Main event hands

[GrenadaRoger]

So I just busted, and the day was a combination of coolers, action-killing scare-cards, and a weird double-trap situation that robbed me of a big pot.

I also screwed one big hand royally at the end which could have chipped me up to over 75k. Instead I'm busto.

There were 6 tough hands today. I already posted two of them.

Here was the ugliest one though:

Background: After I lost a big pot and was down to under 30k (which is the starting stack), I had AQdd and raised early position pre. Blinds were 150/300/25, and I made it 700. Flatted, then got re-raised to 2100. Me and the flatter called. Flop AcQs3c. I checked, flatter checked, 3-better made it 1300. I check-raised to something like 3500. Flatter folded, 3-bettor went all-in. I called. He showed AK, board ran out J-J and I doubled to 54200, my high. That hand was NOT one of the hard ones, obviously.

Anyway, we are on the final level of the day (200/400/50) and I have about 37k. Same spaz from the hand above makes it 850. I flat with Qs8s on button, SB flats, BB folds.

Flop: 8d3d8h



Raiser makes it 1400. I make it 4000. He thinks for a bit and calls.

Turn: Td

He now fires out 6800. Much of me wanted to ship it in this guy's face, especially remembering the last retarded AK hand of his. He literally didn't think a second about shoving that AK over me on an AQ3 board.

Instead I just called. My thinking was that I would wait until the river to see if a 4th diamond hit, and then ship it in his face. He isn't putting me on an 8, so I think I'm safe to do that.

River is the ultimate blank: 2s

He ships it in. Turns out we are almost EXACTLY even in chips. He has me covered by 25. Not 25k or 2500, but 25.

If I fold, I still have 25k and change. If I call and I'm shown a flush, I am busto.

Funny enough, if I had like 35k instead of 25k behind, I call. But the thought of being busto and seeing a flush (or maybe even 33/TT/A8/K8) just was making me gun shy, especially after I called the river on Day 3 in 2012 against Amnon Filippi in a similar spot, and he showed me a full house to bust me. Honestly this one was much more begging for a call than the Filippi hand, but for whatever reason I just didn't want to bust with trips-queen-kicker here when I could have 25k behind and still play lots of poker.

So I folded.

He flashed AdKh



I took a long time to think about it, and made the wrong decision. I kept thinking there was a good chance he didn't have it, and just had the Ad with something like AT or AA, but I folded like an idiot. I also didn't bother to calculate the stack I would have had if I won (about 75k), and instead just kept thinking about busting.

So then a few hands later I get ATcc and raise. Older guy (the worst one at the table, honestly) calls from the SB. Flop is AT5 rainbow. He check/calls. I fear 55 a bit but only have 23k (I lost a small pot in between) and can't fold anymore if he does. Turn is 9. I bet 4k, he check-raises to 17k, which is the equivalent of shipping it. He has me covered, but only by a little. Too much of a chance he has A9 or A5 here (or even the other AT), so I just call and pray. He has 55. Blank river, I'm gone. I felt that hand played itself and I just got coolered, but I'm so irritated that I folded that Q8. I should have just called and accepted it was a tough spot if I busted. I would be sitting on 75 now instead of on the rail.

with 37k you have less than 100 big blinds, and on the next level, which is only a few hands away, you will drop into the 80 bb range if you stay the same...so i'd be looking to play aggressive and build stack...from earlier hands you talked about in this thread, you often raise on the flop with only high cards, so probably the table sees you as loose aggressive on the flop...so when the flop hit, i would shove raise here and hope to get a call because of the prior aggressive play

[Dan Druff]

So I just busted, and the day was a combination of coolers, action-killing scare-cards, and a weird double-trap situation that robbed me of a big pot.

I also screwed one big hand royally at the end which could have chipped me up to over 75k. Instead I'm busto.

There were 6 tough hands today. I already posted two of them.

Here was the ugliest one though:

Background: After I lost a big pot and was down to under 30k (which is the starting stack), I had AQdd and raised early position pre. Blinds were 150/300/25, and I made it 700. Flatted, then got re-raised to 2100. Me and the flatter called. Flop AcQs3c. I checked, flatter checked, 3-better made it 1300. I check-raised to something like 3500. Flatter folded, 3-bettor went all-in. I called. He showed AK, board ran out J-J and I doubled to 54200, my high. That hand was NOT one of the hard ones, obviously.

Anyway, we are on the final level of the day (200/400/50) and I have about 37k. Same spaz from the hand above makes it 850. I flat with Qs8s on button, SB flats, BB folds.

Flop: 8d3d8h



Raiser makes it 1400. I make it 4000. He thinks for a bit and calls.

Turn: Td

He now fires out 6800. Much of me wanted to ship it in this guy's face, especially remembering the last retarded AK hand of his. He literally didn't think a second about shoving that AK over me on an AQ3 board.

Instead I just called. My thinking was that I would wait until the river to see if a 4th diamond hit, and then ship it in his face. He isn't putting me on an 8, so I think I'm safe to do that.

River is the ultimate blank: 2s

He ships it in. Turns out we are almost EXACTLY even in chips. He has me covered by 25. Not 25k or 2500, but 25.

If I fold, I still have 25k and change. If I call and I'm shown a flush, I am busto.

Funny enough, if I had like 35k instead of 25k behind, I call. But the thought of being busto and seeing a flush (or maybe even 33/TT/A8/K8) just was making me gun shy, especially after I called the river on Day 3 in 2012 against Amnon Filippi in a similar spot, and he showed me a full house to bust me. Honestly this one was much more begging for a call than the Filippi hand, but for whatever reason I just didn't want to bust with trips-queen-kicker here when I could have 25k behind and still play lots of poker.

So I folded.

He flashed AdKh



I took a long time to think about it, and made the wrong decision. I kept thinking there was a good chance he didn't have it, and just had the Ad with something like AT or AA, but I folded like an idiot. I also didn't bother to calculate the stack I would have had if I won (about 75k), and instead just kept thinking about busting.

So then a few hands later I get ATcc and raise. Older guy (the worst one at the table, honestly) calls from the SB. Flop is AT5 rainbow. He check/calls. I fear 55 a bit but only have 23k (I lost a small pot in between) and can't fold anymore if he does. Turn is 9. I bet 4k, he check-raises to 17k, which is the equivalent of shipping it. He has me covered, but only by a little. Too much of a chance he has A9 or A5 here (or even the other AT), so I just call and pray. He has 55. Blank river, I'm gone. I felt that hand played itself and I just got coolered, but I'm so irritated that I folded that Q8. I should have just called and accepted it was a tough spot if I busted. I would be sitting on 75 now instead of on the rail.

with 37k you have less than 100 big blinds, and on the next level, which is only a few hands away, you will drop into the 80 bb range if you stay the same...so i'd be looking to play aggressive and build stack...from earlier hands you talked about in this thread, you often raise on the flop with only high cards, so probably the table sees you as loose aggressive on the flop...so when the flop hit, i would shove raise here and hope to get a call because of the prior aggressive play

Yes and no. With the 2-hour levels and slow structure, you can still afford to wait for better spots with 37k.

However, this Euro's prior spastic play definitely made it correct to put him in on the turn, with the (what turned out to be correct) assumption that he was behind and only had a diamond draw.

[Dan Druff]

I've had 4 difficult hands this day 1.

Here are 2 that happened in the past hour. I don't think anyone at the table reads this forum, and the day is just 2 hours away from being over, so fuck it.

Hand #1:
BB with Kd7d
150/300/25
50k stack

UTG makes it 700. 2 cold callers. You call 400.

Flop Kc7s6c
You check
UTG bets 1400
Cutoff folds
Button (white guy, 50s with about 70k) makes it 3200
You re-pop to 8k
UTG grimaces and folds after thinking
Button calls

Turn 4d
You bet 12k
Button makes it 25k

You have 29k behind.

??????

flop re raise for 8k was wrong...either call, shove or fold...calling keeps pot small enough to get away cheap later, but raise to 8k bloats pot and puts a lot of your stack in.....if i though utg is predictable, button probably does too and could be making a move...trip sixes possible, but so is K6, 9c8c, 5c4c, enough range to consider a shove....

He didn't have K6. Didn't at all look like the type of guy who is flatting K6 to a UTG raise, and watching him after that confirmed this assumption.

9c8c was possible but not likely because of the way he played back at me. If you have a big draw you still prefer your opponent folds because you're not there yet. He would have re-popped me on the flop and hoped I folded, knowing he had plenty of outs even if I went in on him.

His virtual min-raise on the turn (12k to 25k) as indicative of someone who wanted a call. Again, if he had a hand he was going to call to my shove anyway, he would have shoved either the flop or the turn. The small raise meant "I have it but want you to call down with worse".

I am happy with my flop 3-bet because at least it defined the whole situation. If I just flatted him and then he shoved or bet really big on the turn, I wouldn't have known what to do. Here he kinda gave away what he had.

And let's face it, 66 is the most likely holding given that he flatted an UTG raise pre and was otherwise a tight player. Totally screams set mining.

If I was right about the 66 (which I probably was), it's pretty damn ugly that I had two hands with top two versus bottom set in about 2 hours time.

[GrenadaRoger]

flop re raise for 8k was wrong...either call, shove or fold...calling keeps pot small enough to get away cheap later, but raise to 8k bloats pot and puts a lot of your stack in.....if i though utg is predictable, button probably does too and could be making a move...trip sixes possible, but so is K6, 9c8c, 5c4c, enough range to consider a shove....

He didn't have K6. Didn't at all look like the type of guy who is flatting K6 to a UTG raise, and watching him after that confirmed this assumption.

9c8c was possible but not likely because of the way he played back at me. If you have a big draw you still prefer your opponent folds because you're not there yet. He would have re-popped me on the flop and hoped I folded, knowing he had plenty of outs even if I went in on him.

His virtual min-raise on the turn (12k to 25k) as indicative of someone who wanted a call. Again, if he had a hand he was going to call to my shove anyway, he would have shoved either the flop or the turn. The small raise meant "I have it but want you to call down with worse".

I am happy with my flop 3-bet because at least it defined the whole situation. If I just flatted him and then he shoved or bet really big on the turn, I wouldn't have known what to do. Here he kinda gave away what he had.

And let's face it, 66 is the most likely holding given that he flatted an UTG raise pre and was otherwise a tight player. Totally screams set mining.

If I was right about the 66 (which I probably was), it's pretty damn ugly that I had two hands with top two versus bottom set in about 2 hours time.

respectfully, i disagree about the villians range...he has over 200bb's yes? (70,000/300) So i believe he preflop his range would be very wide and he is looking to surprise a top pair top kicker hand with a two pair hand, K6s yes and maybe K6o if the other players seem weak tight. also, 9c8c or 5c4c hands would be 55% on the flop to made a straight or flush by the river...i could see those played aggressive on the flop, but if you shove on the flop, he could see you with a higher set than 66's and of if he's drawing he would see you with a set and a redraw to a house if he makes his straigh/flush...and while i agree 66 is probably the most likely hand, i see other hands in his range that would be played identically, enough to consider playing out the hand...just raising to 8k on the flop doesn't work imho...call, shove or fold on the flop

[ShadyJ]

I've had 4 difficult hands this day 1.

Here are 2 that happened in the past hour. I don't think anyone at the table reads this forum, and the day is just 2 hours away from being over, so fuck it.

Hand #1:
BB with Kd7d
150/300/25
50k stack

UTG makes it 700. 2 cold callers. You call 400.

Flop Kc7s6c
You check
UTG bets 1400
Cutoff folds
Button (white guy, 50s with about 70k) makes it 3200
You re-pop to 8k
UTG grimaces and folds after thinking
Button calls

Turn 4d
You bet 12k
Button makes it 25k

You have 29k behind.

??????

flop re raise for 8k was wrong...either call, shove or fold...calling keeps pot small enough to get away cheap later, but raise to 8k bloats pot and puts a lot of your stack in.....if i though utg is predictable, button probably does too and could be making a move...trip sixes possible, but so is K6, 9c8c, 5c4c, enough range to consider a shove....

Awful advice folding or shoving is just beyond bad Im not sure whats worse.

[ShadyJ]

flop re raise for 8k was wrong...either call, shove or fold...calling keeps pot small enough to get away cheap later, but raise to 8k bloats pot and puts a lot of your stack in.....if i though utg is predictable, button probably does too and could be making a move...trip sixes possible, but so is K6, 9c8c, 5c4c, enough range to consider a shove....

He didn't have K6. Didn't at all look like the type of guy who is flatting K6 to a UTG raise, and watching him after that confirmed this assumption.

9c8c was possible but not likely because of the way he played back at me. If you have a big draw you still prefer your opponent folds because you're not there yet. He would have re-popped me on the flop and hoped I folded, knowing he had plenty of outs even if I went in on him.

His virtual min-raise on the turn (12k to 25k) as indicative of someone who wanted a call. Again, if he had a hand he was going to call to my shove anyway, he would have shoved either the flop or the turn. The small raise meant "I have it but want you to call down with worse".

I am happy with my flop 3-bet because at least it defined the whole situation. If I just flatted him and then he shoved or bet really big on the turn, I wouldn't have known what to do. Here he kinda gave away what he had.

And let's face it, 66 is the most likely holding given that he flatted an UTG raise pre and was otherwise a tight player. Totally screams set mining.

If I was right about the 66 (which I probably was), it's pretty damn ugly that I had two hands with top two versus bottom set in about 2 hours time.

You cold 3 btted oop and he flatted then min raised turn. Do we really need to spend anymore time on this hand he may as well had it face up. Its a set 100% of the time against this villian in ME I mean this isnt a $20 online tourney its the fUCKIN NUTZ EVERY TIME and anyone who doesnt know that is just bad, but dont worry 100% of poker players think their good but 99% arent.

[Corrigan]

but dont worry 100% of poker players think their good but 99% arent.