You make the play

ScottyZ

PokerStars $5 sit-n-go, Hand #1, blinds 10-20, 1500 initial stack.

UTG with QQ, raise to 60. 5 players in for the 60 including both blinds.

Flop comes KT6, all spades. {You have no spade.)

SB checks, BB bets 80. What is your play here?

If you raise about the size of the pot, and get 2 callers (one MP and BB), how do you play if a brick comes (say 2d) on the turn?

Another question: does your strategy change of you do have the Qs?

ScottyZ

esool

ScottyZ wrote:

1. PokerStars $5 sit-n-go, Hand #1, blinds 10-20, 1500 initial stack.
UTG with QQ, raise to 60. 5 players in for the 60 including both blinds.
Flop comes KT6, all spades. {You have no spade.)
SB checks, BB bets 80. What is your play here?

2.If you raise about the size of the pot, and get 2 callers (one MP and BB), how do you play if a brick comes (say 2d) on the turn?

3. Another question: does your strategy change of you do have the Qs?

ScottyZ

1. I call the $80 and watch who else calls, if there is a re-raise I fold.

2. If the the BB checks to me I make another pot raise. He must not have much since he didn't re-raise previously and is now checking..

3. No, but if a spade comes up on the river I am watching for the As betting and I get ready to lay down, depending on the bet amount.

vinsanity

1. I fold. You showed strength preflop and he's betting into you. A 80 bet into a 300 pot, I think either he's got the king and is trying to sniff out the flush or he's got the flush and is hoping for a reraise. Plus you got 2 coldcallers behind you.

2. Check. I'd be worried about the caller in MP.

3. Probably not.

Dave Scharf

PokerStars $5 sit-n-go, Hand #1, blinds 10-20, 1500 initial stack.

UTG with QQ, raise to 60. 5 players in for the 60 including both blinds.

Flop comes KT6, all spades. {You have no spade.)

SB checks, BB bets 80. What is your play here?

I fold. Easy fold.

If has has a king you are drawing to one out. If he has a flush draw he will still beat you 1/3 of the time (more if he is betting the ace high draw). Not to mention that there are two players to act behind you. This is a VERY marginal position and very probably a losing one. You still have LOTS of chips. You have A LOT to lose and very little to win since you can only get any action from players with draws.

If I have the Qs ... I still fold. I might have the best draw. In no-limit you should never feel good about putting a lot money in with a draw that only might be the winner. In particular because in this case you still have a very competitive stack of 1420 left and the blinds are very small. Wait for a better spot.

esool

esool wrote:

1. I call the $80 and watch who else calls, if there is a re-raise I fold.

2. If the the BB checks to me I make another pot raise. He must not have much since he didn't re-raise previously and is now checking..

3. No, but if a spade comes up on the river I am watching for the As betting and I get ready to lay down, depending on the bet amount.

Once again I am not thinking clearly. :? For some reason I was thinking there could only be four spades in play so the other player/s would be fishing on the river...Honestly :oops: I don't know why this was in my head.

Scotty, Give me another chance, give us one more scenario please. I need to redeem myself. :oops:

ScottyZ

Okay, maybe that one was too easy. Here's a follow-up question.

Same hand as above, UTG raises you are in middle position with As Kc and call 60 cold after one cold caller to your immediate right. Both blinds also call.

Flop is Ks Ts 6s. Big Blind bets 80 in to a pot of 300. The pre-flop raiser UTG (our hero, ScottyZ) and the first cold caller fold.

1. (a) What do you do on the flop?

1. (b) What is your plan of attack for the remaining streets and how does this relate to your flop action?

2. Assume it is heads-up after the flop betting is over. The actual turn comes 2h. Big Blind checks. Now what?

3. The river is 9h. Big Blind checks. Action?

4. What if the Big Blind did something else on the turn or the river? In particular, what if the Big Blind moves all-in on either of those streets?

5. Would you have played the AK differently pre-flop?

ScottyZ

Dave Scharf

Same hand as above, UTG raises you are in middle position with As Kc and call 60 cold after one cold caller to your immediate right. Both blinds also call.

Flop is Ks Ts 6s. Big Blind bets 80 in to a pot of 300. The pre-flop raiser UTG (our hero, ScottyZ) and the first cold caller fold.

(a) What do you do on the flop?

If I understand the situation then the only players remaining are the big-blind (who has bet 80) and the small-blind who has checked.

I probably flat call. If you have the best hand -- a distinct possibility -- then your opponents are drawing *very* thin. There is not that much risk to giving them another card cheap since there are very few cards that change things for you. The risk of putting in a raise is that you will "light the fuse" and then the big-blind could come back over the top of you for all your money. If he does you may well be forced into a pot odds call for all your money which isn't very desirable since variance isn't really your friend at this point in the sit-n-go.

(b) What is your plan of attack for the remaining streets and how does this relate to your flop action?

I will probably play the hand quietly. Take my draw cheaply.

Assume it is heads-up after the flop betting is over. The actual turn comes 2h. Big Blind checks. Now what?

I am going to put a bet in here. I will probably underbet the pot a little bit. I figure that I have the best hand AND the best draw. I want him to call. I do not want to scare him away.

The river is 9h. Big Blind checks. Action?

I probably make a bet here again. I will not shove all-in but I am looking to take a few more chips without risking going broke. This is a $5 sit-n-go. I am HIGHLY doubtful that my opponent has a flush. But... just in case... keep some in reserve.

What if the Big Blind did something else on the turn or the river? In particular, what if the Big Blind moves all-in on either of those streets?

If he moves in on me on the turn I probably call. On the river, I probably fold. One of my favourites questions to ask myself is "what is he expecting me to do?" If he moves in on you on the turn... well, you might be beat. If you are then you have outs. You might, on the other hand, have the best hand.

On the river... if you have gone that far it seems to me that he is expecting to get called. That means that he THINKS his hand is the best. The question to ask yourself if "Will he jam with something that does not beat A-K in this spot?" It's possible. He could have K-Q and think that you have been on a flush draw that missed. This will be a judgement call on the river. If I still have lots of chips I will lean towards folding.

Would you have played the AK differently pre-flop?

Not usually. Sometimes I will re-raise with AK and sometimes not. Usually, early in a tournament like this I will flat call and hope to hit the flop or steal it.

ScottyZ

Great comments there from everyone! I agree with Dave on the flop with AK. On the actual hand, the AK raised the minimum of another 80, and I was really baffled as to what hand would do that. I don't see why you'd raise the minimum here. I think you should just call because you either (a) are losing right now but have the nut draw, (b) are ahead of your opponents 1 pair, or (the dream case) (c) have your opponent drawing to a single spade.

Here's the actual hand history... by no means is the actual play meant to be the "correct" answer of course.

ScottyZ
*********** # 1 **************
PokerStars Game #278770775: Tournament #957792, Hold'em No Limit - Level I
(10/20) - 2004/02/08 - 13:23:13 (ET)
Table '957792 1' Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: foxs713 (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: TruDatWodi (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: jrfox (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: ScottyZ (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: GeorgeM (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: ron2573 (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: EddieRuOk (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: soss (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: bigmason1 (1500 in chips) is sitting out
TruDatWodi: posts small blind 10
jrfox: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ScottyZ [Qc Qh]
ScottyZ: raises 40 to 60
GeorgeM: folds
ron2573: folds
EddieRuOk: calls 60
soss: calls 60
bigmason1: folds
foxs713: folds
TruDatWodi: calls 50
jrfox: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [6s Ts Ks]
TruDatWodi: checks
jrfox: bets 80
ScottyZ: folds
EddieRuOk: folds
soss: raises 80 to 160
TruDatWodi: folds
jrfox: calls 80
*** TURN *** [6s Ts Ks] [2h]
jrfox: checks
soss: bets 100
jrfox: calls 100
*** RIVER *** [6s Ts Ks 2h] [9d]
jrfox: checks
soss: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jrfox: shows [Kd 7h] (a pair of Kings)
soss: shows [As Kc] (a pair of Kings - Ace kicker)
soss collected 820 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 820 | Rake 0
Board [6s Ts Ks 2h 9d]
Seat 1: foxs713 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: TruDatWodi (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: jrfox (big blind) showed [Kd 7h] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 4: ScottyZ folded on the Flop
Seat 5: GeorgeM folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: ron2573 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: EddieRuOk folded on the Flop
Seat 8: soss showed [As Kc] and won (820) with a pair of Kings
Seat 9: bigmason1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

ScottyZ

No huge poker content here, but this hand from the same tournament shows just how dead the money can be.

The size of the bet should tell you something about the opponent. 8)

I found particular satisfaction in the fact that half of this guy's stack was originally mine, since he layed a 3-out beat on me to double up a few hands before this.

ScottyZ

PokerStars Game #278806575: Tournament #957792, Hold'em No Limit - Level III
(25/50) - 2004/02/08 - 13:51:52 (ET)
Table '957792 1' Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: foxs713 (1035 in chips)
Seat 2: TruDatWodi (1560 in chips)
Seat 4: ScottyZ (1625 in chips)
Seat 6: ron2573 (4095 in chips)
Seat 7: EddieRuOk (2490 in chips)
Seat 8: soss (1435 in chips)
Seat 9: bigmason1 (1260 in chips) is sitting out
TruDatWodi: posts small blind 25
ScottyZ: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ScottyZ [Kh Kd]
ron2573: folds
ron2573 said, "so trudat, did you change names?"
EddieRuOk: folds
soss: folds
bigmason1: folds
foxs713: calls 50
TruDatWodi: folds
ScottyZ: raises 1575 to 1625 and is all-in
foxs713: calls 985 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [Qh 6s Th]
*** TURN *** [Qh 6s Th] [Kc]
*** RIVER *** [Qh 6s Th Kc] [9d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ScottyZ: shows [Kh Kd] (three of a kind, Kings)
foxs713: shows [Qs Ks] (two pair, Kings and Queens)
ScottyZ collected 2095 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2095 | Rake 0
Board [Qh 6s Th Kc 9d]
Seat 1: foxs713 (button) showed [Qs Ks] and lost with two pair, Kings and Queens
Seat 2: TruDatWodi (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: ScottyZ (big blind) showed [Kh Kd] and won (2095) with three of a kind,
Kings
Seat 6: ron2573 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: EddieRuOk folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: soss folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: bigmason1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

esool

ScottyZ wrote:

Okay, maybe that one was too easy. Here's a follow-up question.

ScottyZ

Sorry, I have not had the time to answer this one...

JonB

With no spade I fold the flop. Not much invested and it's tournament so I don't want risk my stack that flop with my hand. With Q of spades I might call the 80 to see the next card. But there is that danger that guy betting 80 is betting the A of spades and you could be drawing dead. With 5 people in the hand I would say the odds are against you having the best hand right now. A King is very likely especially if they are calling raises preflop. Maybe a KJ or KQ out there. doubt AK or AQ you might have been re-raised preflop at least I would have re-raised those hands. But I think with the Qs I call the 80 a take another card. If that As does fall well, wow. But if I feel any more resistance after i call I'm gone.