me.I make it $1000 to go.Chip leader calls.BB with low stack goes all in for another $1000.Pot is ~$4000.Getting 4:1 pot odds, and given this seems like a short stack desperation move, I call.Chip leader calls.Flop: 4 6 J Great flop for me. I have TPTK with no draws in sight. It is only me and the chip leader in a side pot right now. I don't want to chase him away so I only bet ~$500, knowing he won't want to fold such a large pot to such a small bet. Turn: 2 Another good card for me. However this puts a flush draw out there. I want to make it very expensive for my opponent to call if he's on the draw. If he folds, I figure I have a great chance to beat the short stack in a showdown. I also figure that this is a hand that will be hard to get away from if I make a decent size bet and am reraised, since I will be left with a short stack if I fold. So I decide to move all-in against the chip leader. He calls, and I don't know whether to be happy or sad.River: 10 Good and bad news. No overcard, but this does make a flush possible.I am interested to hear how you would play this hand and why?I will post the results later.

[Vade]

Well, honestly, with your hand, I probably would have let the chipleader try and take him out.You got reraised by a shortstack. Usually, a shortstack desperation move would NOT reraise you with junk.They'd be looking to steal the blinds + limpers.It's certainly not an Easy fold, but I think folding is the right move. Before the flop.Since you saw the flop, you made an extremely weak bet. I'm curious as to why you wouldn't want to make the chipleader fold. Granted, I think you're behind the shortstack preflop, but you don't want to risk going broke. Bet half the pot on that flop.

[akishore]

the blinds are horrendous.there's really no best way to play that hand... with the chipleader only having 20 big blinds, and you having aroud 14, this hand will cost you all your chips somehow.that said, i don't think folding preflop is a good idea. you have a strong hand, and the chance to take out a shortstack and get more chips. i might have re-raised after the shortstack re-raised, in order to push off the chipleader (he's shown weakness by only calling your raise and not re-raising). your AJ figures to do great heads-up, but it's vulnerable post-flop.so after the pre-flop round, the main pot is ~6000. you are down to 3500, and the chipleader is down to around 6000.i would have bet either 1500 for value or just pushed in on the flop (considering that a push is basically a 1/2 pot bet).aseem

[screech]

I called because I felt I had the small blind beat. With the blinds and antes, he could only play 7 or 8 more hands until he made a move. I thought he would move with any two face cards, suited connectors, or Ace-x.Again the pot was offering me 4 to 1, which really was the deciding factor for me. I thought I had the chip leader beat. I was unsure about the big stack. In retrospect, I probably should have reraised or folded. The big stack called my initial raise, stating that he had a good hand. I was out of position on the later betting rounds, and had no idea if the big stack would reraise after my preflop call, so calling was clearly a bad play.As for my preflop bet, I was trying to extract the most chips from my opponent. I realize this may have been dangerous as he would call the bet with two overcards such as AK and AQ. I probably should have bet a bit more here. Keep in mind that at the time I did not want to chase him away. The only overcards that would have scared me were K and Q. I thought that by making that small bet I could extract alot of chips from him and if a K or Q fell I would maneuver from there without losing too many chips on my previous bet.I am relatively new to the game, and I appreciate everyone's input and comments. By laying out situations I have trouble with, I hope that the better players out there can comment on what they would have done in a similar situation and why.

[Vade]

After reading Akishore's post...moving in is okay.He's really got to either go all in and isolate the shortstack or fold.If you see that flop, you have to have all your chips in by the turn.If you really had a read on the short stack, that's fine, I just don't really like A-J against two other players.

[Awful]

screech said:

Ok, after I posted my first sng hand, some people suggested that I leave out the results, which I think is a good idea. Final table of a nl sng. Limits 200/400. 7 players left. I am second in chips with ~ $5500. Chip leader has ~ $8000. 5 other players ranging between ~$1500-$4000. In MP I get dealt A J Everyone folds to me.I make it $1000 to go.Chip leader calls.BB with low stack goes all in for another $1000.Pot is ~$4000.Getting 4:1 pot odds, and given this seems like a short stack desperation move, I call.Chip leader calls.Flop: 4 6 J Great flop for me. I have TPTK with no draws in sight. It is only me and the chip leader in a side pot right now. I don't want to chase him away so I only bet ~$500, knowing he won't want to fold such a large pot to such a small bet. Turn: 2 Another good card for me. However this puts a flush draw out there. I want to make it very expensive for my opponent to call if he's on the draw. If he folds, I figure I have a great chance to beat the short stack in a showdown. I also figure that this is a hand that will be hard to get away from if I make a decent size bet and am reraised, since I will be left with a short stack if I fold. So I decide to move all-in against the chip leader. He calls, and I don't know whether to be happy or sad.River: 10 Good and bad news. No overcard, but this does make a flush possible.I am interested to hear how you would play this hand and why?I will post the results later.

Actually, I might move in preflop since chip leader didn't reraise me, try to iso with the short stack all-in, make sure you can win those chips safely and not risk your tournament existence (unless CL was slowplaying QQ/KK/AA). Keeping him around is possiblya bit more profitable, but also leaves you walking on eggshells; it's a protected pot with the all-in guy; he's not gonna be playing with you without some sort of out, and he's the last guy you want to be offering implied odds.Secondly, top pair top kicker is not a hand I trap with but a hand I protect. I'd bet more there, possibly sliding on the flop.EDIT: Hey hey, Akishore beat me to my suggestion and said it/reasoned it the same or better. I should read the responses before I offer my take

[Wily]

You played it fine preflop. Like someone else said, chip leader may be slow playing aces or kings, but he may be just calling with something like A10 or smaller pocket pair to try to snag a flop, as the pot odds are correct for him too. If he is slowplaying a monster, he is an idiot (and asking for his AA or KK to get cracked). Unless you've seen him slowplay like a donkey before, he probably does not have AA, KK, or QQ, the hands you have most to worry about on your particular flop. On the flop, you have to push all in. Don't get greedy and try to extract value from the CL with a tiny bet of 500 - there's already enough chips in the pot to let you take the lead if the CL folds. If he has a set already or an overpair, c'est la vie, but most likely he doesn't. However, letting him get a draw in is very, very bad - he could easily have AK, AQ, even KQ, and getting one of those overs is bad. Not to mention he may be drawing towards a smallish pp - the 2 is probably not it, but it is possible. Easy push all in on the flop - if you're beat, you're beat, but you won't have to wonder about it on the turn.Yli

[Briguy]

I would just check it down after the flop.2 players are in the pot, increasing the odds of eliminating the shortstack. There's no guarantee that the chip leader isn't holding QQ-AA (or even JJ), after calling your PF raise. You have a good hand postflop, but it is vulnerable, especially if CL has an overpair or AK, AQ. Without more information, I wouldn't worry too much about the flush draw...you have the As, so unless the chipleader is the type to overvalue KQs, KXs, or low suited connectors, I don't put him on a flush draw.If the CL bets small after you check, I'd call him down. If he goes all-in, I'd worry about the overpair or the set of jacks. Use the timebank, wax philosophically, and probably fold.

[Emptyeye]

Yeah, you've probably read the discussion about how bluffing at a dry side pot is one of the worst things you can possibly do.I, personally, don't even like to BET at a dry side pot unless i have some sort of monster hand. TPTK is nice, but not invincible. So I personally would check it down and hope CL does the same.

[Birdie10]

I would have went all in pre flop I would have wanted to get cl out of that pot. By only calling your raise I would have had him on small poket pair or ace somthing, hopefully not a picture. The all in bet from the small stack would have put you in good postion later on to go heads up with the cl anyway. Keeping cl in the pot for flop, turn, river only hurts you because if he has it he calls and if he doesn't he folds so you aren't really going to get anymore money out of him anyway or her sorry.So I would have tried very hard to get him (her) out of the pot as early as possible.. But thats just me..Birdie

[Briguy]

So, what's the punchline? Did CL have a matching AJ and did you triple up the short-stack's QQ? Inquiring minds want to know.