Believe it or not there weren’t too many interesting hands from yesterday’s WCOOP. I was always at really aggressive tables, so generally the best strategy for me was to hunker down and play good cards. Here was one sort of neat spot with one very short-stacked player all-in:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 530 Tournament, 7000/14000 Blinds 1750 Ante (8 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG+1 (t1132760)
MP1 (t8079)
MP2 (t699983)
CO (t601104)
Button (t479398)
SB (t645890)
Hero (BB) (t437960)
UTG (t642641)
Hero’s M: 12.51
Preflop: Hero is BB with A
, 5
2 folds, MP1 calls t6329 (All-In), 3 folds, SB bets t48000, Hero calls t34000
Flop: (t116329) 8
, K, 4 (3 players, 1 all-in)
SB bets t48500, Hero raises to t111111, SB calls t62611
Turn: (t338551) A
(3 players, 1 all-in)
SB checks, Hero checks
River: (t338551) K
(3 players, 1 all-in)
SB checks, Hero checks
Total pot: t338551
Results:
SB had K, 2 (three of a kind, Kings).
Hero mucked A, 5 (two pair, Aces and Kings).
MP1 mucked J, 10 (one pair, Kings).
Outcome: SB won t338551
3-betting pre-flop is certainly an option, but I didn’t particularly want to shove, and I didn’t definitely didn’t want to 3-bet-fold, and I had position, so I opted just to take a flop. On the flop I’d rather make a small raise and call it off rather than jam because I a jam probably won’t fold anything better, and a small raise may induce shoves from dominated draws. It also works out nicely that I don’t lose my whole ass when I miss. I was shoving blank rivers.
Here’s one where g0lfa, who went on to win his third WCOOP bracelet in this event, gets a little to LAGtarded for his own good:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 530 Tournament, 8000/16000 Blinds 2000 Ante (7 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
SB (t701911)
BB (t629733)
UTG (t986854)
MP1 (t1002580)
MP2 (t1922523)
Hero (CO) (t629596)
Button (t581841)
Hero’s M: 16.57
Preflop: Hero is CO with 10, K
2 folds, MP2 bets t33300, Hero calls t33300, 3 folds
Flop: (t104600) J, 8, 7 (2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets t33333, MP2 raises to t92550, Hero calls t59217
Turn: (t289700) K (2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets t99999, 1 fold
Total pot: t289700
Results:
Hero didn’t show 10, K.
Outcome: Hero won t289700
One of the merits of the flop underbet is that it induces spazzy stuff like this. I think he’s repping literally nothing, so it’s an easy float with a hand that plays as well as mine. Even if g0lfa really gets crazy and fires another barrel on the turn, there are a lot of cards that can improve my hand.
I will say that while he obviously ran good, coolered people, sucked out, etc., g0lfa is also really really tough to play against. The aggression is just constant, and he manages to make it work. I spent a lot of time on his left and even from there I wasn’t able to keep a lid on him very effectively.
Nevertheless, I did make one biggish fold to him at the final table:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 530 Tournament, 25000/50000 Blinds 6250 Ante (5 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
MP (t1755302)
Button (t4133490)
Hero (SB) (t2763605)
BB (t4187406)
UTG (t5595197)
Hero’s M: 26.01
Preflop: Hero is SB with K, Q
2 folds, Button bets t112200, Hero calls t87200, 1 fold
Flop: (t305650) J, K, 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t177200, Hero calls t177200
Turn: (t660050) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t450225, Hero calls t450225
River: (t1560500) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t1020000, Hero folds
Total pot: t1560500
Results:
Button didn’t show
Outcome: Button won t1560500
I was truly conflicted about what to do here. The thing is that he’s really aware of his own image, so while he does bluff a lot, he also value bets well and gets paid off big when he has hands. I’m inclined to say that if anything his triple barrels are probably weighted towards value hands, since people don’t fold to him. Then again, KQ is pretty close to the top of my range. Other than KJ, I don’t know how often I take this line with better hands than KQ.
There’s also some incentive to lean towards the conservative play at the final table, but then again g0lfa knows that, but then again he could have put me all in and he didn’t, but then again he knows that….
how come you check the turn in the first hand? I would imagine you get called anyway by that hand (and lose a bigger pot) but that is results oriented. Isn’t your hand good enough to be there?
There’s only one bet left in the stacks, so the question is whether a turn or a river bet will be more profitable. I think river is best. I may or may not get paid if a diamond hits, but I think a K is far more likely to pay off the river than the turn. Frankly I’d be a little surprised though not shocked if he’d called a turn bet with his hand.