Live tourney yesterday.

Start with 2000 chips and 10/20 blind levels

I'm at ~2800 with the chipleader (donk on a huge run of cards, royal, trips, overfull, etc) directly to my right.

There are 30 players left and I need to get top 13 to add to league point total so I can qualify for a huge freeroll at the end of the year.. so that is my number 1 priority.

In this hand I have A K and blinds are 30/60.

One limper to aggrodonk in MP who raises to 200.

I decide to just call... not wanting to commit a huge portion of my stack and make it very hard on myself to make the top 13. I don't think he's folding very many hands preflop, and if I hit on the flop, I'm getting his money anyways.

Flop comes 10 3 2

Villain checks, I check behind.

Turn is Q Villain bets 100 into 600ish chip pot. I call.

River is A Villain bets 500.

Fold or call getting 2.6:1 1300:500?

I hate the smooth call pre-flop. You want him to commit a lot of chips before the flop if he's an aggrodonk willing to see a lot of flops no matter what the cost.

Since you described him as an aggrodonk, I can't give him enough credit to playing a flopped flush or two pair so valuebetishly (new word) - and if he had KJ he'd probably push the river hoping you had an ace.

As played, I would put him QJ, QK, or a weaker A and make the call on the river. He might have AT, in which case, GG unlucky.

IQ,

he's big stack.
WE need to outlast 17 others.
Why go crazy?
We have position.
If we had QQ+ I agree..repop big.

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jjgoldy,

of course you call.

Why would you call 200 preflop and 100 on the turn in a 700 pot and then ask if calling 500 when you actually have a hand is a good idea? in a 1300 pot when you would have 2000 lefft and 10/20 blinds?

This smells of a beat, sorry.

edit: Are you asking if you should raise? That's much closer than folding; but alas, no, just call.

17 people is a long way to go and I would be looking to accumulate chips at this stage instead of focusing on surviving just yet. Playing a hand like AKs (especially against an aggrodonk CL) so meekishly will ensure he'll put a beat on us and cripple us to where we will bubble anyway.

I'm not saying go crazy and push, but repop to $400 and let's see where we're at. Put him on the defensive instead of letting him stay on the offensive - aggrodonk on the offensive is a scary thing - I'd rather he be worried about my cards instead of the other way around.

Raise to 600 preflop.

I think you have to call the river.

Villain's flop check is scary.

But you hit the river.
And the odds make your decision very clear.

Call.
And be happy that he didn't make a larger river bet with his Flush.

--cm

to isolate ?

I really see no reason to committ more chips in this satellite against leader when we have postion

He's aggro donk and may push preflop.

His flop check + small bet + big river bet looked extremely strong.

I was so close to laying it down, but the odds were too good.



Villain shows K 5 .

I feel like if I would have raised any reasonable amount, he would have called and flopped it anyways, and I would have lost a lot more to his passively played monster.

If he's an aggrodonk, why does a raise show us where we're at? Do you really have a range of hands he'll re-re-pop with? Is it only AA-77? Is it A/Q? Is it K/Q? If he truly is an aggrodonk do we really get any information from a re-raise?

I like a call preflop, and don't understand why we would possibly fold the river as played? Were you only drawing to the inside straight? What was the card you were looking for if not an Ace (that wasn't a heart)?

I never said fold the river. I advocated a call.

That aside, and results oriented thinking aside, we're definitely above his range - we can't play passive poker just because we're up against an aggrodonk. The way to beat an aggrodonk is to put the pressure on him when you have a premium hand and make him pay - not become a calling station because you're scared of him. AKs is a premium hand, and he should be forced to pay to play his rags against you.

Yes, the results show us we're unlucky - but that's unimportant here. What's important is that we (obviously) had him crushed and should have gotten more money in the pot early.

IQ, I am raising preflop 100% of the time under normal conditions.

However, in this situation where I needed the top 13 to earn points towards a huge freeroll, I decided to play a bit more passively.

I just wanted to clarify that the river fold wasn't addressed to you, it was addressed to the original post of "River Call with TPTK."

I disagree that the way to beat aggro-donks is to out aggro-donk them. Try to play premium hands, hit 'em, and double up.

very wrong. At least in this scenario (no not results, but based on our pos, hand, he's CL, goal in tourney)

Well if it were QQ+, yeah.

AKs, not so much.
Espcially when he is the CL, we have pos, and we want to make top 13 with 30 left.

No one is basing this on results, as you see I suggested no raise before.
Wish results weren't posted so fast; yet it was obvious.

I still think a preflop raise is called for. While you dont want to commit a lot of chips against him, you also dont want to let "any two cards" play to cheaply.

You may not be able to put him on specific hands, but at least the real garbage is going to fold, and you wont get caught going for a big loss with what appears to be a safe board.

IQ had it right, imo.

I said in an earlier post that I wouldn't try to out aggro-donk an aggro-donk, so I'm in virtual agreement with this post.

However, let me ask a question. As far as pocket pairs go, why can't we expand our range a little there? Unfortunately we know he pushed with K/5 suited, but I would definitely put A/rag K/rag in his pushing range, as well as probably some low suited connectors and low pocket pairs the way the player was described. Why not expand QQ+ to at least 1010+? Worst case scenario we're flipping, and in many situations we're 2/1 with only one overcard to the villain? Why would pushing with 1010 or *maybe* 99 be bad here?

We're willing to RR (I'm ignoring the push factor for now) with 99 or TT, but not with AKs? I just don't get it.

Because its a satellite, and hero has a decent stack. You dont want to take coinflips in that situation.

what Cope said.

And I"m re-raising QQ+, not pushing..unless I really think he calls that loosely..but I pop for value.
I pop TT+JJ if I think this guy will be honest post flop..but otherwise, probably play and see a cheap flop..and proceed from there
A raise to get the blinds out is also more important with 99-JJ, imo, than with AK

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Cope...

We have 2800.
He raised to 200 with 60 BB.

Are you raising to isolate or to get him to fold garbage?
IQ wants to raise 200 more..he aint folding anything for 200 more.
And there's absolutely no way you can say the flop is safe because you can tighten his range with a 200 re-raise.
We also open the door for him to shove preflop..and that sux for us when we have this chance to see a flop in pos against someone who our read says will go too far with his hands.

i don't think this is close, except the argument to isolate.
but unlike Limit, we are opening ourselves up to a big preflop re-raise
And if (since) we are near button, I don't hate a blind coming in for 200 here anyway.

Im raising to get rid of garbage. It doesnt have to be a huge raise, because he doesnt want to face off against another big stack either. Id probably go to $500.

and fold to a push?

right?

You be ahead of his range if he's an aggrodonk idiot
But if he's an Aggrodonk good player, you'd be way behind his range, and have to fold.

Man, I'd rather not face the shove and stack him post flop .

And imo, you fool yourself when you think that his folding junk, allows you to have a good read post flop, vs any "non-garbage" two (assuming he even folds stuff like K7s to a re-raise) The board could just flop so many ways that allows for lots of hands an aggrodonk holds.

THis seems inconsistent to me for you.
I thougt you liked to not re-raise AK in pos against aggrssive players with deep stacks
Loos Passive villain, I"d reraise for sure
Aggrodonk pushes us in too often.
And he's CL and top 13 is all we need

this line of thinking plays into the hands of an aggrodonk as you guys call it.

you cant be so afraid of him reraising your raises, then you are playing his game and letting him see flops with garbage cheaply, tighten your raise range but you still need to raise.

to beat this style as suggested earlier, you raise with your hands and make him fully commit to his style and pay, if he pushes all in on you guys he will undoubtedly run into a monster eventually or dominated situation. if you continue to raise he will start leaking chips or have to push too much and back off.

he was dominated preflop, he got lucky and flopped the 2nd nuts, it doesnt happen often......

he will also run into trouble down the road when he catches a big hand and you catch a bigger one.

I agree in a cash game.
Not a tourney, satellite, Top 13 give us prize we need

Since you are up against an aggressive player, I would definitely re-raise, about 650-700 to go. Maybe even more to show him you are serious. I don't know what you're position is, but if I am in late position, I am definitely re-popping so I can get heads up, in position, versus an aggrodonk with a hand that rates to be best most of the time.

I'd then bet the flop, but small, about half the pot. I want to know right there if he has anything or just has a draw, like the naked Ah or Kh.

Also, since you are considering the satellite factor in all of this, you can jam preflop as well and go Poker Superstars on him. Better to win a small pot than lose a medium one.