Hand from 25k Bellagio tournament

[Daniel Alaei]

Level 3 100/200/25. I had been playing quite a few hands up to this point, though not much more than my normal, without very much success. I believe I start this hand with 57k of the 100k we started with. My opponent in this hand, Burt Boutin (~120k), is a player who I have a decent amount of history with in cash games and a little bit in tournaments. He is on the tighter side and probably views me as good/tricky, maybe a little crazy, but not stupid.

About 20 minutes earlier (same blind level) we played a hand where he limped utg, i minraised to 400 right next to him with AK and got 2 callers behind me, as well as Burt. Flop came AT8r and Burt bet 800. I raised to 3400 and only Burt called. Turn was the 5s putting 2 spades out there and we both checked. River was an off K and he bet 3200. I raised to around 14,000 and he called with 888.

On to the hand... 3 people limp for 200 and Burt makes it 1200 on the button. I call in the small blind with 45ss and two of the other limpers come along for the ride. Flop comes 2s 3s Jh and I lead for 3700. (don't really care to discuss preflop/flop play as they are both fairly standard for me) The limpers fold and Burt calls fairly quickly. I am putting Burt pretty much square on a big pair here, with the occasional AJ.

Turn comes the Qc. Now there's about 13k in the pot and I have around 52k. So what's the plan?

[Jimmy Fricke]

I would not play the hand at all like you have up to this point. But seeing as you don't care, I guess turn is just a check/evaluate. I don't think he's folding to a bet on the turn basically ever here and a 3rd barrel probably won't work either if a brick comes off and he has an overpair. Add in the times he has ATss or something and a spade comes off and I'm not too enthused with the spot really when you bet and get called.

If he bets like 7k or something I call, if he bets more than 10k I might think about folding honestly. But I think you put yourself into a ****ty spot by calling preflop OOP and then leading when a c/r in this spot is absolutely the best play.

[Daniel Alaei]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Fricke

I would not play the hand at all like you have up to this point. But seeing as you don't care, I guess turn is just a check/evaluate. I don't think he's folding to a bet on the turn basically ever here and a 3rd barrel probably won't work either if a brick comes off and he has an overpair. Add in the times he has ATss or something and a spade comes off and I'm not too enthused with the spot really when you bet and get called.

If he bets like 7k or something I call, if he bets more than 10k I might think about folding honestly. But I think you put yourself into a ****ty spot by calling preflop OOP and then leading when a c/r in this spot is absolutely the best play.

I will clarify a little about what I meant when I said I didn't care to discuss preflop and flop play. I did not mean they were my standard plays and that's the only way to play them. I meant that for this situation, against these opponents, the lead out was the best play for me. As far as preflop goes, I just play those hands in live situations with almost 300bb's.

[Matt Vengrin]

Originally Posted by Daniel Alaei

Level 3 100/200/25. I had been playing quite a few hands up to this point, though not much more than my normal, without very much success. I believe I start this hand with 57k of the 100k we started with. My opponent in this hand, Burt Boutin (~120k), is a player who I have a decent amount of history with in cash games and a little bit in tournaments. He is on the tighter side and probably views me as good/tricky, maybe a little crazy, but not stupid.

About 20 minutes earlier (same blind level) we played a hand where he limped utg, i minraised to 400 right next to him with AK and got 2 callers behind me, as well as Burt. Flop came AT8r and Burt bet 800. I raised to 3400 and only Burt called. Turn was the 5s putting 2 spades out there and we both checked. River was an off K and he bet 3200. I raised to around 14,000 and he called with 888.

On to the hand... 3 people limp for 200 and Burt makes it 1200 on the button. I call in the small blind with 45ss and two of the other limpers come along for the ride. Flop comes 2s 3s Jh and I lead for 3700. (don't really care to discuss preflop/flop play as they are both fairly standard for me) The limpers fold and Burt calls fairly quickly. I am putting Burt pretty much square on a big pair here, with the occasional AJ.

Turn comes the Qc. Now there's about 13k in the pot and I have around 52k. So what's the plan?

I would bet somewhere around 1/3 the pot, for a few reasons:

1) It gives us a fairly cheap look at the turn if he calls.

2) If he raises us, his raise size generally wont be all in, he will probably raise to something like 16k, at which point you can safely ship in and represent a set or something of the like.

3) Also, if we bet the turn here it is a scare card, so unless he has KK or AA, or JJ/QQ its going to be really tough for him to continue here and if you sense he has something like AJ a big bet on the river should get him off if you miss.

So if you bet, he raises and you shove, its really tough for him to call off here.

The only issue here is that Burt does not seem like the type of player that likes to fold in tournaments, I dont think he has much respect for money- 25k tourney however maybe, who knows and thats for you to decide because you have vast knowledge of his play as you said. I just remember playing him in a 5k WSOP.. I think you were actually at the table and he just made some redic bad plays.

-Matt

[Daniel Alaei]

OK. I checked and he bet 7k, now what? Should I check call and save 45k if I miss? Or should I go for the check raise and hope to fold out many one pair hands, possibly as strong as AA? Based on my flop read I would be checking a large portion of my lead out range on the turn, including some of my sets, so I think checking is the best play. If the turn goes check/check I can almost definitely steal this pot on the river if I miss as I don't think he would check anything stronger than a Jack on that board.

[Matt Vengrin]

Originally Posted by Daniel Alaei

OK. I checked and he bet 7k, now what? Should I check call and save 45k if I miss? Or should I go for the check raise and hope to fold out many one pair hands, possibly as strong as AA? Based on my flop read I would be checking a large portion of my lead out range on the turn, including some of my sets, so I think checking is the best play. If the turn goes check/check I can almost definitely steal this pot on the river if I miss as I don't think he would check anything stronger than a Jack on that board.

If he checks the turn its for pot control or to hit a draw of some sort.
I highly doubt hes folding his AJ, but he will fold draws of course.

As played, if you checked then yes-I would just check call.

-Matt

[Annette Obrestad]

Agree with Matt. I know u dont care, but preflop is spew. The deeper u are preflop, the worse it is to call oop with hands like this.

Its def a lot better to c/r that flop and shove turn than bet out on the flop. It makes the stack to pot ratio a lot easier to play and ur line looks a lot stronger. It'll also probably fold out better draws that will call ur flop raise and fold to a turn shove. IF I were to lead flop im going to bet, bet shove almost regardless of what he board is if I think theres any chance at all to get him off an overpair. Since that doesnt seem to be the case against burt, I like c/c turn as I dont see him bet/folding much of his flop calling range.