7

If you are a tournament specialist, I would appreciate your input on this hand.

  • Daily tournament at a large Las Vegas casino, 24 people total, 8 of us left, 3 get paid
  • Buyin for the tournament was $140. I list this so that you can gauge the level of player.
  • I have a little less than the average stack, which is 25K at this point. My stack is right around 22K or so.

  • My table image is great, very much TAG, been showing down big hands. I use a visor, hoodie, sunglasses, etc. So TAG and people have told me that I can also look intimidating. If you want to see how I dress, check out my profile and avatar on this site, I dress exactly like that for every tournament I play.

  • V1 is a huge stack, maybe even the chip leader at the time (or close to it). Profile is not quite a tourist, but not world class either. I haven't really played with him much before.

Level is 200/400/75

  • I'm in the SB with KK
  • Checks around to MP who just limps
  • LJ makes it 1200
  • V1 on the button flat calls the 1200
  • Action to me and I make it 4000
  • MP limper folds, LJ also folds
  • V1 flat calls again

Flop comes down J26 rainbow

Action to me. What do you do? What do you think about the pre-flop bet?

ANSWER BELOW. But please don't look at it until after you've provided an answer.

My pre-flop plan was to shove all-in on any non-Ace board so that's what I did. V1 turned over J6 suited !!!

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  • 2
    although not a tournament specialist :) i would make the same play as you 1000 times. You're only afraid of AA and given the preflop action you weren't against that (opp would shoved instead of flatting 2 times with it). Flop is drier than Sahara so no 2-pair for anyone. You can be only against some J-x or set. I would get all-in since SPR is low.
    – user1165
    Jan 21, 2015 at 17:31
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    Would you feel better if he'd shown two JJs instead of the J-x? Villains reasoning was probably like this "God, please let me flop a flush....oh Two Pairs...not bad either." Personally, I would have tested the waters on the flop...a limp after a re-raise does feel like a low or mid pair or A-K, A-Q, but, poker happened, he got lucky and flopped two pairs :(
    – Roman Mik
    Jan 21, 2015 at 22:00
  • Chris's answer is solid, I like this flop with your hand, and your action was solid. I had AA at the WSOP 1500 event and the exact flop with the exact result. sigh ):. What this guy look like?
    – Jon ♦
    Jan 21, 2015 at 22:06
  • Given the two flat calls pre-flop, it doesn't seem like you can count on him betting for you if you check, so I'd just move in exactly like you did. Just a tough break.
    – Lee Daniel Crocker
    Mar 10, 2017 at 20:05

4 Answers 4

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I haven't looked at the revealed answer yet, and I'm not experienced in tournaments, so YMMV.

You haven't said anything about the button's tendencies. Two calls of raises in this hand pre-flop could mean that he's hoping to sneak in with AA or maybe he's a little looser pre-flop because he feels like his stack size gives him some freedom. He would probably have re-popped you with AK,QQ+ after your pre-flop re-raise, so I'd put his range well behind yours at this point. His just calling what looked like a squeeze might mean he thinks his hand can stand some heat, though, and this seems like as good a place as any to lure a guy like you who is both aggressive and shorter than him.

The pot is around 10200 here, and your stack is now only around 18000. You figure to have the best hand at this point and you should want to get all-in. If the villain is likely to bet if checked to, I'd check-raise all in. If he's likely to check behind if checked to it's a little more complicated because your stack doesn't give you much flexibility, since any reasonable bet on the flop will leave you with far less than a pot sized bet behind on the turn. If you think check-raising won't work, I'd shove here. You'll likely get called by anything that hit this flop, most of which you're ahead of. You'll see AA or JJ or 66 occasionally, but you'll also see a lot of AJ and lesser pocket pairs. And you'll get folds from hands that weren't going to give you action anyway.

So, I'm saying that on the flop you should check-raise all-in an aggressive villain or just shove against a not-so-aggressive one.

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  • Thank you. Check-raising is definitely an interesting line that did not cross my mind in the heat of the moment. I can see the benefits of that one.
    – Unknown Coder
    Jan 21, 2015 at 17:30
  • BTW I'm upvoting this an putting you over 1K in reputation - congrats!
    – Unknown Coder
    Jan 21, 2015 at 17:31
  • ACK! Dont give it away, please edit your comment
    – Unknown Coder
    Jan 21, 2015 at 17:33
  • Oops, crap. I'm sorry. :) It's gone now.
    – Chris Farmer
    Jan 21, 2015 at 17:34
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bet enough on the flop to commit yourself. if you are beat, you are beat. life goes on. you can't fold this hand.

i might make it about 4500-4800 preflop though. only 2800 more is begging for calls.

basically, don't be results oriented. sometimes you play hands correctly and still lose.

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0

Since the question ends at the flop it is pretty clear what happened.

Preflop I know you raised the pot but since they had money in they were getting 2.6:1 to call. I am surprised you got two folds. If the fist called (the most likely) the then next two are getting even better odds. You are only 58% against three random hands. Even if they play loose you are only 50% and out of position. You need to charge a LOT more and be happy if you take down the pot. The pot was $3450.

On the flop pot is like 10,000 and you have 18,000 behind.

On the flop you are only behind JJ, 66, 22, J6, J2, and 62. JJ probably would have reraised pre flop.

Jam is only going to get paid off with a pair of jacks. They could be on AJ - J8. Even a pair of jacks might not pay you off. I don't think a weak jack would pay you off as you raised pre. You are probably only getting paid off by AJ. There is only a 1.2% chance they are holding AJ. A random hand will flop 2 pair or better 7.6% of the time.

The problem with KK out of position against 3 opponents is you have more ways to get beat than to get value. You should have just jammed pre flop. By the time you bet enough to fold out Ax you have committed half of your stack. You are hoping to get called by QQ and JJ getting 4.5:1 or just take down the pot ($3450). QQ JJ is as likely to call $9000 as $18000.

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  • Shoving more than 50 BB pre is way too much, that makes zero sense. Other than flop jam he played his hand perfect, imo.
    – Raymond
    Mar 10, 2017 at 14:09
  • @RaymondTimmermans As stated before I am not going to engage you. I see you have posted an answer.
    – paparazzo
    Mar 10, 2017 at 17:01
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You played your hand fine. Your bet sizing pre-flop seems very good to me. J62 rainbow is about the best flop you can get that doesn't contain a king. I'm guessing you had about 1.5x pot left, so I would personally just bet smaller with the intention to call a shove or shove the turn. This gives you some room to bluff with some of your weaker hands that you decided to 3-bet, like 78s or 89s. This hand was just a cooler. In a 3-bet pot 55 BB deep it is totally standard to get an over pair in on the flop. There is no need for in depth analysis.

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