Hand from Binions Poker Classic

I played the Binions Poker Classic Event, $160 NLHE today. I played 3 hands prior to one I am posting about. Early I won a pot with AK and picked it up with a continuation bet on flop. Another I was priced in with 4's when I called small raise from blind and early position limper reraised the min lost back about what I won on previous pot.

The next came on a flop AA6.. I had raised out a bunch of limpers with pocket 9's and had one call. Check to me on flop, I check. Turn a 3, check to me I bet get called. check check on river and opponent has AJ.

I'm down to about 4K of starting 5K chip stack. Its end of Level 1.

I get QQ. I raise in mid position to 125. Get a call from the button and small blind.

Flop comes KKK check to me..

Your me how do you play the rest of the hand. Hoping for some active conversation and I'll take it by each street.

Hello there.

This one is tricky.

With no reads on the opponents, Id first decide wether to be (1)causius, or wether (2) I hope one of them is on a pair, and I want to stack them.

In option 2, Id go ahead and bet 1/2 of the pot, and hope pairs or ace kicker hands (without the king) dangles along.

Thats maybe not the best option - it certanly aint a "high stakes" play - but you can possibly stack 99 1010 and JJ.

If I was to play it option 1 (causius):

Id check the flop, and just smooth call all the way to river - unless you think one of them has the King or Aces. It's a bit weird though - that these hands did not re-pop pre. AK in position is most likely the hand that beats you.
If he doesnt put you on Queens, you can get away from it for about 1-2k.

Anyways:

Id be ready to bust here - but the one that called in pos is a bit scary.

Bet out 1/2 or 2/3 pot on the flop,
and take it from there.

The head acke reports at the re-raise - lol. And then, it's all about your gut feeling.

Here's your villan, right behind you, Jesse:



Picture from the movie "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (2007).

I'd probably go ahead and bet it. Your value is limited against many hands that you are beating. I think your best hope would be that someone has a pair or a big ace they dont want to let go of on that flop. If you check and big card comes... now you are not even getting value from small pairs.

I agree with betting the flop. I bet 350, one call, checker folded.
Turn is an 8 (unlikely to be important but brings 2 clubs).
Now what?

I guess the best play on turn is to bet 1/2 to 2/3 pot.
That's what I would do.

I'd put him on one of the hands I said you should hope he has, the naked ace or a smaller pair. Or he has you beat. In either case, I think checking the turn is the move to make here. If he is calling you with ace high or small pair, its because he think you are full of it, so if you check turn behind he will suspect he was right.

Might be easier to get a river bet out of these hands than it would be to do on the turn, but it's close decision. Can make strong case for betting here too as i see nothing wrong with that. I just dont see a lot of reason to do this.

This is a hand I'm still not sure about. I've talked a couple pros about it and it seemed the most common advise was bet the flop 100% of time, check the river to control pot size. If the turn is bet check/call, if its goes check check consider value betting the river. If I call a turn bet and he fires on river play poker, decide the value of each play based on what the pot size is now and the likeliness of having the best hand (often a check call being correct).

I like this advice better than what I actually did which was look at my chip stack and decide I don't want to be this short and am calling a bet on river anywyas so shoved myself. This was a mistake. However, i don't like the advice I've recieve so far either as it leaves me really short on chips if I don't have the best hand.

As weak as it sounds at the moment I think if faced with the exact same in the future I bet the flop, and check fold the turn. If it goes check check on the turn, I check call a reasonable bet on the river. However, i can't help but think about how super weak this is and don't like this option either. At the moment I like it best but an open to being convinced otherwise.

Ultimately I'm not sold one way or another on optimal play for this hand. If the stacks were deeper in this tournament I get away from it with chips no problem. Its that its early and stacks are so small in this tournament that has me not finding a good way to play this hand.

Any more thoughts?

As weak as it sounds at the moment I think if faced with the exact same in the future I bet the flop, and check fold the turn.

I think that's terrible. You check the turn he will bet any pair and maybe even some Ax's.

I assume I have the best hand and try to get as much in as possible unless an ace comes.

Originally Posted by Barton

I think that's terrible. You check the turn he will bet any pair and maybe even some Ax's.

I assume I have the best hand and try to get as much in as possible unless an ace comes.

Maybe your right. It seems like such a simple hand, and its bothering me I feel there is no good way to play it. Some feel my value is thin, others think its stronger, Honestly I don't know. What I do know is that I've won a lot of tournaments with the exact same type of buy-in against similar caliber and many of the same players in Vegas and I can't help but hate a hand where I feel completely blinds. I'm thinking maybe its better to let myself get bluffed here, thinking i probably have the best hand and get away from it to pick a better spot then to loose most my chips.

BTW didn't mention it on this forum. In February I played 2-3 $150 tournaments per day for the entire month and won Harrah's tournament leaderboard. I had it locked up early, so I though so started drinking every night and playing less in the end, then all of a sudden guy in second went on a major rush winning like 4 tournaments in 3 days and the I find myself on the last day of the month less than a 2nd place finish in the lead with a short stack and him the chip leader heading towards the money. It would of been epic sized failure to blow the lead I had on TLB too, but seriously a week before everyone was congradulating me. I had more points than the winner last month had with like 10 days to go and he won the month before by a landslide having more than double the guy in 2nd place.

Yes semi brag, but do recoginize based on hands like this I have a TON to learn still. But I do have a recent track record with same buy-in and same players and no I am profitable in these (150 played this year) so bring that up to say that what perplexes me the most on how to play this hand is I know I am profitable and one of the favorites in these fields.. so putting my chips in kind of not sure, kinda sucks and feels like the worst situation.

fwiw this was my thought process, which I questioned a ton afterwards.

Betting the flop, standard. Its a good flop, I am betting it for value, betting out an ace, sensing if someone has a king etc. I don't see any problem with betting the flop I think it would be a mistake not too.

When I get called on the flop and the turn card appear to change the hand none. My thought process then is to bet enough to find out if he might have a king, but not enough where i am going to not be able to get away from this hand if he does. I decide in advance If he calls me I am checking the river.

The river comes and I over think it. First to act I start wondering what I am going to do if he goes all in. I look at my chips and there so short I start thinking how much would he bet a king on the river. I'm thinking about my stack after calling this bet if its not an all in bet, and start thinking I'm going to be so short, I might as well get value or bust by betting myself. I start to size a bet and its just leaving me too short, Check which felt like the right option at the time, I talked myself into being a poor option. I decide to just shove myself.

The parts I feel most sure about is betting the flop is correct, and betting the river is not (which i did). Beyond that I'm not so sure. If he bets small enough on the turn I can maybe call the turn and fold the river. I don't know. Thankfully trips on the flop are rare - and I don't play as many tournaments where we only have $5K chips to work with so overall the situation is rare so the fact I'm still not sure about it is unlikely to cost me a ton in the future.

I think it's a bit odd for anyone to bet the river here, but I do think it would still be wrong decision quite often to check turn, then check fold river. I guess you can sort of rule out your opponent having a big pair here like jj or 10-10, but I would certainly expect hands like this, all the way down to 77 to be betting the river, for value depending upon river card.

IMHO, there is not really a safe way to play this if you are concerned about your chip stack. I think its just too much of a mistake to fold here in many cases unless you really have some sort of read on your opponent.

I just wanted to add in here that this kind of decision is what Ive really been trying to work on in my own game lately. As I said in another thread here yesterday, players in general have gotten better, and more than ever I expect my opponents to pounce on my weakness. I try and be aware of when Im showing weakness and when Im expecting my opponent to bet and I usually loosen up my calling range in these situations. When you check turn and then check river, you just have to expect a bet from your opponent, and in this case, Q-Q is a calling hand like 95% of the time IMHO.

If you were in position, Id say to make a small bet on turn, it will usually stop a river bluff and you will go to showdown cheaper than you would if you check turn, and call his river bet (his bet will be larger than yours, so choose your price by betting is my point)