$1.65 NLHE MTT Rebuy: Another Loose Call - 500gtd

500gtd
3000 starting stack
10 minute levels, 12 levels of late reg.

3 levels left of late reg.

Blinds 75/150 ante 20

Average chip stack is approximately 5500.

UTG+1 limps in for 150 (6369 chips)
Tendencies on UTG+1 is he loves to limp. Loves to see a flop for cheap, and will fold to a 3bet about 60% of the time, depending on the size of the 3bet. He's shown down K/T and suited cards (not connectors) a couple times. So - average limping fish.

HJ 3bets to 999. (chips 4292)
HJ tendencies is he shoves ALL mid level Aces, and bets big with Big Aces, and medium to big pocket pair. Before making the call that is the range I have him on. He has been known to shove on the flop when hitting top pair - regardless of kicker too - so I'm watching for that.

I'm sitting in SB with Q/J diamonds and I make the call of 999. (chips 6065)

UTG+1 folds as expected.

Flop comes JcKcTd.

I check and HJ bets 1844 leaving himself 1449 behind. Kind of odd for him to make this bet - I have him holding two pair, A/T or A/J no clubs.
With him having so little left behind - I'm looking to gamble it up here. I have only fired one bullet so far - and I've been playing quite loose in this event. I've been chip leader for about 20 minutes and I've been about 1500 below chip average. I've been experimenting in this event - playing a wide range and folding on the flop if I miss or the board is not to my liking.
Anyway - I decide to call here - very loose - but - I guess that's how I roll.

Pot is 6146 on the turn. I have 3297 behind and opponent has 1449 behind.

Turn comes the very nice J of hearts.

Well - I'm either dead here - or I'm crushing him now.

Instead of passively waiting on him to put in his remaining chips - I go ahead and shove - to not give him a chance to check back and see a free river.

He responds in kind - now I'm thinking I'm toast. He probably has A/J or A/Q.

He turns over A/Q - I was crushed on the flop and turn.


And the river comes the ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL JACK OF SPADES.


AMAZING! - Suckouts REALLY DO WORK IN REVERSE!! :icon_puke


I'm not proud of my call - but hey - that's poker Yo! Bout time one came my way.

Postflop is, what it is. With a pair + OESD you cant really get away, when he has so little left behind. Calling a big raise out of position with QJs preflop is very bad though. Always nice to run good, but if you cant fold preflop, you are not going to see good results in the long run.

I'm in complete agreement with you fundiver. This was a crap call by me, no way around it.
Since I was playing a little looser than normal - I was interested in seeing how my reads were performing. It seems I was spot on - and crushed until the river.
Oddly, though I never thought opponent could have AA, KK, QQ since he didn't shove preflop, however - those hands could definitely have been in his range.


I was involved in a very similar situation in another event earlier - I called a MP 4x open from the button with suited K/J. Reasonable call in my opinion.
Hit tp with the king kicker.
3 players in the hand - I call all the way down to the river - board is totally monotone with no straight or flush present.
MP jams - and I can't put him on any hand other than two pair or better, so I fold, other blind player calls and original raiser had the two other Jacks. Good fold.


I think it is important to display/point out - I have posted 3 hand analysis in the past 2 weeks, all very similar LP loose calls.
I'm interested in perusing this topic - because in my very 'rookie' opinion this is one of the key positions where the money/chips are won/lost, in addition to blind play.
Additionally calling loose and winning versus a better preflop holding is a very interesting discussion. I think being able to make a light call in LP/OOP and maneuver post flop, is an important aspect of poker. A lot of information about this - the suggestions are nearly complete avoidance. I'm not saying that is incorrect, and the odds are wrong. Post flop oop is not easy and I doubt I'm exceptional at it - however instead of avoiding these spots, I'm interested in playing them - to see how they go. I'm fine with making judgement calls during the moment - and being wrong or right about them,
Making a loose call in LP/oop and end up beating a better hand - is part of the game, and even though the math says don't do it, and the general player pool is opening particular ranges in certain spots, sometimes - in certain spots - making a light call pre/post - can propel a player towards a solid finish.
Maybe - sometimes - it's a good quality to be a little bit of a calling station. - maybe

fundiver199 said:

Postflop is, what it is. With a pair + OESD you cant really get away, when he has so little left behind. Calling a big raise out of position with QJs preflop is very bad though. Always nice to run good, but if you cant fold preflop, you are not going to see good results in the long run.

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There really is nothing to add to this - very simple, illustrates key factors and gets to the point quickly.

Our opponent did not 3bet - he opened the pot by raising to just over 6.5x - even with one limper in front this is a massive raise and generally in lower stakes games, massive raises mean massive hands. Betting tendencies in these games can turn a hand face up in a matter of seconds.

Yes our hand looks good but our opponent opening this large should have alllll the combos that crush/dominate our QJ. For this reason we just need to fold, QJ is still marginal and we need to keep in mind we only have Q hi. That being said I think we could easily call a 3.5x or less - there is enough dead money in the pot to warrant the risk factor here - whereas when villan bets double that preflop, we are never getting proper odds to call and are likely losing to almost everything villan is holding before any cards fall.

Once we do go to the flop with 2nd pair and an open ended straight draw there is no need to get cute with bet sizing and whatnot, when our opponent bets that large on the flop we just need to get it all in and the rest will be what it will be. We put ourselves in this spot and now we must accept our fate.

Jon Poker said:

There really is nothing to add to this - very simple, illustrates key factors and gets to the point quickly.

Our opponent did not 3bet - he opened the pot by raising to just over 6.5x - even with one limper in front this is a massive raise and generally in lower stakes games, massive raises mean massive hands. Betting tendencies in these games can turn a hand face up in a matter of seconds.

Yes our hand looks good but our opponent opening this large should have alllll the combos that crush/dominate our QJ. For this reason we just need to fold, QJ is still marginal and we need to keep in mind we only have Q hi. That being said I think we could easily call a 3.5x or less - there is enough dead money in the pot to warrant the risk factor here - whereas when villan bets double that preflop, we are never getting proper odds to call and are likely losing to almost everything villan is holding before any cards fall.

Once we do go to the flop with 2nd pair and an open ended straight draw there is no need to get cute with bet sizing and whatnot, when our opponent bets that large on the flop we just need to get it all in and the rest will be what it will be. We put ourselves in this spot and now we must accept our fate.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your thoughtful and - accurate remarks Jon. If you have time I'd really appreciate your input on the other two hand analysis I've posted recently.
Especially the question I pose regarding calling light and winning, vs making a disciplined fold vs hyper aggression - only to learn after the fact I had the winning hand.

Thanks again.