Anyone with specific hands or questions for me can go in here. I'll try to keep up on this thread at least every other day.

is tight right?

no!!

I had a hand in the jumbo Sunday Million from a few weeks ago that had me questioning my play.

My reads: The player on my left is a total calling station who also will try and steal any pot that's checked to him.

The small blind is also a player who has called a ton and I've seen him call 3 bets preflop cold and then fold the flop.

The big blind who 3 bet hasn't done anything out of line or overly aggressive so far. I've been playing with all of these players since the start of the tournament.

My background is of course limit holdem and if this was a limit tourney or HORSE I would be confident in how to play it.

My basic read in this situation is that the small blind and the player to my left are for sure calling the 3 bet and will most likely call any 4 bet I make unless it's something huge like a shove and even then I can't be sure I won't be called by them. The play of the big blind here had me very concerned. I know players will often 3 bet of the big with a pretty wide range of hands with the callers in this hand but he has to know that none of the others are folding to his raise and then he's going to be playing the pot out of position.

So should I fold, call or raise here ?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 215 Tournament, 100/200 Blinds (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t9412)
UTG (t7400)
Bob (UTG+1) (t14250)
Never Folds (MP1) (t6526)
MP2 (t11600)
MP3 (t4575)
CO (t13775)
Button (t11425)
Loves To See Flops (SB) (t7437)

Bob's M: 47.50

Preflop: Bob is UTG+1 with J , J
1 fold, Bob bets t600, Never Folds calls t600, 4 folds, Loves To See Flops calls t500, BB raises to t2200

Bob ?????

This spot is pretty gross. Flatting is out of the question bc you are probably going to go 4 ways and can't profitably play if the BB leads out. You don't have odds to set mine either. I'd just fold and keep a 70bb stack with no antes against a minefield. If you shove, you have to shove 12k into 5600 which is going to be way too good a price for the BB's range here. He's going to be getting 2-1 when his range is going to be AA-TT/AK/AQ more weighted to AA/KK/QQ.

This isn't really going to be a squeeze often enough at all to put many weaker hands in his range and a lot of the satty winners/people taking shots are going to 3bet bigger with AK/AQ since they are out of position and really hate postflop play. Most randoms are going to be happy to either take the pot or commit themselves to getting it in pre.

There's so many good spots to get your money in, in this tourney that you can pass this up even if it is marginally +EV (Which i dont think it is)

Very good idea.

i think most of the time we are drawing to 2 outs vs BB' range, not to mention we are going to be OOp versus at least one of the villains and unless we set up almost no flops are good or change anything really, i let it go. pretty gross but realisticly we are almost never in a coinflip here. Outside chance, but more likely then not we are kinda soul crushed, and this deep we should just try and hold onto some chips for a bit imo and find a decent spot or two.

do i stink?

yes

nvr mind. didn't notice what forum this was in.

Hey Loosh, just do this:



It worked for me.

ya havent ever had to do that to anyone but I'm taking your advice.

Villain was running 28/28, and had 3bet twice before out of the blinds (both times I folded).

Is this okay to 4bet/shove, or am I spewing?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 250/500 Blinds 60 Ante (8 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP1 (t39081)
MP2 (t12805)
Hero (CO) (t31062)
Button (t59786)
SB (t82520)
BB (t29041)
UTG (t20829)
UTG+1 (t11274)

Hero's M: 25.25

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q , K
UTG calls t500, 3 folds, Hero bets t1300, Button calls t1300, SB raises to t6969, 2 folds, Hero raises to t31002 (All-In)

Calling the all in seems bad, but I don't know if 28/28 makes it seem right. So my question is what does 28/28 mean?

I was going to say that if you were active enough, this is probably a good 4b spot. With a UTG limp though. I don't think its worth it really.

If it folded to you and the same action took place, 4b here is ok as long as theres been a 3b dynamic between you two. It's really player dependent though, bc if you've tanked on the last couple of times hes 3b you, and you folded, he's going to be less likely to 3bb here. If it's some random monkey though, I'd be happy to 4b here.

The UTG limp will stop him from making a play a fair amount though, so it's a pretty easy fold imo. UTG limps freeze people and you are raising a UTG limp which is MUCH stronger than just opening the CO.

thanks

Thanks for your advice.

I did fold for just the reasons that you mentioned but since we all suffer from results oriented thinking at times when the flop came J hi I started to question myself and whether I was playing too tight.

After I folded as expected the 2 loose players both called. The flop can J rag rag and the BB 3 bettor checked and the idiot on my left moved all in and the other 2 players folded.

Fwiw I wouldnt be opening 3x really often in this tourney, ESP with no antes. It's fine if you want to do it with your bigger hands bc it is kinda deep early and its better to build the pot early so you can max value and people in the mill are rarely going to catch on that you are raising your premiums bigger.

Id suggest going to 2.5 as a standard and even smaller once the antes kick in. IT just gives you so much more room. If you run into hands you save more, and your steals are going to be cheaper and jsut as successful.

also lets you 4bet bluff which is my favorite play.

pretty cool thing that you are doing here looshle

looshle - I am not a full time poker player but when I play it is mostly Heads Up SNGs and just starting to play some FR cash. I try to play the Sunday Million on Stars every week because I feel like it has tremendous value but it is the only tournament I play. Do you know of other tourneys that have a ton of value like this?

Nothing is going to give you as good an ROI as the million but pretty much anything on sunday is going to have great value.

The list is seriously way too long.

Almost every mtt?

If your a competent player, most mtts will have a ton of value b/c there are goign to be sooo many bad players

How about big payouts? I have a tough time taking something that has a 1st payout of less than 5 figures too seriously. I love the tourneys that have that 6-figure+ payday. Maybe a top five list? I am not limited to just stars.

Any major + these on a Sunday are huge.

Stars
$55 200k
$11 250k

FTP
$22 double deuce
$163 150k

There are others with big payouts. Pretty much anything on a Sunday gets 5+ figures for 1st, even the $3R.


For 6 figures there is only the Warmup, Brawl, Million and 750k

2 nitty?

PokerStars Game #41244334441: Tournament #253242276, $4.00+$0.40 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (200/400) - 2010/03/16 11:25:32 ET
Table '253242276 20' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: osie32 (6193 in chips)
Seat 2: Gordium323 (15865 in chips)
Seat 4: lostbear08 (20961 in chips)
Seat 6: IamiN4u (20515 in chips)
Seat 8: frbidden (8725 in chips)
Seat 9: serj_dawg (6165 in chips)
osie32: posts the ante 50
Gordium323: posts the ante 50
lostbear08: posts the ante 50
IamiN4u: posts the ante 50
frbidden: posts the ante 50
serj_dawg: posts the ante 50
serj_dawg: posts small blind 200
osie32: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to IamiN4u [Qc Ad]
Gordium323: raises 1200 to 1600
lostbear08: folds
IamiN4u: folds
frbidden: calls 1600
serj_dawg: folds
osie32: folds
*** FLOP *** [Td 8c Jc]
Gordium323: bets 1200
frbidden: folds
Uncalled bet (1200) returned to Gordium323
Gordium323 collected 4100 from pot
Gordium323: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4100 | Rake 0
Board [Td 8c Jc]
Seat 1: osie32 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: Gordium323 collected (4100)
Seat 4: lostbear08 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: IamiN4u folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: frbidden (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 9: serj_dawg (small blind) folded before Flop

way too nitty. call at least, sometimes i raise.

I think in a 4.40 that is wayyy too nitty, but in other mtts, I really don't mind that as we are going to be put in really stupid spots to a 4x

it's my standard tbh. You can't really flat a utg open which is a 4x that is 10% of his stack profitably. If you flop an ace you're going to have to get it in and play an 80bb pot hoping he has AJ.

You're going to be folding the flop alot and not comfortable AT ALL getting it in with 1 pair and you are going to on all flops we flop TP unless it's really wet. Just fold and try working your stack to accumlate and play smaller pots in position preferably with the intiative.

After the call is made pf, that's a horrid fold otf. I can see you making a case for a fold pf in other MTT's but in a $4 180 that's not optimal at all as people play so straight forward.

I don't have the same experience you do loosh playing higher buy-ins but in the lower buy-ins i am playing this all day.

You do realize Hero folded PF? There was no horrid flop fold

I use a rule: Don't 3bet AQ pre if you aren't willing to get it in aipf.

Like looshle said it's hard to play profitably just flatting as well.

Please convert your hands!

A pack of feral cows chewed their cuds for .0043 seconds to convert this hand
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em ($4.00+$0.40) t200/t400 ante t50 - 6 players

BB osie32: t6,193
UTG Gordium323: t15,865
UTG+1 lostbear08: t20,961
CO Hero: t20,515
Button frbidden: t8,725
SB serj_dawg: t6,165

Preflop: (t900) Hero is CO with (6 players)
Gordium323 raises to t1600, lostbear08 folds, Hero folds, frbidden calls t1600, 2 folds

Flop: (t4,100) (2 players)
Gordium323 bets t1200, frbidden folds

Gordium323 collected t4100

lol, i didn't. totally misread the hh. my bad.

Sorry I lost the hand history...but I wanted to ask about a deep tournament situation that came up and I am more curious about my opponent's play.

15 people left, 8k for first.


I am 14/15 with about 200,000 chips exactly. I am in the BB. The SB is 2/15. He has about 850,000 chips. Blinds are 8000/16000.

I have been playing very tight as I have been card dead. SB has been a little loose. We have had very few blind v blind battles. One time, he raised and I pushed over him. Two other times, he raised and took it.

Anyway, it folds to him in the SB and he raises to 40,000 with Ks5s. I have AdQc in the BB and my play is obvious....I wait a few seconds and then push.

Now what do you do if you are him?

If I'm him I shove pre, as played I'm snapping.

Can you elaborate? I think I am playing too tight late and I need to understand better how/why/when you need to loosen it up late. Because I would have shoved preflop if I were him but I would not have snap called if I played it as he did with the raise to 40k.

160 to call


240 + antes to win, say 250.


25:16 = 1.56:1 so he needs 39% against your range.

He has over 39% against 20% of hands which is prob a decent reshoving range


Hand 0: 39.819% { K5s }
Hand 1: 60.181% { 66+, A4s+, K8s+, Q9s+, J9s+, T9s, A9o+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo }


but i think his best play is to shove pre, he's rarely getting more than break even equity on most raise/calls.

ok, thanks. I really have some work to do on my play deep in mtt's.

To be honest I really dislike raise/callling there. There is so little edge if any. Shoving is definitely going to yield a decent profit.

I was surprised he snap called since I had been playing so tight. Just shoving by him makes more sense.

Unfortunately, I suck with AQ.

ya the k5ss is the easiest jam in the world. once it folds to him, hes pretty much playing for your stack. R/f would be terrible for him.

Seems I need a lot of work on bvb play. Looshle, can you give a general primer for the ranges to jam from the SB given various effective stack sizes?

Play any different? Huge $4.40 on Pstars with 2k guaranteed. About 900 left out of 2800 or so. Looking back I guess I didn't need to raise the flop that much but I misread the lead size.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 4.4 Tournament, 60/120 Blinds 15 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP1 (t4895)
MP2 (t9645)
MP3 (t11545)
Hero (CO) (t19170)
Button (t4215)
SB (t7825)
BB (t4055)
UTG (t2560)
UTG+1 (t7230)

Hero's M: 60.86

Preflop: Hero is CO with ,
1 fold, UTG+1 calls t120, 1 fold, MP2 bets t360, MP3 calls t360, Hero calls t360, 3 folds, UTG+1 calls t240

Flop: (t1755) , , (4 players)
UTG+1 checks, MP2 bets t120, MP3 calls t120, Hero raises to t2111, 1 fold, MP2 calls t1991, MP3 calls t1991

Turn: (t8088) (3 players)
MP2 checks, MP3 bets t480, Hero calls t480, MP2 calls t480

River: (t9528) (3 players)
MP2 checks, MP3 bets t840, Hero calls t840,

Nothing wrong with that raise size at all. If anything you could make a case for raising bigger. For turn/river IPITS, you can't fold given the price.

MP3 is godawful, no matter what he had.

This.

He should have dimes or JT to be able to call/call on the flop but its way too cheap on the river to fold.

can I get away from this hand ?

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

SB (t2925)
BB (t6950)
UTG (t2113)
Hero (UTG+1) (t3271)
MP1 (t3165)
MP2 (t3450)
MP3 (t3306)
CO (t2420)
Button (t2400)

Hero's M: 14.54

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with J, A
1 fold, Hero bets t344, 2 folds, MP3 calls t344, 4 folds

Flop: (t913) 5, K, 10 (2 players)
Hero bets t600, MP3 calls t600

Turn: (t2113) A (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 bets t900, Hero calls t900

River: (t3913) 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 bets t1462 (All-In), Hero calls t1427 (All-In)

Total pot: t6767

Aces early postition under the gun in a cash game? One caller, Say you throw out a feeler bet and they raise you on the flop or another one was on the turn. should you fold or call til river?

Board: Qs 10s 6c

if you'd post hand histories it'd make it much easier to give analysis to hands.

Fold Preflop. Raising with AJ there is just silly.

wow, jspencahhhhh is destroying these threads