Ante Up And Shoot-Out

Wednesday started with the $200 Ante Up. My first cooler was similar to the A2 hand I posted yesterday, in that it may actually have been possible to get away more cheaply if I’d hero-folded to an awfully suspicious check-raise:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 215 Tournament, 5/5 Blinds 30 Ante (8 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP1 (t4110)
MP2 (t3122)
CO (t5294)
Button (t7168)
SB (t1982)
BB (t4949)
UTG (t6636)
Hero (UTG+1) (t8508)

Hero’s M: 34.03

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with 10♣, 10♠
UTG bets t111, Hero raises to t333, 5 folds, BB calls t328, UTG calls t222

Flop: (t1244) 10♦, J♥, K♦ (3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets t666, BB raises to t1400, 1 fold, Hero calls t734

Turn: (t4044) Q♠ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: (t4044) 6♣ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Total pot: t4044

Results:
BB had J♠, J♦ (three of a kind, Jacks).
Hero mucked 10♣, 10♠ (three of a kind, tens).
Outcome: BB won t4044

I was sorely tempted to turn my hand into a bluff on the turn, which just goes to show that I ought to have folded the flop. His range for cold-calling a 3-bet can’t be that wide, and I seriously doubt he check-raises AK/AA/QQ on this board even if he has them pre-flop.

This next one I think counts as getting rivered even though I was a huge equity dog all the way. I was sure the guy was on a flush draw, so I’m just betting that he either folds it before the river (unlikely) or misses it (likely). The problem, as we see here, is that he can also make a pair. I tried to size my river bet large enough that he might fold a hand like the one he has, but that may have  been a mistake. Possibly a very small bet is best just to get him to fold complete whiffs for very little risk:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 215 Tournament, 5/5 Blinds 30 Ante (9 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t4235)
BB (t3002)
UTG (t5879)
UTG+1 (t4940)
MP1 (t7048)
MP2 (t1857)
MP3 (t7135)
CO (t6033)
Hero (Button) (t6640)

Hero’s M: 23.71

Preflop: Hero is Button with 6♥, 2♣
1 fold, UTG+1 calls t5, 2 folds, MP3 calls t5, 1 fold, Hero calls t5, SB checks, BB checks

Flop: (t295) 3♠, 5♠, K♥ (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG+1 checks, MP3 bets t50, Hero raises to t333, 3 folds, MP3 calls t283

Turn: (t961) 8♥ (2 players)
MP3 checks, Hero bets t666, MP3 calls t666

River: (t2293) 10♣ (2 players)
MP3 checks, Hero bets t888, MP3 calls t888

Total pot: t4069

Results:
Hero had 6♥, 2♣ (high card, King).
MP3 had 10♠, A♠ (one pair, tens).
Outcome: MP3 won t4069

I managed to get the last of my chips in with top pair, top kicker against a bare flush draw, but he got there and ended the tournament for me.

I also played the $500 NLHE Shoot-Out. I was the shortest of the final four players, and the best of my opponents had more chips than the other three of us put together. I managed to hang in there though and eventually the chipleader was out in third and I went to heads up with the lead against one of the other guys.

I came out of the gate aggressive, lost a few small pots and then a somewhat larger one:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 530 Tournament, 150/300 Blinds 35 Ante (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t26200)
Hero (SB) (t26300)

Hero’s M: 50.58

Preflop: Hero is SB with 3♠, 4♣
Hero bets t600, BB calls t300

Flop: (t1270) 10♠, J♠, J♦ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: (t1270) 3♥ (2 players)
BB bets t615, Hero raises to t1800, BB raises to t3875, Hero calls t2075

River: (t9020) K♥ (2 players)
BB bets t6000, Hero folds

Total pot: t9020

Results:
BB didn’t show
Outcome: BB won t9020

Despite that, I felt like I had a pretty big edge in the match, and we were so deep that there was plenty of time for that to manifest itself. Which means it was probably a bit of a mistake for me to 4-bet call it off with TT pre-flop for 80 BBs. I was generally trying to avoid big pre-flop pots, which meant that I hadn’t done any 4-betting yet and he probably wouldn’t be 5-bet jamming all that light (though he was certainly 3-betting light). It still can’t be that bad to get it in with TT pre-flop, but I think calling the 3-bet to play a little more smallball would have been better. He had QQ and that was that.

6 thoughts on “Ante Up And Shoot-Out”

  1. Couple of questions 🙂

    1. Do you think it’s a good call by AT on hand 2? I mean the only things he can really be beating are 64/62/42ss … or some pro. going nuts with 2 outs 😉

    2. What is your plan when you call the 2075 on the turn in hand 3? You calling river on anything less than a 9?

    • 1. Agreed, wouldn’t advise him to make that call, but that doesn’t make it a good bet by me.

      2. Depends a lot on how much he bets. I think he can put me on either a draw or a hand I’m not folding. If draws miss and he bets small, I’ll call. I might just call generally if he bets small. I’d still probably fold to a big bet if draws missed, but a possible draw coming in plus a big bet make it an easy fold.

      • It seems weird. I guess I just don’t see why raising the turn is better than calling. Isn’t your raise going to look bluffy to him and therefore induce him to reraise with a wide range of hands, leaving us with a tricky situation on the river? But maybe you are very confident of making the correct river decision?

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