SNG / NL Full

Top pair on a monochrome board, sit and go tournament

DailyHandQuiz

Game type: Single table SNG, Full Tilt
Stage of tourney: Early
Avg stack: ~1700
Your image: Aggressive
Opponent’s image: No read
Your hand: K♠J♠

The setup: You’ve won a few pots with aggressive play so far in this single table no limit tournament when the following hand comes up. You’re dealt a suited KJ in the SB. The table folds to you and you make it 200 to go. The BB calls. You flop top pair on an all-club board:

K♣5♣2♣

You bet 300 into 400. Your opponent thinks for a second and then moves all in. What’s your play? Would you change your answer if you had the jack of clubs instead of spades?

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14 COMMENTS  (Jump to comment form)

DHQ Staff
2.12.08 / 2pm

You’re getting worse than 2-1 here, and your stack is still very playable if you walk away now. You do have a loose image, but you’ve shown substantial strength in this hand.

It’s pretty unlikely that you’re facing complete air here. Against just about any hand with the Ac in it, you’re a coinflip. Same for most combo draws. The problem is that villian makes the same kind of shove with just about all made hands as well, except for possibly the nut or second nut flush. The only made hand you’re not basically dead to is a single pair with no club.

2-1 just doesn’t cut it under those conditions. I think you’d need to be getting closer to 3.5-1 for this to be a call.

What actually happened: You called and your opponent showed KQ with no club. Their hand held up and they won the pot.

Greg
2.14.08 / 2am

Easy fold

kaimano
2.14.08 / 2am

trivial fold

Sunshine
2.14.08 / 3am

fold.. but only after rolling your eyes a couple times at yet another monochrome board

www.onlinepokerincome.com
2.14.08 / 10am

The 29% who voted call are encouraging - this is why poker is still worth playing. Almost 1/3 of the population plays terrible!

bluesbread
2.14.08 / 2pm

Let’s all learn to spell “villain” please!

jspring86
2.14.08 / 2pm

This is an easy fold. If I had the J of clubs, it would be a tough decision because either my opponent likely has the Q or A of clubs, or he has a smaller made flush which takes away two of my outs to hit a higher flush with my J, so I’d likely still fold. The fact that the opponent showed KQ with no clubs is a rare case in this situation IMO, most of the time your opponent will show you at least one club in his hand and/or some combo draw.

Easley20
2.14.08 / 2pm

I hate folding here, but its a must!

Billy
2.14.08 / 5pm

making a continuation bet into a flush board is a must regardless of whether or not you hit it, so the bet of 300 was perfect. as soon as you hit any resistance, just expect that at best youre racing. very rarely is it a stone-cold bluff.

Chase
2.14.08 / 11pm

I dont even like open raising with this hand. This is the hand that pros call the amateur hand…it is very weak.

Greg
2.15.08 / 12am

Chase, I’ve lost a lot of money yesterday night against an opponent who held KJs, (he called my 4BB raise, then my pot-bet at flop and turn, and he made a flush at the river) :(
That’s poker.

Jezzta
2.15.08 / 12am

Whether you think they’re on a flush draw or not, its more a question of risking your entire tournament equity with this hand. In a sit and go such as this you would let it go to live another day.

Bado
2.16.08 / 1am

Jezzta is right. At this stage of the tourney you probably need to be a 70+ % favourite to entertain a call for all your chips for it to be +EV.

DONKEYHERDER
2.19.08 / 6pm

Too risky to risk your whole stack so early in a tourney. He could have 55, 22, KQ. If I had the J of clubs maybe I call but that doesn’t help you if he’s shoving with an A of clubs.