Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

Nam looks almost exactly like Tuan.

18 left. Next increase in the money is with 12 left. I have about 140k with an average stack of a little less than 300K. I don't consider myself as much of an expert, certainly compared to many of the posters on this board, but my strategy for better or worse was:

Play my normal game except, as this tournament has such a high fraction of named pros, and there is at least one on each table, avoid pots with the pros, but every few hours when

One Pro has entered the pot, preferably from EP
I'm in position on or near button
I have a stack of 25 or more BBs and the Pro covers me
I have a speculative hand that the pro would not expect me to call with
No aggressive players in the blinds

to go ahead and smooth call.

This was working extremely well for me and I won some big pots this way when I hit the flop, so I decided to employ the strategy again the next time I had an opportunity.

With blinds/antes 2500/5000/500 ,6 handed, Nam raised to 15K in the cut off. He had 350K and was raising relatively frequently pre flop but with no hands shown down, so I put him on a range of Ace any, any pair, and any two high cards. I looked down to find KhTh and smooth called.

Blinds folded.

Flop Ah8h3d, pot 40,500.

Nam checks.

I have 125k left.

My move?

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

Does he always make c-bets?

How has he acted before when raised and he's in the flop with no position?

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

A guy that aggressive not betting that flop feels like a trap so I'd take the free card. Second choice would be a bet of 30k which allows you to rep the A in case he has a mid pair and is inclined to lay it down to your A.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

Good questions but I've only been at the table for 10 hands, never played with him before, and he never acted post flop on any hand.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

I would check, as we hate getting raised off our hand. I may be willing to put some chips in with a king or a ten as well.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

I'm checking and re-evaluating on the turn. I played with Nam in LA and didn't find him to be all that aggressive. He had Lindgren and Mizrachi (Eric, not Mike or Robert) on his left though and a slightly below average stack, so that may have kept him under control.

When I did see him play aggressively he seemed to like to be over-aggressive with weak holdings/air. I never saw him slowplay a made hand. Depending on the turn card and action, I may even consider raising him on the turn, but I'm going to wait and see the card and how he reacts first.

-Rizen

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

The fact that the Ah is on the board makes it seem less likely that your opponent's hand actually contains an Ace, as most players would not check this flop with the flush draw on the board, although it is very possible. Therefore it is not imperative that you bet here, because if you lead out 20-25k you will get raised all in by a guy with Ax, and you definitely are in a bad position if this happens. If he does have an Ace, and you hit your flush on the turn, you may be able to extract some money out of the hand, or get him to make a delayed continuation bet bluff, where you can raise HIM all in or call behind and see what happens on the river.

If a K or T comes on the turn after you check behind, and he checks to you, I'd probably check again. If the turn comes blank like pairs up or comes low, you should probably lead out something here, since you now want to pick up the pot with a 20-25k as if you get c/r allin, it's not as big a disaster as it would have been on the flop. If the turn comes Q or J I'd probably check behind again, and auto-bet the river if he checks again.

This is definitely a tricky hand to play b/c of stack sizes, but I'd be hesitant to bet that flop because you don't want to get blown off the hand and there's not a lot of value in betting there (unless your stack size were like 70k in which you could just shove it all in) when potentially you could create a big pot on the turn or bluff it on the turn yourself, where it looks more like you slowplayed.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

I'd definitely lean towards checking but as always in such MTT hand questions, I like to know more details, although itd be unlikely to change my decision.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

Well, checking may have been the best line, but my thinking was

If he had 2 pair he would have checked
If he had a pair less than an ace he would bet
If he had nothing he would check
If he had an ace small he would bet
If he had an ace large he would check

My thinking:

I desperately wanted to accumulate more chips. 6 handed with 2K chips eaten up every hand is scary when you are the smallest stack at the table
I had been lucky most of the times I employed my "pro" strategy
If another heart came, I wouldn't get many more chips from him
He may have missed the flop altogether and a 2/3 pot sized bet would win it right there

So I decided to bet 30K.

After thinking for a bit, he calls.

Turn card is 6s. Pot is now 100,500.

Nam checks.

I have 95k left.

My move?

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

[ QUOTE ]
A guy that aggressive not betting that flop feels like a trap so I'd take the free card.

[/ QUOTE ]

They are playing 6 handed so everybody needs to step up their aggressiveness. Plus Nam's range here has to be practically any two from the CO here. If the button (you) folds, he figures to take this one down on the flop barring a scary flop or serious resistence from the blinds.


[ QUOTE ]
Second choice would be a bet of 30k which allows you to rep the A in case he has a mid pair and is inclined to lay it down to your A.

[/ QUOTE ]

There is no way I am putting money into this pot without having decided to commit here. Putting in 30%+ of your stack only to dump with the blinds/antes this biig and our stack already half the average is ludicrous. I don't mind the 30k but it is not so you have an escae route. Itis only to put the rest of it in on the turn. As for FE and arguments regarding pushing, I think a push not only exposes your hand but also doesn't make an Ace here fold.

Saying all of that, I check and take a free turn here. If the turn misses you completely, you can get out for a relatively cheap 15k. If a T,K, or heart hits, I am probably going with this hand. You have too big of a draw to get pushed off it here with a check raise. If you decided to go with the chase then it really doesn't matter if you push or bet a fixed amount with the intention of calling his raise.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

Well, this is another reason why I hate betting flop. We have a real ugly situation here. If you go all in, he's calling with every ace like 95% of the time, and even some pocket pairs. I think you need to check and [censored] pray that a heart falls because you need it.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

i hate both streets to this point, so I think there's no good option. I suck it up and shove to get him to fold KK/QQ which I think are a decent portion of his range. Either way this hand sucks.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

bah humbug...dont let these squeezers get to you...you made it as far as u did for a reason and no need to put ur skirt on now... ...i dont mind betting the flop at all....

To me, there is very little chance he is checking an ace in that spot, so I would deifnitely take a stab at the pot...Considering he just calls your bet, i find even less likely still that he has an ace, and you can shove the turn also...if he is really check/calling a hand on the flop that can call 70k more on the turn, then god bless him. I think there is an extremely good chance he has some mid pair or something and he will not stand the heat of a second bullet. I think checking behind is very weak and if your image is what I think it is, Nam could certainly be testing you with his flop call, just to see if you have the balls to fire that turn bet.

I can feel a heart coming anyway.



sheets

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

Sheets,

You think middle aces aren't capable of check/calling the flop?

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

I think flop is close and depends mostly a lot on context. If he thinks your a nit, for example, you should probably bet because this makes his check much less likely to be a trap.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

You're pot committed now; he's not going to put you on a flush draw; push.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

So how did this hand end?

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

SS,

Sometimes I will bet the flop, sometimes check. Based on the action so far, I would shove it in on the turn.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

[ QUOTE ]
So how did this hand end?

[/ QUOTE ]

is the least important question here...

i'd take the free card on the turn and if it hits you're definitely either inducing a bluff or hes firing his ace/set/whatever.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

Sheets,

Do you think 70k more into this pot is going to get 99-KK to flod here as well? Nam has a bunch of chips and knows that checking here is with the intention of calling barring some tell that lets him no SS has the ace. Very dangerous to bluff at an Ace high flop when preflop raiser checks. Sounds to me like your beingset up or read like a book.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

[ QUOTE ]
Nam looks almost exactly like Tuan.


[/ QUOTE ]

DAM, multi-accounting, even in a live event.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

check behind.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

Am I the only one who likes a push here?

I sense weakness in his play, he might try a post-oak bluff and try to push you out of the pot, especially if the board pairs.

Now I have an interesting question:
What do you think HE thinks you have?

Pilket

Edit: stoopid splleling

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

The problem with the overbet push is that it looks like the EXACT hand you are playing. Your opponent can now make the proper play based upon his read on your flush draw, he can make the proper play most of the time. He knows only a very deceptive (and sometimes foolish) player would push the flush at this point, so you are only going to be called by hands that are ahead of your draw (i.e. 2 pair, set). You certainly may be able to get an A to lay down, but not if they have a decent heart.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

[ QUOTE ]
He knows only a very deceptive (and sometimes foolish) player would push the flush at this point

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah, that's why. Although I would classify myself as more foolish than deceptive. Thank you for the lesson! I think I'll re-evaluate my turn pushes for a little while.

Pilket

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

Your stack size makes it perfect for him to check raise you all in here. I like a check behind.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

What kind of a mess have I gotten myself into? I've been playing my best game, getting lucky to get this deep, staring at 100K chips in the pot that I desperately need, but I have zip.pip. The flop bet didn't work, was a screw up as I thought about it, because I told myself when I called the preflop raise that if I didn't hit the flop hard, I shouldn't put any more money in the pot. But then after his flop check, I thought maybe I could take it right there.

So what now?

What would he have smooth called my preflop raise with? Well, it could be a wide range still. A monster like a set, two pair he probably would have check raised me with the flush draw out there, he could be on a flush draw as well but my bet didn't give him the odds to call unless he was paired as well, could have a high pocket pair, could have paired the Ace on the board with a high kicker.

Did the turn card help him? Unlikely. Did he think it helped me? No way. What does he think I have at this point? Why is he checking now?

Given all that, I don't think a push which would be just a pot sized bet would work, no way I'm putting more money into this debacle. So I check and pray.

Poker gods, please deliver me from this mess by giving me a card that helps my hand.

The poker gods heeded my prayer and delivered the Kc.

Nam leads out 30K. Pot has 130K, I have 95k left.

Cruel poker gods.

My move?

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

[ QUOTE ]

Nam leads out 30K. Pot has 130K, I have 95k left.

Cruel poker gods.

My move?

[/ QUOTE ]

Call and show him you rivered his 99-JJ, or pay off his little A.


Regards,
Woodguy

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

I think you need to call here. Way to small a bet to consider folding. Especially after you were weak on the turn.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

call

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

That 30k bet on the river isn't cruel, it's freaking awesome. You can happily call that and win a lot.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

Wait a few seconds and call. Make him show his hand first, and muck if he has an ace.

Re: Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars
 

I did call, and Woodguy nailed it as always. He had Ace little that turned to two pair on the turn.

Now I had 65K remaining, two hands later found pocket 77s in MP 6 handed, raised, was reraised essentially all in, had 2:1 odds to call. Sam B. had QQ and my tournament was over.