Flop three of a kind with me - 20k guaranteed (1 Viewer)

[Anthony Martino]

Playing the $160 buyin 20K guaranteed tourney at Derby Lane in St Pete FL. Starting stacks of 40K with 30 minute blinds beginning at 100/100 and featuring a big blind ante in later levels.

Blinds are presently 100/200 with no ante.

Villain is a late registrant so effective stacks are roughly 40k and we have no history with him.

Villain raises UTG to 600

MP calls 600

Hero (button) calls 600 with

Pot = 2100

Flop

Villian bets 800

MP Folds

Hero ?

 

[colter ripton]

Probably just call behind here. You have the board pretty much crushed. Only semi scary turn card is a club. He almost certainly doesn't have a straight draw.

I'm calling in position and hoping he has an overpair and keeps betting

 

[Pesto628]

I don’t really love calling this hand preflop. As played I’d raise flop since there are still a lot of hands in his range to get value from (overpairs, flush draws).

 

[Jimulacrum]

I usually don't love slowplaying, but this is a pretty safe board, and Villain is OOP. It may be a great line to take if Villain turns out to be too aggressive for his own good.

 

[trever]

As long as you don't fold, I don't think you can go wrong here.

Personally, I like a small raise. You both like your hands right now, but there's a lot of potential turn cards that will kill the action, so you might as well start putting in chips now while you both like your hands.

 

[BGinGA]

With no history, it's pretty much a coin flip for raise vs call. A common c-bet player may fold with unpaired overcards (meaning check), a super-tight player likely has a high pair (meaning raise), and a super-lag will keep firing (meaning check).

I probably call unless there's something in the air that indicates he's quite strong, or passive.

 

[BGinGA]

Or throw one of your crazy "If i raise, will you show?" lines at him and evaluate.

 

[Kain8]

Give the villain some rope, just call.

 

[upNdown]

I’m flatting here. I’ve gotten my ass kicked in tournaments with trips many many times. So many times in fact that I recently made a rule for myself that there’s a mandatory 30 second tank before I act on trips. Plus you’ve got two to a flush and two to a straight out there. You’re most likely way ahead, but I wouldn’t bloat this pot yet.
Flat.

 

[upNdown]

I typically play a small ball sort of tournament game, which is pretty much focused on taking small pots early in hands when you can, but if you’re going deep in a hand, don’t get involved in a big pot unless you’ve got the nuts.
Hands like this confound me, because my instinct is to re-raise big enough to end it here - I don’t want to give this guy rope to bloat the pot, because all I have is a stupid 5. But lately re-raising in this situation has killed me. The guy has either flopped the straight or he’s got trips with an ace kicker or he’s some maniac calling station chasing a straight or a flush.
But I digress.
Flat.
Edit: the time he flipped a straight, I had a set, not trips, obviously. At least that was a rebuy tournament.

 

[Josh Kifer]

Flat call, readdress on the turn, hope he's shooting blanks the entire way but don't throw in more chips then you need to...hope to get a check on the river and do a nice bet...

 

[Anthony Martino]

Playing the $160 buyin 20K guaranteed tourney at Derby Lane in St Pete FL. Starting stacks of 40K with 30 minute blinds beginning at 100/100 and featuring a big blind ante in later levels.

Blinds are presently 100/200 with no ante.

Villain is a late registrant so effective stacks are roughly 40k and we have no history with him.

Villain raises UTG to 600

MP calls 600

Hero (button) calls 600 with

Pot = 2100

Flop

Villain bets 800

MP Folds

Hero calls 800

My thought process is I'm way ahead of Villians range here and if he has an overpair I don't want to slow him down.

Turn

Pot: 3,700

Villain checks, hero?

 

[Anthony Martino]

I don’t really love calling this hand preflop. As played I’d raise flop since there are still a lot of hands in his range to get value from (overpairs, flush draws).

I'm on the button early in a tourney when stacks are deep and players are prone to making mistakes for big chunks of their stacks with suited connectors, I'm ok with the call given my position and stack sizes.

 

[Josh Kifer]

I'd be tempted to check back... But I hate giving a free card to any overpair... I'd prob check and bet on the river, and accept my misplay if I did it...

 

[colter ripton]

There is really no way you should be behind here. I highly doubt hes raising under the gun with pocket 2s or A5. If I thought i would get called i would absolutely raise here. This is the kind of pot you want to bloat.

The reason i advocate calling here is because he will likely fold to a raise. I am hoping he continues to bet on the turn, and I am raising pretty much regardless of what the turn card is. There is an argument to maybe just call on a club, but I probably raise on a club turn also.

 

[colter ripton]

Well I posted that last one before I saw the next two messages.

I'm betting here. He could have clubs, but you are still very likely way ahead. Also if he has a big pair and a club he is likely to call. He would probably still call with just a big pair and no clubs.
I think it's a pretty clear value bet spot.

I'm betting something like 2500

 

[Anthony Martino]

Blinds are presently 100/200 with no ante.

Villain is a late registrant so effective stacks are roughly 40k and we have no history with him.

Villain raises UTG to 600

MP calls 600

Hero (button) calls 600 with

Pot = 2100

Flop

Villain bets 800

MP Folds

Hero calls 800

My thought process is I'm way ahead of Villians range here and if he has an overpair I don't want to slow him down.

Turn

Pot: 3,700

Villain checks

Hero bets 2,000

Villain calls 2,000

pot: 7,700

River:

Villain fires an 11,000 overbet of the pot, Hero?

 

[Lemonzest]

call. he has aq or ak.

 

[colter ripton]

I probably call..... and I probably watch him roll over two black aces.

I mean...... I dont know....besides aces what are you afraid of? 10s? Maybe a flush? but I dont think hes checking the turn with either hand.

I think it's a call.

 

[Josh Kifer]

It's a call. Hope to be against a high ace... Maybe he got lucky with A5

 

[upNdown]

Well that’s a maddening bet. What does it mean? Is he trying to scare you off the pot, or is he trying to make it look like he’s trying to scare you off the pot?
Since its early in the tournament, and you have no history with this guy, I’m giving him a broad range. Broad enough to include a suited A5, AA or any two broadway clubs - all the heads that beat you, as well as 10 10 and AA, of course.
Still, I can’t recomcile that bet. Maybe he’s got jacks or queens and is trying to scare you off of ace rag? I have no idea, really.
I think I have to call that overbet. If he’s got the goods, good for him, well played.

 

[Anthony Martino]

I definitely think hands like TT and AA are in his range, TT is also in my range (but not AA) and he could also have AK/AQ, could have a hand that made the flush on the turn as well.

His river bet is confusing, because my flop call and half pot turn bet gives him no indication I can pay off a massive overbet of the pot. So one might think it's meant to scare me off since he figures it's a hard bet to call.

Then again, if he's got a monster he might be hoping I made the flush or an underfull and will pay off the big bet.

If he has AK/AQ I don't think he'd make such a massive overbet on a paired and flush board, he'd probably check-call or make a more reasonable sized bet.

So his bet is essentially polarized to bluffs or monsters, rather than medium strength hands that have showdown value.

 

[Pesto628]

Not really much for him to be bluffing with on this river. Flush got there, AA probably bets turn, maybe 1010 checks. Do you think he overbets the pot with a pair of aces? If you think he is overvaluing his Aces then call, but I also think a hand like AQ and AK with the a of clubs barrels again as a bluff ott. From his perspective you don’t exactly look weak. You called behind and bet the turn when he checked.

Unless you think he would play a pair of aces with a good kicker like this, I’d fold

 

[Pesto628]

As a disclaimer I play mostly online cash and the site I play on is fairly reg heavy. A great deal of the players think pretty strategically. No solid thinking player would overbet that pot with a pair of aces, but I could be giving these live tourney players too much credit.

 

[Anthony Martino]

Well, there's a mantra I try to listen to, which I didn't in this instance. It's that people don't bluff nearly as much as you think they do, and big bets usually equal big hands.

In this instance I failed to heed that warning and sigh-called, and he flipped over . So on the turn he picked up the nut flush draw (albeit on a paired board) and when he rivered the nut house he overbet the pot and I didn't get away from my three of a kind.

 

[upNdown]

Ick

 

[JustinInMN]

If he only has ax what is he trying to get value from? Hero doesn't have many big pairs here, is he hoping for a crying call from 10x or like 88? He really can't have many 5s unless he likes to open a-5.

This is starting to feel like a flush to me that he chose to check on the turn. But I think we're pretty high on our range we should call if he can have a bluff here. Maybe he's turning a big pair into a bluff, trying to get you to fold an ace? It's weird. I think you'll be shown a flush or you'll catch a bluff.

 

[colter ripton]

I agree that overbets are usually not bluffs. It is a weird spot. I mean to me it's almost either aces or nothing there. I dont think he does that with a flush even.

 

[JustinInMN]

Well, there's a mantra I try to listen to, which I didn't in this instance. It's that people don't bluff nearly as much as you think they do, and big bets usually equal big hands.

In this instance I failed to heed that warning and sigh-called, and he flipped over . So on the turn he picked up the nut flush draw (albeit on a paired board) and when he rivered the nut house he overbet the pot and I didn't get away from my three of a kind.

This makes a lot of sense actually. And frankly if the roles were reversed as hero we probably play it the same way.

You did take initiative every street in which you were ahead, bad runout. I don't think you can ever get villian to fold the nut flush draw, nor do I think he's folding aces to a flop raise, so surely you played it fine through the turn. Just tough to decide if the river call is good without being too results oriented. If you catch a clean river you probably can extract the same amount.

 

[BGinGA]

On board with the ~half-pot turn bet after being checked to (might have gone a little bigger, say 2500) and I'm calling the overbet on the river.

I mostly expect him to show up with AcTx, thinking he's possibly behind and wanting you to fold -- holding the Ac makes it hard for small flushes to call a huge bet. Or maybe an overvalued AcK/AcQ for the same reasons, but less often. TT is really the only other hand that makes sense -- preflop raise, flop bet with overpair, check/call when the turn boats him up, and pop the river hard when the ace hits hoping you hit it or have the flush.