PokerStars Game #6831261757: Tournament #34618973,
Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2006/10/30 - 17:35:59 (ET)
Table '34618973 86' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: thai2bed (1440 in chips)
Seat 2: rlcats (1700 in chips)
Seat 3: captch222 (2230 in chips)
Seat 4: Stilleben (890 in chips)
Seat 5: polyballer9 (1470 in chips)
Seat 6: ElCafu (1470 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 7: danezone (2195 in chips)
Seat 8: DrGonzoRip (1380 in chips)
Seat 9: VespaLaney (745 in chips)
VespaLaney: posts small blind 10
thai2bed: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to polyballer9 [Ah Ac]
rlcats: folds
captch222: calls 20
Stilleben: folds
polyballer9: raises 60 to 80
ElCafu: folds
danezone: raises 80 to 160
DrGonzoRip: folds
VespaLaney: folds
thai2bed: folds
captch222: calls 140
polyballer9: raises 260 to 420
danezone: calls 260
captch222: calls 260
*** FLOP *** [9h Td Ad]
captch222: checks
early tournament, what should I do? check and trap, put in a decent sized bet or shove? I think this is an interesting situation for figuring out how to maximize profit/not get knocked out?

I usually shove preflop here and I think you underbet it. I think you need to raise to about 500-600 here; on the flop, depending on level of buy in, I sometimes shove here, sometimes check repping JJ-KK.

Your pre-flop bet was giving too good of a price for those behind to call, especially if one other person does. Raise more pre-flop - 550 to 750, making it clear that you're committed to this pot if anyone wants to play with you.

Aces are a great hand, but not so much in a 3-way pot.

As played, shove the flop and hope you get called by JJ/QQ/KK - or if you're really lucky, Ax. I wouldn't so much like a call from J Q though

Edited to add:



Checking this much of a draw-heavy flop is complete suicide. Your top set is as good as 34o if the turn comes a diamond, King, Eight - or hell, any broadway card besides the ten pairing should scare the bejeezus out of you if you check this flop.

There's no sense in getting cute with AA here (or ever, really).

agree with you on the check. there is no way i was gonna do that. I am pretty sure the guy behind me has ak so im trying to take all his money. I knew he would shove when I bet so I threw out 600ish. He pushed and the other guy called too. he flipped over the only hand i was scared of, j9 diamonds. fortunately the turn was a j and the river a 9 so i managed to triple early. I didn't want to shove pre because I wanted to break both of them, but that might have been a mistake. I don't know many people who call a rereraise with j9suited though so i guess I gave him too much credit.

You really have to push this hard - I rarely slow play in this situation

convert

it's rude to expect others to add the pot for you, etc

I dont get it. Other than a coincidental flush draw, what draw can you put either villain on with this preflop action? Next, our stack isn't even pot. There's 1300 ish in the pot, and we have about 1k behind. We have a 10 out redraw even if the flush hits. I dont care what the turn card is...I'm committed to showing this hand down, and I'm not afraid to check here if that gets money in the middle.

That said, I do think pushing is the way to go. It's likley that this flop hit somebody. QQ and KK are unlikely to bluff at it given the preflop action, so I htink a push gets the job done.

With this preflop action and our stack size I agree with this.

Considering your stack, I would shove. There is 1290 in the pot (420*3+30) and you have just over 1K left. I would shove on the flop and not mind a call, and just hope someone doesnt have a big draw