Money and the Monkey

Chris Moneymaker was on my immediate left for most of the $500 rebuy today. To my surprise, he mostly played pretty well. He was probably a little too loose-aggressive pre-flop, but that’s far from the worst leak to have and something that it’s very difficult for me to exploit from his right.

The other Villain in this hand came to the table with a big stack, and I initially gave him credit for being a pretty good player. Then he busted me thusly:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 530 Tournament, 400/800 Blinds 100 Ante (9 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (MP1) (t19365)
MP2 (t101024)
MP3 (t49842)
CO (t76901)
Button (t104687)
SB (t21747)
BB (t110338)
UTG (t18540)
UTG+1 (t26216)

Hero’s M: 9.22

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with A, J
2 folds, Hero bets t1777, MP2 calls t1777, 2 folds, Button calls t1777, 2 folds

Flop: (t7431) 4, 7, 3 (3 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets t4000, Button calls t4000, Hero raises to t17488 (All-In), 1 fold, Button calls t13488

Turn: (t46407) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t46407) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t46407

Results:
Button had J, Q (flush, King high).
Hero had A, J (flush, King high).
Outcome: Button won t46407

I suppose I can’t complain too much, since he also doubled me up by raising KJs UTG and calling a sizeable shove from my KK.

10 thoughts on “Money and the Monkey”

  1. I am not sure I grasped a reason behind your allin in context of your comment.
    It looks for me like it has to be pure value.I see zero fold equity for button after his 4000 call.

    • I asked you about your reason behind your allin because I recalled your older article “Sources of Value in a Bet”
      You generated list of objectives behind betting.
      My perception is that this not a list but hierarchy.
      Personally I see myself going allin why my top reason will be my position for both players.
      I see chances to drive out MP2 -“8. Position- To drive out players who will have position on you later in the hand”.
      I do not see chances to drive out button.
      However The button will have opportunity to make better decisions on turn than me and my allin takes this opportunity away from him.
      Top objective against will be my read of his “narrow” range and his “zero” fold equity.

  2. The button will have opportunity to make better decisions on RIVER than me and my allin takes this opportunity away from him.

  3. If you knew he was probably calling too wide, why did you make the shove? I know I’m guilty of the same thing sometimes, but just wondering if you had a better reason than my typical reasoning – “ehh… calling sucks, and I hate to fold, let’s jam and hope they fold.”

    • I’m not at all certain that check-shoving is the best play here, but I felt like it was better than my other options. Given how wide these guys’ ranges are, I think I have too much equity to check-fold. Bet-calling or open shoving I think just results in me getting it in against tighter ranges against which I have less equity. This way I can at least induce the occasional bluff or bet-fold. I think the outcome I got, even before seeing the hand that called me, was a pretty good one, having Chris’ dead money in there.

  4. I’m curious why you’d c/shove this hand as well – since your equity vs any reasonable calling range I expect to not be very good?

    Maybe you expect MTT players to call off here with single pairs enough? Or not thinking?

    It just seems odd to think that MP2 is bet/folding this flop that often when you have an SPR of just over 3.

    Rough way to bust though

    • Don’t you know that any self-respecting online player looks down on live players by default? This isn’t Andrew being an ass, it’s actually a statement of generally accepted wisdom followed by a compliment.

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