Tournie hand history review

scotty77

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
flushando	Small blind		10000.00	10000.00	153642.54
Hampstar	Big blind		20000.00	30000.00	435708.60
	Your hole cards	3 A
TheSaw	Fold
scotty77	Raise		40000.00	70000.00	338772.36
flushando	Fold
Hampstar	Call		20000.00	90000.00	415708.60
Flop
		J J 3
Hampstar	Check
scotty77	Check
Turn
		9
Hampstar	Check
scotty77	Check
River
		10
Hampstar	Bet		45000.00	135000.00	370708.60
scotty77	Call		45000.00	180000.00	293772.36
Hampstar	Show	2 A
scotty77	Show	3 A
scotty77	Win	Two Pairs, Jacks and 3s	180000.00		473772.36

scotty77

Ok thought process on this hand.

Pre-flop: Button with an ace deep into a tournie, totally standard play here and I make it with about 75% of all starting hands.  I go for the min raise as the BB  has me covered, and if he 3bets PF then I can get away cheaply; I'm still one of the chip leads at this point and didn't want to leak chips with raggy hands that don't play well to 3bets from the BB. 

Flop:  I'm likely to have the best hand here however I elect to go for the check as that is a very hit or miss board.  He has either smashed it and I'm miles behind or I'm miles ahead, and he is never floating a bet on the flop with air.  Also I wanted to keep the pot under control.  If the flop was something like J 7 3 then I bet for hand protection and also in case he had some kind of straight draw that I can extract value from.  I can't extract value on this flop bar him holding 22 or a random 3 which I don't think he's ever turning up with this deep into a tournie.  THOUGHTS????

Turn:  I nearly bet here as the 9h does bring some straight and flush draws however the stack sizes meant that I again went for a check.  I did so with the intention of calling any bet upto 120k on the river from the villain.

River: He makes it so cheap that actually I thought he may be turning up with a J here but for 45k I'm never folding, in fact I probably call with any ace here too as I had seen him try to bully people off pots before.

VILLAINS play:  Looking at what the villain shown up with (A2) his play makes no sense at all.  He is bluffing the river with a hand that has showdown value.  Also on that board and with that small bet he is never, ever getting me off any pair (even 22) so therefore the only hand that is HAS to bet to win is AK/AQ.  If he puts me on AK/AQ then why is he calling PF.

Anyway guys how would you all play it?

unknown_username

raise bigger preflop to 3x. he will fold more often than shove, but minraising gives him value to call with marginal hands. imo minraising at this stage of a tourney is a leak against anyone who has a clue. I'd be calling you with any 2 cards knowing that you are already weak, you even said it yourself you were just trying to steal it and keep the pot small. You give your hand away by betting weak preflop and checking behind. you just put yourself in alot of very tricky situations by making these plays!

The only time i ever minraise on the button is in cashgames with 2 shortstackers to my left in the blinds. to most SSS'ers a raise is a raise and they will shove on you with anything in their raise/shove range, but their range is so tight its very profitable to steal alot with any 2.

SolidStan1

Hmmm, I think, Well played Scotty!
And a good explanation too..

scotty77

I think the PF raise is fine in that I will do this a lot with big hands too...ok I see your point that he will call with many marginals but when we are this deep in a torunie and the blinds are so big then even a min raise is massive and even the marginals become even less marginal.  Even if he does call he will miss loads of times and my A will still be good....say the flop is T 7 4 rainbow then I will def be betting that kinda flop.

I think that turn is probably played bad here, I should maybe bet here a lot as it is quite a big scare card in that it brinds a load of draws.

And you should never, ever min raise in a cash game sir unless you are playing Limit Hold Em!

unknown_username

In Response to Re: Tournie hand history review:

I think the PF raise is fine in that I will do this a lot with big hands too...ok I see your point that he will call with many marginals but when we are this deep in a torunie and the blinds are so big then even a min raise is massive and even the marginals become even less marginal.  Even if he does call he will miss loads of times and my A will still be good....say the flop is T 7 4 rainbow then I will def be betting that kinda flop. I think that turn is probably played bad here, I should maybe bet here a lot as it is quite a big scare card in that it brinds a load of draws. And you should never, ever min raise in a cash game sir unless you are playing Limit Hold Em!
Posted by scotty77

like i said it is only in that situation i minraise in cashgames, maybe 2.5x because playing against the majority of shortstackers they will never flatcall any kind of raise. They will keep to a tight shove/fold set of starting hands and positions, and will either shove over the top with jj+ak or fold anything below it. i know - i've played it

unknown_username

and RE your raise preflop, i would still not minraise. by shoving they will fold here MOST of the time. yes u will come up against something strong sometimes but imo its still more profitable to play it aggressively and represent a strong hand.

olimellin1

good call, tho i think i would have stabbed at the pot a little earlier, perhaps even on the flop - at least there you can be nearly certain you are ahead