some hands from my uncle

[Vehn]

He emails me questions about tournament hands he plays, I'm not a big MTT guy but try to help him out. Thought I would post his latest batch here and my responses. These are from like a $150ish? tournament at bay 101.

went out early tonight but think I played the critical hands well, but wanted to get your comments.

(1) Pocket nines in the small blind. Bettor opens betting in position 5 with a bet of only twice the big blind.
There are two callers in front of me. I simply call.
Flop comes 4-4-5. I think I have the best hand unless somebody hit trips or a set.
I check to the better who makes a continuation bet which I call. Everybody else folds.
Turn is a ten. I check, he checks. I'm thinking he has an Ace-j, A-10, or maybe small pair.
I don't think from his betting he has trips or a set.
River is a King.
I make a half pot sized bet. I get called.
He has pocket jacks.
Seems like a strange way to play pocket jacks.
Somebody else at the table complimented me on the river bet since it represents a King that just hit and
could easily win the pot righ tthere.
What do you think?


my response: preflop fine. flop I would lead out, great flop for your hand and you will usually have the best hand here. as played check river, his hand looks a lot like AK/AQ. classic spot where you will only be called by a better hand and its unlikely a better hand is folding, very bad river bet.


(2) I'm on the button with 9-7 clubs. There are four limpers ahead of me. I make a raise with intention of either hitting a flop or stealing the pot.
Flop comes 6 clubs, 5 clubs, 2 spaces. I have a flush draw and a gut shot straight draw.
Limpers all check. Guy on my right makes a smallish bet. I call. He's letting me see a cheap card.
Turn is a ten of spades. He bets a little bit larger now, but I figure I'm about 25% to hit with 12 outs, so I need 3 to 1 pot odds, and
his bet is giving me just about that. Plus there are the implied odds if I hit.
River is a King. He checks. I check (should I have attempted to steal the pot by making a big bet?).
He had 7 - 6 and was on a gut shot draw. So I really had 15 outs, the 9 clubs, the 3 eights, and the 3 nines.
So I think this was a good bet, right?


my response: preflop is pretty bad, unless very deep stacked and you have a tight image you should not make these sorts of plays with junk hands like 97s. as played you MUST raise flop, this is one of the best flops you can hope for and you would really want to take it down on the flop against a weak one pair hand like your opponent had. depending on stack size I would usually just move in on the flop here. against 7-6 you are like a 55% favorite all in on the flop and you should have tons of fold equity as you raised the field and your hand looks like an overpair. as played I would probably bluff the river as again his hand looks like a weak one pair hand that would have a very hard time calling a big bet on the river with those two cards out.


(3) I'm short stacked in the big blind with pocket aces.
There is a raise of 2.5 times BB which has been called by two other players before me. I don't think I have enough to drive people out, and I feel like I need to make something happen, like triple up. So I call. There is another caller behind me. Flop comes J-8-5 rainbow.
Original better makes a good sized bet that covers me. I call him.
He has J-8 offsuit. That's what he opened the betting with!
I thought maybe he had A-J, or K-J suited, or possibly a big pocket pair, so I thought I had the best hand, well disguised.
What do you think?


my response: slowplaying here is really bad. MOVE IN. it doesn't matter if you're not called! and its VERY likely you will be since you're short.

[LooseCaller]

your advice is all sensible. the only gray area is the raise otb with 97s. depending on stacks it could be ok, but judging from your uncle's descriptions of his hands, it seems like he has an imcomplete grasp of poker strategy, so it's probably best to advise him to avoid making plays like that until he learns how to play better postflop.

[sah_24]

1) pf is fine, but the flop thats good for 99 most of the time so i would definately raise here to see where im at and if im called then id b worried a lil about bein behind and prolly shut it down unless u hit the money 9.

2) I dont mind the raise wit 97s but if u act like u got a big hand by raisin some junk and then u hit a decent flp (and that was a tremendous one for ur hand) u have to continue to play it like u have AA. If he leads i would have raised pot or shoved on him dependin on the deepness of ur stack

3) that is just bad really bad, if ur short and u pick up a monster like that and there is that much action in front of u, u got one move as scotty would say "ALL IN BABY". Y would u want tot play a 5 way pot wit AA, u dont get tricky in multiway pots wit monster just raise it up and thin the field

[JammyDodga]

Hand 1, depending on blind sizes, I'd be very wary of the 2*BB raise - early on it doesn't mean much, but when blinds are worth stealing and he doesn't attempt to from this position it can be a real danger signal for a high pair.

[niceh4nd]

thanx