Down to heads-up against a very poor opponent, who made a suspect call recently to take the chip lead.

FullTiltPoker Game $5 + $0.50 6-man Sit & Go
120/240 - No Limit Hold'em
Seat 2: Hero (3,910)
Seat 6: Villain (5,090)
Hero posts the small blind of 120
Villain posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Th Qh]
Rocketwadster raises to 500
Villain calls 260

*** FLOP *** [9h 6s 2h] (pot is 1000)
Villain checks
Hero bets 3,410, and is all in

Smash and I were debating earlier today in another post the differences between a push and a CB in a similar (but completely different situation due to stack sizes) type of hand. He had sorta convinced me that I should be pushing in these situations, rather than put in a CB as I normally would.

Thoughts?

I like it. If he is trapping, you have outs. I think you want to se the next two cards, if you make a continuation bet and get raised, you might have to dump the hand. Then you are down to $2910 and are going to need to start pushing preflop- This is a better spot.

yeah, I'd push here...happy to win this pot with this hand, and not unhappy to be called with a ton of outs with two cards to come.

Not happy if cb gets called with one card and another decision coming.

Are you ITM yet ?

I make CB here or i take the free card and if no heart comes on turn and villian checks again i make delayed CB. Moving in a i guess is an option...not really my style though especially with enough chips to play a flop. If i'm ITM and the villian reraises my CB i come over all in or even call all in.

he's HU.
it pays 2.


EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEYY
YYYYYYYYYYYYY PUUUSHHHAhhhhhhhhhhhhhh


CB sucks
I'd rather check that CB

Villain calls and shows [9c Jh]
*** TURN *** [9h 6s 2h] [5d]
*** RIVER *** [9h 6s 2h 5d] [2d]

I think this was a terrible call...

you're kidding?

Calling with Top Pair HU with overcard and bdfd.

You saw that I raised pre-flop right? A pair of nines with a J kicker is certainly not the hand that I personally would want to put my tourney life on the line with.

HU, you could be raising with a million different hands that completely miss the flop, especially with that weak raise amount.


I doubt I've ever folded top pair on the flop HU...

I highly doubt that.

like cdddc75 says, you raise a lot preflop right?
Why would I not think J9 is good here.
At least often enough to call.

easy call for me on that board
I probably check it to you as well, if I know you CB a lot.

im trying to remember in this tourney what this opponent saw me do prior to this, but even without knowing the specifics, I usually play the same way - trying to keep the pots small pre-flop when OOP, CB'ing a lot of flops that I raised, etc.

Putting myself in my opponents shoes, I would call the pre-flop bet, but highly doubt I would call the flop push. I would figure an overpair would push to protect, top pair who raised pre-flop probably has a better kciker than me, etc. Add in the flush possibilty and I wouldnt think I was a favorite to any hand that would push there, but that's just me trying to play my opponent's hand against an opponent like myself.

I push so often when HU, that my opponents should call here!

I'm usually too busy jamming the pot in his shoes to ever contemplate folding. I might check/raise here, but if I've got you covered, I'm not letting go of top pair HU unless I hate money.


You might be right in calling your opponent's call terrible, because leading out is much better than check/calling.


I surely wouldn't be worried about an overpair if I were him though. Your preflop raise was too soft to make me think you had one of the top five pocket pairs.

I think that his call is fine - your raise is standard and it's very possible that the flop missed you.

I wouldn't have checked the flop if I was villain as his hand is very vulnerable but it looks like he figured he was good and was looking to induce a bet on your part.

HU - TP is strong

HU id call your push with top pair just about every time. Any piece of the flop is valuable and just because you raise HU doesnt mean anything. Infact i probably raise more often with trashy hands than i do with good hands HU.

i'm don't really understand why the villains call should surprise you. Seems like a pretty standard ending to a SnG.

I think your overthinking here. Maybe if your opponent is somone you've played with for years and knows your pushes mean monsters you might get a fold here. Some guy who has probably never played with you and has made the money already will not fold top pair with a decent kicker.

Im either giving this opponent way too much credit, or not enough. Playing against myself, I certainly wouldn't do it (but that is mainly because I am 99% certain I am better than my opponent, and there will be better spots to be getting my chips in there - ie. pushing as opposed to calling).

Attributing 4th and 5th level thinking to your opponent in a $5.50 SnG is giving him/her way, way, way too much credit.

Villians call is fine. In fact, if you want to use some 3rd level thinking, the overbet you make defines your hand very well. He should most likely think you have overcards and a flush draw, that is what justifies the bet. People don't lay down TP very often HU's , in fact any pair is strong HU's. With the draws on the board it encourages the villian to consider you to be on a draw, which in fact you are.

I think this was a terrible call...

I think it's an automatic call against most players.

Unless you're capable of moving in with JJ here or something which most people aren't.

good luck.

I don't like the push here. It screams draw to the point that I doubt it has any more fold equity than a simple bet would. If you make a standard CB, you can always check the turn if you get called instead of raised which might allow you to save some of your stack if you don't hit, whereas you'll still probably stack your opponent if you do.

Oh, and if you think your opponent should be folding J9 here, you're crazy. I'd call all day with middle pair, and I'd think long and hard about bottom pair. This bet basically says "I HAVE A FLUSH DRAW AND I DON'T WANT YOU TO CALL". After a flush draw, the most likely hand I see make this move is probably naked overcards. Pair and a flush draw is the only hand I'd be scared of with bottom pair here.

Oh, and I don't really like the PF raise either. I think you should go at least 2.5 bb to get proper FE here.

As per the original post, it wasnn't my idea to push there, it was Smash's...lol

I haven't run the math, but I am probably the favorite when I pushed there with two to come, plus I have a ton of fold equity due to the push. Reverse thinking though is that the push could scream of weakness to my opponent, allowing them to call with lesser holdings than I personally would.

I'm still undecided on the push or CB here...

if you bet 600 and he pushes, you'll have odds to call.
you'll also not improve on the turn very often, and then what?

I push this flop about 75% of the time, mix in with c/c and cb/c

Exactly. I'm pushing this every time for the above reason.

I ran the math: against Jh9x you have a little over 52% equity. The villain cannot have a calling range that has you losing money in this spot.

Also, lets assume you do improve. How often will you be payed off? I think getting all the chips in on the flop is optimal, as you will either take the pot down right away with that bet, or you will get called and have plenty of outs bust your opponent.