Daily Hand Quiz

I’m flatting here and taking a flop IP against someone who is reading my image as overly aggressive.

[Reply]

Calling. Not going to get too crazy pf this early against 2 possible overs. If no ak on flop then I am betting or raising.

[Reply]

I voted RAI but I’m not certain if that’s the correct play.

Fold is obviously out of the question.
Call does not seem right either as I would be giving the player next to me great pot odds and I don’t want a three-way.

SB raises 6x which is quite large and since he probably reads me as a LAG his range is fairly wide, something like 88+, AJo+, KQs+ so I’m usually ahead.

I have position if I just raise small.
But the dreaded scenario with QQ in any position is an A or K on the flop.
I want to avoid that spot at all costs so I shove.

Would like to read some more opinions about this tho

[Reply]

Marty Reply:
August 6th, 2010 at 6:14 am

Shoving sounds like fear of flopping to me… we’d be betting about 3000 to win 500 and I suspect we’ll only get called by KK, AA, AK.

I agree about his raise seeming a little on the large size (1.5x pot)… so leaning towards putting him on a weaker hand than us.

Calling would be giving player to my left 2.7 to 1, but we might well seem him fold some middle aces here for fear of being dominated (could easily be in his preflop range given LAG image)…

If we repop and get shoved on what do we do then?

So I vote call, keep the pot smallish… hopefully get a low flop and stack SB having a smaller overpair than us, be prepared to fold any A/K flop.

[Reply]

Pirate21 Reply:
August 6th, 2010 at 8:28 am

Agree with every word of this.
SB range can be fairly wide, but most likely AK or 88-JJ. KK+ is likely to bet smaller to keep us around.
If we call, D *should* be folding almost any hand we are beating. If he calls, I’m going to be very careful post flop.

[Reply]

general johnson jameson Reply:
August 6th, 2010 at 11:01 am

Don’t worry about the player behind you. He could be calling with anything from a tiny pair to suited connectors. His hand isn’t better than ours, he no doubt would have re-raised us with KK or AA.

You gotta remember that early on in tournaments like this, the only hands that are worth playing are the 5 prime starters, or the ones that could potentially stack someone. Like a well disguised suited connector, or flopping a set with a baby pair.

I would be VERY surprised to see D do anything but fold here. There is no hand that is good enough to call 60, then call 360, that isn’t good enough to raise on its own. He is mostly on some kind of baby pair or connector, and he will fold this to all of the action in front of him, regardless of position. There’s a big difference between investing 60 to stack someone, and 360 to stack someone.

With all that said, raising all-in would be a bad move, just because you’re only doing it to chase out D, when he’s going to be gone anyway. Make a good habit of trying to play very small ball poker in the early stages. Remember, the blinds are only 10/20. Even if you win a small pot, it’s only enough chips to probably earn you 1 extra rotation on the next blind level. This is nothing worth going broke over.

[Reply]

As everyone else said, Flat and play the flop. Non-scary under cards are a plus, but i am not going to stack off if the flop comes 9 high. I may raise to a SB lead, or just flat, depending on sizing and texture.

[Reply]

Good quiz as situations like this come up pretty often and are tough to deal with. Gotta keep in mind the villain knows he’s out of position for the rest of the hand, so its not a pure steal with garbage. I’d say call and evaluate flop. But that brings an even better quiz in itself. What do we do on the flop with all unders? What about if a king or ace pops out? Do we call, check, raise? I guess it might come down to whether or not we want to go broke with Queens or whether we want to wait for a more solid spot to put chips in later.

[Reply]

What a bunch of losers…take the flop…if no unders…yes, of course, then flip over your cards so that he can read it better. Raise it up and put the pressure on him. If he has AA or KK, well done for him.

[Reply]

His raise seems odd. It is clear he has a hand that he doesn’t want called, either because it isn’t that strong, or he doesn’t want to play out of position. 3 betting 6x the previous is quite outrageous. Also, it is silly how players like this want to play such huge pots early on in these tournaments when the blinds aren’t high enough to be worth playing for at all. If we call this, the pot is already 1/3 the size of our stacks, and we have only done preflop betting. Any subsequent bets that are too large essentially commit almost both of us to the hand. This is a really really stupid way to play poker when the blinds are 10/20.

D could have been calling with anything from high cards to suited connectors. I’m not worried about him, if he had our hand beat he would have re-raised us probably. I say call, and let’s see a flop. I would advise we do everything we can to keep this pot as small as possible, and get to showdown for as cheap as possible. In fact, if it came out over cards, and SB sprang into action, I’d probably fold. Investing so many chips into a pair of queens on the first level is highly ill advised.

Call. Get to showdown as cheap as possible. Any more huge action and I’m bailing. We don’t need to lose half a stack with a measly pair of queens. No need to get stupid this early.

[Reply]

gotta flat. its early in an mtt. with aa or kk you flat to trap and get value, with anything else worth playing, you take it easy so you can evaluate the flop and play accordingly. this would also balance your range here. a good strategy in mtts, especially early, is to make sure you survive, and just try to take advantage of easy opportunities. raising here doesnt accomplish either of those, especially the first which is the most important.

[Reply]

Thanks all for the insights, I now agree the call is the best option in this stage of a tourney.
It’s not an uncommon situation, either.
In the words of Stan Marsh, I learned something today.

[Reply]

i voted to shove, but after reading all of this discussion, i also agree that it would be foolish to risk your tourny life at this spot. youre only going to get called by hands that beat you anyway.

call, see a flop, bet in position

[Reply]

I’d call for reasons already mentioned, the most important of which are stage of the tourney and pot size. Raising will getting called at best by AK, more likely AA and KK. While AK is more prevalent, no need to gamble this early.

[Reply]