Interesting hand against Nam Lee in Shooting Stars

[SeriousStudent]

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?

[sirio11]

Does he always make c-bets?

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

[hockey coach]

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.

[SeriousStudent]

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.

[Ansky]

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.

[Rizen]

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

[DCJ311]

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.

[curtains]

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.

[SeriousStudent]

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?

[jlocdog]

[ 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.