When the Cat’s Away…

I had some tough tables in the USA COOP main event, full of aggressive tournament regulars. There was a ton of raising 3-betting, and when one player got disconnected and was not around to defend his blind, sparks really flew. I happened to have the button when the disconnected player was in the big blind, so it fell to me to defend it from everyone who was widening their ranges to attack it.

Here’s a cold 4-bet with air:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 530 Tournament, 500/1000 Blinds (9 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) (t66911)
SB (t62981)
BB (t122036)
UTG (t88774)
UTG+1 (t108993)
MP1 (t104138)
MP2 (t54086)
MP3 (t76446)
CO (t165289)

Hero’s M: 44.61

Preflop: Hero is Button with Q, 7
3 folds, MP2 bets t2599, MP3 raises to t7000, 1 fold, Hero raises to t16666, 4 folds

Total pot: t18099

Results:
Hero didn’t show Q, 7.
Outcome: t18099 returned to Hero

And here’s a real rarity in tournament poker, a 5-bet bluff!

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 530 Tournament, 600/1200 Blinds (9 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) (t84958)
SB (t60482)
BB (t113461)
UTG (t108372)
UTG+1 (t112855)
MP1 (t50777)
MP2 (t81694)
MP3 (t70046)
CO (t167009)

Hero’s M: 47.20

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, 6
3 folds, MP2 bets t2875, 2 folds, Hero raises to t7777, SB raises to t18777, 2 folds, Hero raises to t84808 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: t41629

Results:
Hero didn’t show A, 6.
Outcome: t41629 returned to Hero

After I 3-bet, SB went into the tank. He was a good player, and I’m sure he was thinking about how wide my range was here. Given his stack, I expected him to shove, and I briefly considered calling with A6 before deciding that was just too ridiculous. Then he made this tiny 4-bet and left himself just enough room to fold, and that was all the opening I need.

I’m no Joseph Cheong, but I was pretty proud of myself for this one!