3 Decisive hands. at the WSOP Circuit $1,675 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event

Hey Yazzie, very interesting spots.
First of all, i don’t often play tournaments, and I usually play 10 times smaller buy-in tourneys 😉
But i’ll give my 2cents for fun

Hand 1, I would’ve bet flop but not turn, you got unlucky on the river, but you couldn’t avoid that. I’d bet flop to get value from draws, Ax, broadways, etc. Turn is kind of a scare card imo (i see many KQ combos in villains ranges), but you’re still ahead of 2pair combos, pair+gutshot, maybe it’s still a bet after all, yeah i like the bet ;p

Hand 2, I would just have folded preflop. I just feel we’re never ahead here. Utg opens, utg1 3bets, i’m out. Maybe I would’ve 3bet shove myself if folded to me, but after an open and a 3bet (especially from early position), I guess we got at best 30% equity (if our 7 is live). And we’re pretty much drawing dead if we’re up against 77+ and A8+
We got lucky post flop, very nice quadruple up 😀

Hand 3, A3o in the BB, I really don’t think we have to play that. I know we got a discount on the raise since we’re on the bb, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable playing that hand oop, too weak of a holding (and I think we had 20-25bb at the moment?) Imo we’re too short to call with that, but we still got enough stack to comfortably let go our bb and wait for a better spot. Either that, or 3bet squeeze, but not flat.

Post : I would’ve check flop as you did. I might have taken the lead on the turn, but c/c is fine too, we disguise the strength of our hand. River, I would have c/c I think. I don’t see much value in the c/r. We only beat A2. Maybe we were trying to rep a busted flush draw turned into a bluff and try to get called by Qx or some mid pp? But I think we most likely do fold weaker holdings. If btn had KK or Qx (maybe even JJ) he might have cbet the flop IP behind 2 checks. If not, he might have taken that line of checking back flop and betting turn, but when called, he might have checked back the river (thin spot for him to vbet imo). And if he bets, he probably goes b/f vs a c/r (maybe, I don’t know him).

We are surely strong with our trip aces, but I think we won’t get much value from worse, and we won’t get folds from better hands. That’s why I would’ve c/c the river.

My two cents

Hand 1: I would have considered raising pre-flop to isolate the all-in. Since the initial raise came from UTG, this might be a little problematic as his range should be strong, but shoving 10’s out of position with 48 bb’s and all the dead money (presuming folds from the villians) is certainly worth considering. As played I like leading with the flopped set given an Ace on board. The rest of the hand just played itself.

Hand 2: I would have folded to a bet followed by a three bet from UTG and UTG+1. Your range is destroyed by theirs

Hand 3: I would have called the raise from late position. Just too good a price, especially with the SB in the pot. In my opinion, I check call all three streets. I’m seldom raising all in on any hand (outside of nuts) when I’m only using one card from my dealt cards to make my hand. I think you played the river too strong, it’s only getting called by better imo.

Hand 1: Overall I like everything you did but would have probably have bet flop. If it were heads up with the 3rd guy all in I like the check but with multiple in the pot I like a bet to try and lose a horse in the race. Not sure if a decent bet gets J10 to fold there or not but possible. Other than that you just got unlucky with the JJ runout….had a similar thing happen to me a few weeks ago at Foxwoods 1-2 NL game….just sucks.

Hand 2: I go back and forth on this one…..I don’t hate the shove being short stacked but I also don’t love it either with a raise and 3 bet in front….your A itself is probably dominated so you are playing your 9 and clubs only. If you werent short stacked I think this is an insta fold and one of those hands you chuckle about when you see the flop and turn. At the end of the day you quadrupled up and you need these types of hands to survive!

Hand 3: Price to call in BB was pretty good but I think we need a fold there…that being said I would have called as well mostly to defend my blind. I am probably just checking down the hand the entire way and trying to get to showdown as cheaply as possible and hope my A is good. The Villain’s A range is far better than yours so even though we block the A its certainly a strong consideration for them to have in play. I don’t like the raise, it only gets a bluff to fold, and next best scenario is an A with a bad kicker gets you a chop.

Hope this helps! Best of luck on the tables!

I think the consensus on hand one is leading out on the flop would have been the better move, but given that the player called such a large pre-flop bet with a J10o, I doubt he would have folded to more or less any bet at that point.

Hand #2, I totally agree with getting it all in here with right at 8BB’s. The push fold chart says this is an easy shove all day. It actually says you should be pushing or calling an all in with any A, suited or not. And push fold chart aside, I’d rather go down swinging than die a slow miserable death.

Hand three, you’ve got 20+BB’s to start the hand, and even though you are getting great odds to call, even if you flop an A, odds are you are behind any other A, except A2, and is A2 really in the pre-flop raisers range? Probably doubtful. This would be a fold and live to see another hand and a better spot to get it all in at.

Just my thoughts from a rec player that’s trying to study and get better!!!