my first resteal
I was just in a very large online tournament where I finished 73rd out of 1642 players. I would like some insight into the hand that knocked me out, so if anyone has some advice it would be greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, I am a little sketchy with some of the details, but I hope I can provide enough information.
Anyway I have about the average stack at this point with around 30000 chips. The blinds are 1000/2000 with a 100 chip ante. I am in the big blind with Q-9 offsuit. It is checked around to the button who has about 60000 chips. He makes the minimum raise to 4000. The small blind folds. I suspected a steal attempt. I'm not sure what exactly made me think that, but that was my instinct. Now, I had never tried a resteal before, and it was a bit of a scary proposition especially against the big stack at the table, but I figured this is a tactic I wanted to add to my repertoire, so what better time to start than the present. Anyway, I figured I should make my reraise significant, so I raised to 14000. However, he called. The flop came J,J,9. At this point I figured I would probably call him if he moved all-in on me, so I decided to make the move first. Sure enough, he called and showed J-T and I'm toast.
So what do you guys think? What did I do wrong? Should I not have messed with the big stack like this? Should I have moved all-in right away? He probably would have had to lay down his J-T. However, if my instincts were wrong, I'd be cooked. Once, he called my resteal attempt, should I have given up on the hand? Should I have checked the flop? Should I have assumed I was beat at this point? I'd love to hear any insight on this specific hand and restealing in general. Thanks.
Anyway I have about the average stack at this point with around 30000 chips. The blinds are 1000/2000 with a 100 chip ante. I am in the big blind with Q-9 offsuit. It is checked around to the button who has about 60000 chips. He makes the minimum raise to 4000. The small blind folds. I suspected a steal attempt. I'm not sure what exactly made me think that, but that was my instinct. Now, I had never tried a resteal before, and it was a bit of a scary proposition especially against the big stack at the table, but I figured this is a tactic I wanted to add to my repertoire, so what better time to start than the present. Anyway, I figured I should make my reraise significant, so I raised to 14000. However, he called. The flop came J,J,9. At this point I figured I would probably call him if he moved all-in on me, so I decided to make the move first. Sure enough, he called and showed J-T and I'm toast.
So what do you guys think? What did I do wrong? Should I not have messed with the big stack like this? Should I have moved all-in right away? He probably would have had to lay down his J-T. However, if my instincts were wrong, I'd be cooked. Once, he called my resteal attempt, should I have given up on the hand? Should I have checked the flop? Should I have assumed I was beat at this point? I'd love to hear any insight on this specific hand and restealing in general. Thanks.
Comments
(1) I like your thinking in the first place. This player is very possibly on a steal. So, at least this part of the equation is a "go."
(2) I am not a fan of making a re-steal with a hand like Q-9. The reason is that (in my opinion) Q-9 will usually be dominated by the range of hands that are likely to call you (e.g. A-A to J-J, A-K and A-Q).
(3) In retrospect, this player is NOT a good candidate for a re-steal attempt since he is willing to call your re-raise with J-T. In other words his "Sklansky Gap" is small. You want to re-steal from players with BIG gaps.
OK.... so what to do with that flop? Hard to say. With flops like that I am tempted to check since one of us is a LONG way behind. If he has a jack I am in BIG trouble. If he doesn't, then he probably has six outs at best. I am probably willing to check and see what happens. If he doesn't bet them I am likely to bet out on the turn.
I thought that the idea of a re-steal was that it didn't really matter what your cards were. If you thought he was just trying to make a steal, then you should go over the top and hope he folds, regardless of what you hold. So do you recommend only re-stealing when you have a good hand? What kinds of hands would you make a re-steal with?
So if you run into a player that is not a good candidate for a re-steal attempt, but you think he's making a steal attempt, what do you do?
Also, what is meant exactly by his "Sklansky Gap"? I know who Sklansky is, I'm just not sure I understand exactly what you're saying here.
It seems to me that this kind of flop is just trouble. With a flop like this, I think I had to decide right away whether I was willing to go all the way with it or be done with the hand. Let's say I check and he moves all-in. Couldn't this easily be a bluff? Wouldn't you expect a player with trip jacks to slow play here? And if he checks, I'm not sure I could be very confident that he wasn't slow-playing. I guess all of this depends on my read of the player, which I have to admit is a part of my game that still needs a lot of work. Thanks.
For instance, against the range of hands A-A to J-J and A-K to A-Q then the following range of hands has AT LEAST 30% equity: Any pair, any suited ace, A-K, any suited connector (or one or two gap) with the exception of suited queens (e.g. Q-9s).
So, if I feel like this player is prime for a re-steal I will randomize my attempts by waiting for this range of hands (e.g. 7-4s).
You do not re-steal. In a way your statement is mutually exclusive. If I have a player in the "do not resteal box" then I do not resteal.
This is the gap between hands that a player will raise with and a player will call with. The bigger the gap, the more profitable the resteal.
He could be bluffing. True. If he is, call. You have induced a bluff.
The bottom line is that hold'em gets a lot more difficult. The more I progress in my own game, the more I am interested in seeing flops. I feel that any skill overlay I may have is magnified post-flop where the decisions are more difficult. On the other hand, when I feel I am outclassed I am going to move pre-flop and put the pressure on.
It really depends upon how you feel about the game and your opponents.
typo or an illegal deck?
I think he meant hands such as Qd Qd.
ScottyZ