Tournament hand for discussion

Dave Scharf

I played a hand yesterday that has given me a lot of food for thought.

It is a $50+5 sit-n-go. You are now heads up with a small chip lead: 6,000 to 4,000. You have raised to 1,000 pre-flop with 7-7 and it is called. The flop is J-8-2. You are first to act. What do you do?

My first instinct is that you should either move in, or check and prepare to fold. But, now I am not so sure.
If you move in there are A LOT of hands that he will fold that he would, otherwise bet if you check to him. It is a bit of a conundrum. You hand is (1) Too strong to routinely check and fold; and (2) The chips are not deep enough to avoid getting it all in if you continue with the hand.

So... my assumption is that it will either be played all-in (by my opponent) or not. If you open all in, he folds all but hands that beat you. If you check he may bet with all sorts of hands that you have beat.

As the hand played, I checked and then called his all-in bet. He had 6-2 and I beat his bottom pair. If I have jammed, I am not sure that he would have called.

Thoughts?

Jay

That's a pretty ballsy call, especially with two overcards to your pair on the board. I guess he figured that you had a medium/big ace and missed based on your check on the flop. I would normally bet because you're the initial aggressor and don't want him to catch anything on the turn for free. I'm not that great of a tournament player, so take my opinion for what it's worth.


This type of situation happened to me tonight in a multi-table tournament.

I had a small-medium stack and pick up 88 UTG, seven handed. Everyone is playing very tight because they want to make it to the top 20, so I figure that if I raise I can steal the blinds or see/bet a non-threatening flop and take the pot. I raise it 4x the BB and only the BB calls. The flop comes J7x. BB checks and I know that he rarely check-raises, so I move in and take the pot. I would rather take the pot right there instead of letting him catch on the turn or river. My guess is that he has something like KQ, KT, QT, or a small ace. Also, the fact that I had position on him was a big deal. Because if I checked to him, he would bet and I would think about folding. Or if I bet and he raises me, I would think I was in trouble.

Dave Scharf

The situation you describe is a little different than mine. In your spot you do NOT want to give a free card. In my spot, I am trying to figure out whether inducing a bluff is better than simply shoving all-in.


Benefits to shoving all-in:

(1) He will fold a lot of hands that would have outdrawn you on the turn or river (e.g. any ace).
(2) He will call with some hands that you can beat anyway (e.g. bottom pair with ace kicker).

Benefits to inducing a bluff:

(1) He will bet with a lot of hands that would have folded to your all-in bet (e.g. any ace)


I am trying to sort through the type of player you need to have on your left to induce a bluff. My guess (without doing the math) is that anytime you have a "bet reflex" player on your left you are better to check you 7-7 and then call the bet.

Provided that the chips are not that deep.

ScottyZ

As the hand played, I checked and then called his all-in bet. He had 6-2 and I beat his bottom pair. If I have jammed, I am not sure that he would have called.

If your opponent would possibly fold bottom pair if you moved in, what do you think he would have done with middle pair (and bad kicker, if you think the kicker might matter)? If I thought there was a decent chance he would fold an 8 here (though I can't imagine many opponents being *that* weak) I'd certainly push in.

I think I would have pushed all-in because, depending on the opponent's style, he might either

1. Fold an 8.

OR

2. Call you with a lot of hands you are winning against, such as a 2, Ace high, maybe even QT.

In this kind of spot, your opponent's got to be playing nearly perfectly to be calling you with the correct range of hands. Specifically, I have a hard time picturing an opponent who calls you with an 8 and folds a 2 right here. This is related to the "put your opponent to the decision" sort of thinking. Let him make the mistake, instead of putting yourself in a pickle when he moves in on you. Although many people overuse the "put your opponent to a decision" line of thinking, I think my idea here is that it's pretty likely that your opponent will make the *wrong* decision; i.e. choose the incorrect range of hands to call you with.

Not only that, but there are a few hands (e.g. QT) where your opponent is correct to call you for the 5-3 offered by the pot, but might let go if you move in. So there is maybe even a sliver of fold +EV available here.

On the other hand, if I had a read that my opponent was overly aggressive, this is an easy check-call situation. Your hand is good enough to catch a bully here.

ScottyZ