King queen suited (1 Viewer)

[upNdown]

Hero is in the third level of a Local cardroom MTT. $50 buyin for a 15k stack, also available are either two rebuys or one rebuy and one $50 20k addon at the first break - all that causes people to play fast and loose for the first couple of hours. And the structure of the tournament (runs for 5 or 6 hours on a weeknight with typically around 60 people) keeps the action moving fast all night.
Playing 8 handed at the moment, hero is in middle position with a modest chip lead of 21k.
200/400
UTG, playing about 11k, opens for 1200. Hero is familiar with UTG - he’s a decent cardplayer, but mostly a TAG, so a 3x open from him UTG means he has cards - hero feels comfortable ranging this guy on 10s or better, or else an A with another broadway card.
Fold, fold, fold,
Hero looks down at .
There are three yet to act, each with around 15k.
Raise, call, fold?

 

[CraigT78]

What does UTG do with aggression? If you know 3x means he has cards, would a raise cause him to raise, or just flat?

 

[DrStrange]

Decent TAG, understands position making an UTG raise. Hero also ranges villain as balanced - 30 paired hands vs 24 AK/AQ {Hero has a king and a queen accounted for} hands plus 4 AJs hands. Hero has a hand that is a candidate for domination - KQ vs AQ/AK. KQs is something like a 90th - 95th percental hand. But we read villain as holding a hand at least as good as KQs perhaps better.

Missing data - - - hero's table image. If hero has a villain read then villain has a Hero read.

So why is it Hero wants to tangle with this villain? Position is good, second only to the button, better than represented in the original post.

I judge this as fold > call > raise. But a lot depends on Hero's image, villain's stickiness, post flop skills etc. More data could sway my opinion. At the moment, Hero will need to out play or out flop villain and I see no reason to play that game.

DrStrange

 

[upNdown]

What does UTG do with aggression? If you know 3x means he has cards, would a raise cause him to raise, or just flat?

He would likely flat to a re-raise. But he's a smart enough player to be aware of his own stack and of other people's stacks, and act appropriately.

 

[upNdown]

Decent TAG, understands position making an UTG raise. Hero also ranges villain as balanced - 30 paired hands vs 24 AK/AQ {Hero has a king and a queen accounted for} hands plus 4 AJs hands. Hero has a hand that is a candidate for domination - KQ vs AQ/AK. KQs is something like a 90th - 95th percental hand. But we read villain as holding a hand at least as good as KQs perhaps better.

Missing data - - - hero's table image. If hero has a villain read then villain has a Hero read.

So why is it Hero wants to tangle with this villain? Position is good, second only to the button, better than represented in the original post.

I judge this as fold > call > raise. But a lot depends on Hero's image, villain's stickiness, post flop skills etc. More data could sway my opinion. At the moment, Hero will need to out play or out flop villain and I see no reason to play that game.

DrStrange

Interesting question. I'm good at knowing my image after a couple of hours with a table full of strangers, but I'm not as good at knowing what people think of me in general. If people pay attention, they'd know I usually play on the tighter side, that I'll make a few moves, that position greatly influences my play, and that I'm not afraid to lay down a hand when I'm beat, but I'll also make a hero call if I think somebody's full of crap.

Why does hero want to tangle with this villain? Hero asked himself that question preflop, and didn't make a quick decision. But as I said, this is a fast tournament, and it's tough to ignore decent cards, because you can't wait too long. If this was a deeper stacked, longer tournament, it's an easy fold for me.

 

[Frogzilla]

I lean call...but a raise feels fine too if you want to put pressure. With his specific stack the only thing that makes sense is all in.

A reraise to 3000/4000 feels like a mistake and puts us in a terrible spot if he shoves, as well as little wiggle room post flop (are you going to float the potsize jam on all unders, etc)

 

[v1pe]

I'm calling, our hand is too good to fold and neither good enough or not bad enough for a 3bet, especially considering no dead money in between. KQs plays very well multiway if there are additional callers. Definitely not stacking off on a K or Q high board but TP with good or second kicker can stand a street or two of betting depending on the action.

 

[upNdown]

I refer to this tournament as the Wednesday night flipporana. The blinds increase too quickly and double too often for my sensibilities. So I’ll lfire a single bullet, see a lot of cheap flops early, and hope for the best. And since the average person is firing two and a half bullets, the payoff is good when I cash.
It’s not at all my preferred way to play cards, but it’s a fun thing to do on a Wednesday night.

 

[CraigT78]

flipporana

I'm raising.

 

[PlaidDragon]

1) Playing 8 handed at the moment, hero is in middle position with a modest chip lead of 21k.
2) 200/400
3) UTG, playing about 11k, opens for 1200.
4) a 3x open from him UTG means he has cards
5) Fold, fold, fold,
6) Hero looks down at .
7) There are three yet to act, each with around 15k.

No need to 3-bet here. If you likely think he has something, call and see a flop. You have position on him too.

If someone behind you 3-bets, then we re-evaluate after UTG reacts.

 

[BGinGA]

Lean towards fold, would consider a speculative call for 5% of my stack to see a flop, but never raising in this spot with those stack sizes. Folding to any further aggression pre-flop from anybody (which is probably a good enough reason to just fold now).

If calling, proceeding cautiously on almost all flops -- it's an easy hand to hit the flop and yet find yourself in trouble vs this villain's utg raising range.

 

[Kain8]

Small ball it up with a call and tread lightly if you flop top pair. We're hoping to flop a big draw which we can leverage against the tight range of our opponent.

A fold is meekish but prudent too.

 

[bivey]

I hate KQ, especially as you’ve described here. I like to open with it, but not tangle for stacks with it, sona raise is out. I’m folding and saving precious ammo for a better spot.

I’d rather leverage my position with an open cutoff or button raise bluff to steal blinds than call here.

 

[upNdown]

Okay.
My first thought was “you’re behind, you don’t need this, you should fold.” Then I thought, yeah, but it’s KQ suited, and you could look at 9-4 off for the next 90 minutes and be done. You can afford to see a flop, and maybe you’ll smash it.
If I thought about a raise, it was a fleeting thought. I pretty sure I’m not getting UTG off his hand, and there’s three more guys to act, and KQ suited is fun but not great. I’ll flat.

Hero flats.
Button calls.
SB calls.
BB folds

Pot 4,000
Flop
UTG pushes all in for 9500k
Hero has about 20k behind.
Action?

 

[CraigT78]

Fold.

 

[TroyMan]

If I'm the villian, I'm worried about the small blind that got priced in. I'm not messing around with an AQ and letting someone draw to a straight. Same if I'm holding KQ. The villian likely would have just limped UTG with pocket 6s or 9s. The only other hands to consider are AA, KK or 10Js. My best guess is AQo. With the action behind me, I'm either folding or shoving and more likely folding.

 

[PlaidDragon]

I think you're up against AQ or AA.

OUTA THERE!

 

[BGinGA]

Okay.
My first thought was “you’re behind, you don’t need this, you should fold.” Then I thought, yeah, but it’s KQ suited, and you could look at 9-4 off for the next 90 minutes and be done. You can afford to see a flop, and maybe you’ll smash it.
If I thought about a raise, it was a fleeting thought. I pretty sure I’m not getting UTG off his hand, and there’s three more guys to act, and KQ suited is fun but not great. I’ll flat.

Hero flats.
Button calls.
SB calls.
BB folds

Pot 4,000
Flop
UTG pushes all in for 9500k
Hero has about 20k behind.
Action?

Crap yer pants, blurt out jebeezus, and quietly remind yourself to fold preflop next time.

You ~might~ have the best hand here, but there's absolutely no way to tell. The SB's check could be a monster 'trap' (a set or two pair) letting the pre-flop aggressor villain do his thing, villain could have air (AK) or AA/KK/QQ/JJ/TT and be shoving for a variety of reasons, and the yet-to-act button very well may have you beat with AQ.

Fold. Top pair good kicker with a non-nut backdoor flush draw isn't worth 1/2 to 2/3 of your stack vs three opponents, any (or all) of which could have you beat.

 

[v1pe]

That's a very annoying bet. I think I hate this bet from UTG, seems bad. Easy fold though, I don't think UTG is making this move with anything less than 99, AQ, KK, or AA.

 

[Frogzilla]

Omg call

 

[CraigT78]

Omg call

Is this top 20 advice?

 

[Frogzilla]

Y’all are all nits...how is no one else calling. This is our 2nd best hand, after 99. AA, KK, AQ are 3 bets and we might fold 77 pre. Really 99 is a good 3bet too but that’s less standard.

You have to call something...and this is the best KQ we have with the backdoor draw. What are we doing here?!

 

[Mojo1312]

What has you beat in this spot? Aces, Kings, A,Q. Unlikely Villain would shove with a set. Villain could be protecting his hand against a flush draw or he could be representing an over pair with his pocket tens. I would give him the action.

 

[v1pe]

Read on UTG is that he's strong and that he's not opening anything less than TT. With that narrow of a range we are pretty much only beating TT and JJ and we are way behind all of his value range. If he's bluffing us with AJ or AK, nice hand (but I doubt it). Besides that we still have no idea what the SB is doing. We are only invested 1200 into this pot...

 

[v1pe]

What has you beat in this spot? Aces, Kings, A,Q. Unlikely Villain would shove with a set. Villain could be protecting his hand against a flush draw or he could be representing an over pair with his pocket tens. I would give him the action.

There's no flush draw on board.

 

[upNdown]

Here’s where the hand gets scary. My thought process was dominated by my philosophy on this particular tournament format - go big or go home. I figured I might be ahead, and if not, I had backdoor flush and straight draws. And if I committed another 9500, I’d still have over 10k behind - plenty to play with. Since he was all-in, I didn’t put too much thought into what UTG had, because he wouldn’t be making any more moves in this hand.
I thought about raising, but that didn’t seem like it would have much effect on the two yet to act, in this particular situation.

Hero flats, expecting two folds.

Button tanks for a scary while, before reluctantly folding.

SB goes all in for an additional 4500.

Pot is 37k, hero has 10k behind.
Call or fold, with top pair good kicker and a couple of desperation draws?

 

[Frogzilla]

Small blind can be making this move with 87, JT which we are ahead of, or 96 which we are behind but have lots of outs. The pot odds math is a little weird because of the side pot and 3rd player, but it’s 1/8 pot so this feels like mandatory call

 

[Rhodeman77]

In too deep to fold for 4500 now. Should have jammed.

Call.

 

[Mojo1312]

There's no flush draw on board.

Read the diamond Queen as a heart.

 

[ChaosRock]

Late to the party. So here's my personal take:

Pre-flop, if your read of UTG's range is correct, it's a fold for me. If the table is pretty solid and not a "I'll play anything" table, maybe a 3-bet is not horrible, trying to isolate UTG, and maybe folding some A and maybe TT. Fold to a shove. However, I don't think that's the case here, right? So isolating is probably not gonna happen. so I'm not likely at all to 3-bet here. Calling is the worst option for me as we can get squeezed out of the pot and even if we flop something similar to what we did, we are in no man's land.

As played, since you decided to call KQ, I think you gotta puke call/call or better yet, shove.