PAHWM: $400 2026 WSOP Ring Event (2 Viewers)

[PlayerADK]

Keep in mind I'm terrible (studying a lot more gto nowadays but trying for a ring in the local WSOP circuit)

First time posting a pahwm - lmk if I'm missing anything. Assume no context/outside knowledge on Villain, he sat down 3 hands ago from another table (AI assisted if bb calcs are wrong lol)

Mid level 6:

Blinds: 300 / 600 / 600 BBA

Stacks:
CO (Villain): 24,600 (41.0bb)
BTN (Hero): 37,600 (62.7bb)
SB: 30,000 (50.0bb)
BB: 30,000 (50.0bb)

Preflop:
CO opens to 1,400 (2.33bb)
Hero on BTN with A♦5♦

Hero: ?

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Good stuff! How have SB and BB been playing? I'm fine with 3betting to 3600/6BB, we are deep enough and I want to play heads up in position.

If blinds are super passive I can see just calling, but I like more pressure in tournaments.

 

[HiveKueen]

I'll bite. GTO often considers A5s to be a reraise hand, especially in position, especially with a bigger stack. re-raise to 3.8-4.2K. You get so few opportunities like this you can't pass it up. Of course, you may have to fold pre- OR post-flop! but you must challenge this raise.

Curious to hear what you DID do!

 

[elPadroni]

A5 suited is basically AA for the GTO Wizards. This is a fist pump auto 3B spot.

 

[PlayerADK]

Good stuff! How have SB and BB been playing? I'm fine with 3betting to 3600/6BB, we are deep enough and I want to play heads up in position.

If blinds are super passive I can see just calling, but I like more pressure in tournaments.

Both seem solid, rarely limp but also don't defend blinds as much as I'd expect

Remember I'm terrible:

I initially thought it was a raise but when uncertain, I lean to the tighter option

Hero calls 1,400 (2.33bb)
SB folds
BB folds

Pot: 4,300 (7.17bb)

Flop: Q♠ 8♣ 5♠
CO bets 2,200 (3.67bb)

Hero: ?

 

[HiveKueen]

Flop: Q♠ 8♣ 5♠
CO checks/bets 2,200 (3.67bb)

Hero: ?

I'm confused here... did the CO check or bet the flop? Assuming s/he c-bet you now have to fold. You didn't play A5s to make bottom pair.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Both seem solid, rarely limp but also don't defend blinds as much as I'd expect

Remember I'm terrible:

I initially thought it was a raise but when uncertain, I lean to the tighter option

Hero calls 1,400 (2.33bb)
SB folds
BB folds

Pot: 4,300 (7.17bb)

Flop: Q♠ 8♣ 5♠
CO checks/bets 2,200 (3.67bb)

Hero: ?

Thats fine, I suck at poker too, cheers.

I see them autopiloting a small bet on any flop that looks like this one. Position should help us here.

I got me some showdown and an unknown villain, calling half pot bet. In tournaments I expect a good amount of giveups/small continued c-bets on the turn that I can attack.

 

[PlayerADK]

I'm confused here... did the CO check or bet the flop? Assuming s/he c-bet you now have to fold. You didn't play A5s to make bottom pair.

My bad I didn't proofread my ai slop

He bet

 

[JMC9389]

I like a minclick 3 bet to 2800. Balances your range and gives you fold equity to a gigantic four bet.

I don't love the flop despite hitting bottom pair. Not even a backdoor flush or straight draw. I lean 50/50 between folding and calling and folding any non 5 or ace turn. You're not ahead of much of villains range here besides AK, AJ, A10, A9 suited.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

I like a minclick 3 bet to 2800. Balances your range and gives you fold equity to a gigantic four bet.

I don't love the flop despite hitting bottom pair. Not even a backdoor flush or straight draw. I lean 50/50 between folding and calling and folding any non 5 or ace turn. You're not ahead of much of villains range here besides AK, AJ, A10, A9 suited.

Meh, we block the Axs. Give them KJ, JT, and I suck so Im opening T9s late position as well. Do 9s bet then give up turn?

 

[PlayerADK]

The more I look at this hand the more disgusted I am with my decisions overall lol feels clueless, but the bottom line is that I just didn't believe him at this point

Hero calls.

Pot: 8,700
Turn: 8♦

CO bets 4,000
Hero: ?

 

[JMC9389]

Fold.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Fold.

Lol fold. I'm still down to call and see the turn but we're too rarely good here. Many of the cbet bluffs would be shutting down on this turn. Mmm this fold may be exploitable but I think that's fine cause we'd call with our 8s as well. Wonder what would've changed if we raised preflop, but we'll never know.

 

[PlayerADK]

Lmao idk what my game plan was calling here but here we are

Hero calls.

Pot: 16,700
River: 5♥

CO shoves 17,000
Hero: ?

 

[krafticus]

Lmao idk what my game plan was calling here but here we are

Hero calls.

Pot: 16,700
River: 5♥

CO shoves 17,000
Hero: ?

I mean, I think that’s the only card you want. Call and puke??

 

[chippitydoodah]

That fucker has got AK and is trying to make you think he's got Queens full. Call and ruin his night

 

[JMC9389]

If you're not calling after calling that turn, why did you call the turn in the first place?

Either call and puke after villain turns over queens or thank the poker gods for that river after villain mucks and says he had aces (when he actually had AK)

 

[grandmeme]

I think the first question you have to ask yourself facing this 28bb jam on the river is would he jam with worse for value? Like AA, KK, Qx. I think you can start constructing his range based on that thought on your mind. In my opinion, most players in a $400 tournament are never bluffing this spot for a pot sized jam on the river. Additionally, he would probably be scared of any 5x or 8x in your button defend range (even if there aren't any), lowering the chances of him jamming AA or KK here.

Further, do you think he will be bluffing off a playable stack is this instance? 28bb is still a pretty deep stack. If you think he is capable of jamming missed spades, AK, T9ss, (some random spaz, you get the idea), then it becomes much more weighted to a call. I am probably folding to keep my tournament life but I'm guessing you called.

 

[BPTDirector]

While your card gave you a set, it paired the board, so if he had 88 he has 8’s full of 5’s and you’re best. Proceed with caution.

 

[PlayerADK]

I folded. Should have never gotten past the turn for sure. Grinded back a respectable stack, only to later shove JJ into both KK and AA preflop with just under half the average stack.

Villain doesn't show, but couple hands later he says he had KK. I don't really believe him at first, but later he busts right before a break and I ask him again and he confirms he had KK and thought he was good

So I will claim my title as bozo of the day

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

I folded. Should have never gotten past the turn for sure. Grinded back a respectable stack, only to later shove JJ into both KK and AA preflop with just under half the average stack.

Villain doesn't show, but couple hands later he says he had KK. I don't really believe him at first, but later he busts right before a break and I ask him again and he confirms he had KK and thought he was good

So I will claim my title as bozo of the day

Remember this pain and learn from it, no worries. He could be lying... But yeah you called to see that card. If you had to select one that would probably be it, eh? Call and take your licks. What did you see him having? Sorry brother

 

[PlayerADK]

Remember this pain and learn from it, no worries. He could be lying... But yeah you called to see that card. If you had to select one that would probably be it, eh? Call and take your licks. What did you see him having? Sorry brother

Yeah calling the turn was the biggest mistake in my opinion because I couldn't have asked for a better river card, but I also wasn't prepared to call the all-in. I folded with the idea "folks don't typically triple barrel bluff in these scenarios" (and the guy turned out to be a crazier player than I knew at the time, more hindsight info)

 

[Frogzilla]

I play a lot of live at this buy in. Fishfest

Pre: call fine 3bet fine
Flop: call
Turn: raise!!
River: call

 

[Taghkanic]

Once you call turn and bink river… Gotta call. There is so much you’re beating that raised preflop. All AQ/KQ/QJ. AA/KK/JJ/TT/99. If he flopped a set, much more likely to bet smaller or checkraise you.

Anyway he has way less QQ than hands you beat, and likewise very little 8x since two were on the board. Almost impossible for him to have flopped two pair.

Similarly if he rivered a bigger boat, does he really want to shove and force you to fold?

His line screams overpairs that he got attached to or AQ combos.

 

[Taghkanic]

P.S. I’ll be there for the Monster Stack on Tuesday…

 

[PlayerADK]

I play a lot of live at this buy in. Fishfest

Pre: call fine 3bet fine
Flop: call
Turn: raise!!
River: call

This really surprised me - so many limpers! Definitely learned more for the next tourney

Once you call turn and bink river… Gotta call. There is so much you’re beating that raised preflop. All AQ/KQ/QJ. AA/KK/JJ/TT/99. If he flopped a set, much more likely to bet smaller or checkraise you.

Anyway he has way less QQ than hands you beat, and likewise very little 8x since two were on the board. Almost impossible for him to have flopped two pair.

Similarly if he rivered a bigger boat, does he really want to shove and force you to fold?

His line screams overpairs that he got attached to or AQ combos.

I agree - if I'm calling the turn I shouldn't even be considering a fold after hitting the only card I wanted to see. But I also tend to believe that they aren't many triple barrel bluff spots in a lot of these tourney spots, but I might just be wrong

I'm planning on playing the monster stack as well - I'll message you and see you there!

 

[HiveKueen]

Phew, that is a hard, hard fold on the river. I don't get to that river, but I'm not sure i can fold it.

Let's assume he had KK.

As noted above, I would have 3-bet pre-flop and would have been schooled on where I stood by a sizable incoming 4-bet to which I insta-fold.

Playing the Ladies next Friday and considering teh 40-40-40 on 3/22. The 40K 40min blind structure is enticing.

 

[Frogzilla]

I’m rereading the advice and I disagree on the river with everyone. Q85 8 5 board where front door flush bricked out and v cbet flop. All draws lost and hero doesn’t block missed flushes or missed straight draws. Level 6 practically no ICM. Pot sized bet so need to beat 1 combo for every 2 that beat you.

Beat 9 combos of AA/KK value that take this line a lot- full 9.
Beat 9 combos of AQ that doesn’t shove river as much so discount a little- maybe give 3.
Lose to 4 combos of QQ/88 people do trap top set but it’s wet so give him all 4.
Lose to 16 combos of A8o, A8s, K8s, J8s, T8s, 89s, 78s - not everyone cbets middle pair - give him 10.
Straight draw and combo draw bluffs 67s, T9s, JTs - 12 combos, no showdown, as underbluffed as live poker is on river, give him 8.
Flush draw bluffs Ax spades KJ KT K9, 12 combos, lots of showdown, give him 3.

That’s 20 beat and 14 lose. Need 30% equity and have almost 60%. KQ with Spade is your bad blocker puke call.

Just a note: offsuit 8x combos - if aggro he has some that weren’t considered. But It’s worth noting that wide aggro pre is usually correlated with wide aggro post…you can give him more 8x pre and amp up the cbet for these, but then also you should up his bluff freq, up his value with AQ and KQ freq, and give him offsuit straight draws with a spade that have to bluff river.

 

[JustinInMN]

Blinds: 300 / 600 / 600 BBA

Stacks:
CO (Villain): 24,600 (41.0bb)
BTN (Hero): 37,600 (62.7bb)
SB: 30,000 (50.0bb)
BB: 30,000 (50.0bb)

Preflop:
CO opens to 1,400 (2.33bb)
Hero on BTN with A♦5♦

Hero: ?

To me this decision is close between folding and 3-betting. Cutoff could be wide and on a button steal, suited aces are usually a good choice for a loose 3-bet to around 3500, given we make it hard for someone to have AA. But if you respect the opener probably has a good Ax or a mid pair, then I think folding is the play.

So to me I probbaly raise > fold >> call.

Hero calls 1,400 (2.33bb)
SB folds
BB folds

Pot: 4,300 (7.17bb)

Flop: Q♠ 8♣ 5♠
CO bets 2,200 (3.67bb)

Hero: ?

Or we take option C. So bottom pair with an overcard and no backdoor flush draw and we really don't know if villian is just putting in a continuation bet or flopped a Q, or may have a pocket pair bigger than 8s. He could just be c-betting with the parts of his range that missed, but most of that is Ax and we hold an ace ourselves. Maybe some KJ, KT bluffs are in play?

so here I think fold > call >>>>>>>> raise.

We caught about the least something that we could with this hand. We do have position so in that sense a call in hopes of getting a free turn might not be the worst thought either, so again I think it's close.

Hero calls.

Pot: 8,700
Turn: 8♦

CO bets 4,000
Hero: ?

This is a really bad card, I think you had close decisions to fold on the first two streets, this should be the escape for sure. Villain is not giving up, meaning I think he's probably on AQ, KQ, QJ, KK or maybe even A8 or QQ to which we are now drawing completely dead. Unless you really think this guy is spewing, and that's just not something I am going to attribute to an unknown, this is a fold.

Hero calls.

Pot: 16,700
River: 5♥

CO shoves 17,000
Hero: ?

We don't know if this card helps or not, but this now screams A8 or QQ to me. We caught the "best" possible card, and it's only good if villain has KK, AQ, KQ, QJ AND is deciding to shove the river here. I think you should have folded the turn, I certainly think you should fold the river even after you get the data point that the river "helps" your hand, you also have the datapoint that the villain is betting into a board that should be somewhat difficult to bluff.

Haven't seen the result yet. I'll see if you have posted it.

 

[JustinInMN]

Villain doesn't show, but couple hands later he says he had KK. I don't really believe him at first, but later he busts right before a break and I ask him again and he confirms he had KK and thought he was good

So I will claim my title as bozo of the day

Huh, I would not expect him to shove KK there. Unless he just never puts you on AA, 8x, or 5x here, and is just hoping you can pay off with a Qx. The problem with shoving KK here is that he is surely going to get called by an 8, and the Qx hands are going to struggle to find a call. I guess there's the upside of getting a 5x to fold here (as demonstrated.)

I would certainly play KK for a check-call here in villain's shoes though, i think there is more to be won by letting a player in hero's shoes bluff.