Villain had just sat down two hands earlier and didn't play either of them.



PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 11 Tournament, 75/150 Blinds 20 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (BB) (t6050)
UTG (t6590)
Villain (t5655)
MP1 (t11030)
MP2 (t5835)
MP3 (t5710)
CO (t11980)
Button (t5980)
SB (t4950)

Hero's M: 14.94

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q , K
1 fold, Villain bets t300, 6 folds, Hero calls t150

Flop: (t855) 7 , K , 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, Villain bets t600, Hero raises to t1500, Villain calls t900

Turn: (t3855) 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, Villain checks

River: (t3855) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets t1000, Villain raises to t3835 (All-In), [color=#666666][i]Hero ?????????
Total pot: t5855


My decision is difficult, but putting him on a hand is far more difficult. The check behind on the turn is either a fairly advanced slow-play for an $11 MTT or a weak hand. If it's advanced, then he could have anything. If it's weak, then I think there's only one hand he could have.

Where did I go wrong here? Advice welcomed on any street.

I'd almost always just shove the turn as played since there is 1 pot sized bet left. I dunno if I always check raise the flop but it's fine.

As played that spot sucks and I'd guess a fold is good although I hate making it

why did you min raise preflop. If we had raised bigger preflop our turn shove would have been easy. As played he called a min bet in the BB he could have almost anything, our betting told us nothing and after he flatted our check raise we checked turn because we were frankly a little unsure of what he really had. I mean i guess he could have hit a set and that would fit but with no notes i probably get stacked off here. His play is weird but it is weird because our preflop range for him is so wide. Also he has seen weakness, then strength, then weakness, he probably doesn't put us on a ton either. Even with the small preflop play it is what only a small overbet or what a pot bet to shove turn (im too lazy to do the math) so why not shove? If he had an 8 he had an 8 and that is that.

I really don't like your flat PF. Your OOP with a marginal hand....

You have hite the flop you were hopin....GET IT IN

I didn't raise preflop - he did.

I guess I just feel like with a hand like this I can typically outplay my opponent post-flop at this level. I say typically because this hand shows that my feelings on that are probably a little misguided. I was pwned here.

I'm so thrown off by an early min-raise. At the $10 and lower level, this has an equal probablilty of being a huge hand and being super weak. With a brand new player, you're right that I should not have taken my chances and just pitched it instead.

I agree with your analysis and don't think calling here is superbad, given the level of your opponents and your stack.

Tough spot, you need to be good here like no worse than 35-40% of the time to call, which I just don't think you are unless you have a great read that villain is a crazy spewtard.

how about we get it in on the turn. easy game

tough hand... with bad position.

played all over the continuum on this one... took the lead then gave it up then tried to take it back again.

You got no information pre-flop... good raise could have minimized his range.

The flop confuses me... You check/raise to take the lead or be the aggressor, then check the flop!
If you checked/raised because you thought you had the best hand then go with that until the board tells another story, there is nothing on the board that would improve his hand unless you put him on 8's or a straight draw.

I think the best way for this hand to have played out given all the questions and position is to have played the smallest pot possible... or shove on the flop.

Prob c/r larger on the flop seeing that he cbetting a ton and you probably can still get value from 99-QQ, as well as a weaker K

Your points are mostly valid. Here's a little more insight as to what I was thinking. I check/raised him for two reasons. One, because I flopped TP obv and two, because I thought he'd c-bet just about anything and if he was weak (AQ or worse, 22-77) I could take it down right there. In hindsight, the thing I would change now is to raise bigger on the flop. Maybe 2100. He snap called my flop raise which surprised me and threw me off a little. I'm either shipping on the turn then or checking. I elected to check because, basically, I couldn't put him on a hand at that point and didn't want to put my tournament life on the line with no clue. When he checked behind, he really baffled me. Again, this was either a great slow-play or a sign of major weakness.

On the river he insta-shoved after I made what I considered to be a decent value bet. At the time, I just couldn't imagine a hand in which he checks the turn and then raises me all-in on the river. In hindsight, I think 99 is totally plausible.

Anyway, I burned my time bank and folded.

Muck preflop, KQo sucks against an unknown early position raiser, even a min-raiser. After flatting, I probably would have c/r bigger on flop but I honestly don't hate your amount. I don't think you're getting played back at here unless you're beat, so the amount you raised saves you from losing more if you are crushed, IMO. Of course after that play the turn is tricky because you're out of position and he snap-called your c/r. You have a little more than a psb but shoving it here could be lighting money on fire. So I kind of like the turn check, and with him checking back I would have checked the river with the intention of calling most bets. Not sure though, again I primarily would just dump this prf to avoid this situation.