WSOP $1500 NLHE Hand – ‘Experts’ Disagree, JJ with 21BBs

[DonT77]

I spoke with Bond18 and UCLABruinz about this hand and I couldn’t get the 3 of us to agree on how best to play most of the streets on this hand.

Situation:

WSOP Event #3 $1500NLHE, Level 3, approximately 75 minutes into the event, blinds at 100/200 (no antes yet). Villain with ~8000 chips in MP1 opens to 600. I’m in the CO with JJ and 4200 chips.

Reads:

Villain, who is in his late 40s/early 50s, has been very active although he hasn’t shown down anything worse than AJ/99+. He has C-bet at every opportunity thus far. The players to my left have been playing fairly tight, and none of them have looked at their cards yet. My image is very tight to this point, only having played 2-3 hands thus far due to ugly cards. I haven’t shown down a hand yet.


Q1- what would you do Preflop?

1) Jam 21BBs over Villain’s PFR
2) Call and play Pokah
3) RR (to 1200-1800) and call a Jam
4) RR (to 1200-1800) and fold to a Jam
5) Other - explain

[0evg0]

1

[shaundeeb]

1, 3 would be fine online but no one 4bet bluffs live poker.

[djk123]

I like option 3 (1800) or 1 the best, then 2, and never 4.

[BarryLyndon]

I like call the best, followed by raise to 1200/fold to push, followed by push.

1 is best because you have position and he cont. bets at all flops, great, he's not going to stop cont. betting just because you are OOP. If you CRAI, you are only being called by better hands and maybe AK; yes, there is 800 in the pot, but just based on his showdowns (AJ, 99, etc.), you get much more $$ in on the flop. With position, you can afford to call a cont. bet if a K/Q comes up. A is scarier, but it will likely scare him too. You have room to use JJ as a bluff against QQ as well and chips to make an evaluation from. If another player calls, well, you still have position and it may slow down PFR and allow you to take the pot unchallenged.

2 isn't terrible, the blinds just started at 100/200, right? You'll still have room to resteal, play poker, and you find out where you are. It's not a bad option if you feel you have great control over the blinds and another player at the table. You give off tremendous strength this way and you may find PFR making a goofy fold.

Barry

[Tyler Durden]

[ QUOTE ]
If you CRAI, you are only being called by better hands and maybe AK

[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see villain call w/ 77-TT, would you?

Smoothcalling and playing poker would be cool if there weren't so many flops that are crappy for JJ vs. a PFR.

[BarryLyndon]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If you CRAI, you are only being called by better hands and maybe AK

[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see villain call w/ 77-TT, would you?

Smoothcalling and playing poker would be cool if there weren't so many flops that are crappy for JJ vs. a PFR.

[/ QUOTE ]

RAI, not CRAI, sorry:

Judging from OP's reads, it seems that villain would rather have control and play flops than call a good chunk of his stack off with 77 - TT. That range is too big, maybe 99-TT, if he sucks, but there's no evidence that he does yet. Your ahead of his range + you have position; several flops will probably be more crappy for him OOP.

Barry

[Cornell Fiji]

If the button or either of the blinds has 2750 chips or less then I definiteky like a call to induce a squeeze. Even if they are not short I think a call is probably best as you can shove over his cbet on any flop that is 2-Q high and reevaluate and probably fold if the flop is A/K high

If the table dynamics were such that others were shoving pf and if the blinds/button are deep then I might shove to represent a mid pair/AK. Picking up 900 chips is fairly significant to you and taking down the pot here is pretty nice. If the OR folds his AK/AQ/KQ the shove is inducing a mistake from him, if he has 88-TT he might put you on AK and call. If he has QQ+ you are SOL.

A raise to 1800 - call a shove is also fine but I think that this play is less likely to get called by 88-TT unless he is planning on stop and going you on an A/K/Q board. A raise to 1800 is better than a shove if you think that the villain will play honestly on the flop but it puts you in a rally dangerous chip level if you have to let go of the hand.

If I raise pf I am obv never folding.

[stealthmunk]

anything but 4.

[BarryLyndon]

[ QUOTE ]
If the button or either of the blinds has 2750 chips or less then I definiteky like a call to induce a squeeze. Even if they are not short I think a call is probably best as you can shove over his cbet on any flop that is 2-Q high and reevaluate and probably fold if the flop is A/K high

If the table dynamics were such that others were shoving pf and if the blinds/button are deep then I might shove to represent a mid pair/AK. Picking up 900 chips is fairly significant to you and taking down the pot here is pretty nice. If the OR folds his AK/AQ/KQ the shove is inducing a mistake from him, if he has 88-TT he might put you on AK and call. If he has QQ+ you are SOL.

A raise to 1800 - call a shove is also fine but I think that this play is less likely to get called by 88-TT unless he is planning on stop and going you on an A/K/Q board. A raise to 1800 is better than a shove if you think that the villain will play honestly on the flop but it puts you in a rally dangerous chip level if you have to let go of the hand.

If I raise pf I am obv never folding.

[/ QUOTE ]

Doesn't a raise to 1200 accomplish the same thing as a raise to 1800 in terms of representing a hand while at the same time giving you room to fold if he comes over the top?

Barry