No read on villain. I struggled a bit with the size of my reraise on the river. Thoughts on villain's range? On my bet/reraise amount? Should we always bet the turn?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t20 (9 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

saw flop|saw showdown

CO (t1500)
Button (t1480)
Hero (t1480)
BB (t1880)
UTG (t1500)
UTG+1 (t1500)
MP1 (t1180)
MP2 (t1480)
MP3 (t1500)

Preflop: Hero is SB with , .
1 fold, UTG+1 calls t20, 1 fold, MP2 calls t20, 1 fold, CO calls t20, 1 fold, Hero completes, BB raises to t120, UTG+1 calls t100, MP2 folds, CO folds, Hero calls t100.

Flop: (t400) , , (3 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, UTG+1 checks.

Turn: (t400) (3 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, UTG+1 checks.

River: (t400) (3 players)
Hero bets t120, BB folds, UTG+1 raises to t240, Hero raises to t460

I play it the same up to the turn. I think I bet there, probably 1/2 pot trying to draw action from an A.

As for the way you played it, I like the river betting. You can't overbet too much on your 3bet. I'd probably do the same. I prefer this to the alternative of shoving to look semi strong.

Jesus dump this preflop... You're playing 54s in the worst position possible...

I think you need to bet this turn..

As played, on the river i'm probably raising this to around ~600ish.. I don't mind your minraise, but you want as much value as possible...

Weren't a minraise.

I was so close to betting PF. I felt that any A calling would almost certainly bet the turn though.

Fold pre.

Lead the turn to try and induce.

I'd probably raise to slightly more on the river, 600 maybe, something that he can call with the Jc knowing he's still in the tourney if he loses the hand.

Ahh you're right.. You DEFFF have to raise more than that if you're not going to minraise..

It's a bit of a scary board though. Seeing as you are out of position here, I'm happy to take control, especially with a crappy flush. You are 1 card away from letting this hand go.

I never play this hand preflop from the SB.

On the river, I would re-raise at least 3x my opponents bet, to about 750. We are only getting called by the Kc here, maybe the Jc, I don't think anything else will continue or raise your river bet.

Min-raising in this spot on the river can be a tricky way to get our opponent to push though. But I still prefer to play it with a bigger re-raise.

I agree about this to the raise, but I will limp this in a community pot all day long.

in an unraised pot, you never fold this hand from the SB.. if you're meaning when raise, then yes def fold..

Yeah, I guess I'm too much of a tight nit. Completing in the SB is ok, but once it's raised I have a hard time calling.

The thing is, if he had the nut flush he's going to get it in no matter what we do, so our raise should be based around the most he will pay us of when he has the Jc or any worse hand, i think 750 is a bit too much.

I think if we raise any more than I did, we get called with a much tighter range. Jc/Qc, sometimes. Not often in a step tournament, which was what this was. And, like sheiky points out, the point of our raise to to get a call from a hand worse than what holds a Kc, because the size of our raise is moot if he has that.

preflop limp is fine, I fold to the raise.

As played, I bet 2/3 pot on the turn and 2/3 pot on the river - if villain raises on the river, I shove.

since this is a step, tho you didnt say what level, this early the play is till pretty tight. if he has the king he's shoving no matter what you re raise, he may even do it with a queen if he's feeling adventurous

but your thinking was right. you want a call from a jack or a queen or even a 10. heck you just want called. i really like the raise here. the action in the early part of steps is tight enough to where it's not likely hes gonna go crazy without being certain hes in good shape. any raise above 600 is likely to produce a fold.