[KneeCo]

Awesome to see another one of these. Thanks Lloyd & co.

For what it's worth, this is the Saturday tournament correct, so about 200 runners, with the top 10 or so getting the 12K package and the rest getting nothing?

Now, as for blind stealing early, I think it's generally not the a good approach, except when the table is particularly tight (and of course the players in the blinds abide by that trend). When that is the case, I think it's good to throw in some creative open-raises from LP both to take advantage of the tight play by collecting blinds, and to vary predictability (these especially tight tables are also the ones where people tend to be paying the most attention to others). A suited-one gapper isn't ideal holdings, but can do the trick sometimes.

So HERO throws in his 4 BBs, and the BB called.
One of the advantages of stealing early of late is of course that the steal is pretty disguised, and from BB's perspective HERO probably has a hand. Pair that with the lack of read on the villain and I'd say his range is standard for entering a pot OOP getting just under 2:1 (a very wide range, including a slew of small pockets, broadway cards and suited connectors).

As for Hero's action, IMO check is out of the question, bottom two (with flush/straight draws on board no less) is *not* a slow playing hand.

Rather, Hero has to bet here, I would say 150 chips seems about right to cut off odds and still look enough like a pure continuation bet with the hands that villain probably assumes Hero is holding (~KJ+ given the pf raise).

In this spot, if I were the Hero I would bet 150 and fully expect to pick up the pot right there. If the villain calls, I hope not to see a trouble card on the turn, especially a 9 or non-7 heart. If one of those cards comes, and Hero gets a pot sized bet CR'd on the turn, it might be time to muck the hand.

If rather than calling or folding, villain actually check raises the flop though, I don't think Hero should head for the muck. Generally, getting CR'd with bottom two on this flop is not a good thing, but because of the villain's perspective on the Hero's holding, I think he might do it with hands that the Hero is actually ahead of (mainly semi-bluff hands, or maybe even A9/K9), so if Hero is CR'd here, I think a re-raise might be in order, probably AI depending on the size of the betting.