$70 NLHE MTT: Just call or check raise top pair/top kicker?

guccipix

guccipix

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Starting stack 7000, Blinds 50/100. 30 minutes in, two or three players flatted, i have AhKh in the big blind, I raise to 500, one caller. Flop comes King 10 x with two clubs. I check. He bets 700, I call. Turn is offsuit lowish card, I check, he checks back. River is an ace of clubs, I bet 1000, he shoves, I call, he turns over J6 of clubs.


The more I think about this hand the more I feel like I played it terribly. I should have check raised the flop (but the starting stack was so small this would have cost me about half my stack, so I just played it slow). Had I raised he could have jammed and the outcome would have been the same, I just don’t know enough about him to know how he plays.


The turn check and then river shove should’ve given me the idea that he had clubs, but with the ace and king of clubs on board it’s hard to imagine what clubs he might be calling a 5x raise with on the flop. J10? QJ? Maybe, but he probably would be raising those preflop. Biggest issue was really that if I put him on a flush and folded I’d be short stacked already and top 2 is a decent hand to get it in on.


Am I a total fish, how would you have played this?
 
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dpoole71

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i would of led the flop considering i raised and took the betting lead agaisnt limpers and im pretty strong with top pair top kicker after the turn is a blank and you fire again he might fold depending on his stack
 
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bkkblues99

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Starting stack 7000, Blinds 50/100. 30 minutes in, two or three players flatted, i have AhKh in the big blind, I raise to 500, one caller. Flop comes King 10 x with two clubs. I check. He bets 700, I call. Turn is offsuit lowish card, I check, he checks back. River is an ace of clubs, I bet 1000, he shoves, I call, he turns over J6 of clubs.


The more I think about this hand the more I feel like I played it terribly. I should have check raised the flop (but the starting stack was so small this would have cost me about half my stack, so I just played it slow). Had I raised he could have jammed and the outcome would have been the same, I just don’t know enough about him to know how he plays.


The turn check and then river shove should’ve given me the idea that he had clubs, but with the ace and king of clubs on board it’s hard to imagine what clubs he might be calling a 5x raise with on the flop. J10? QJ? Maybe, but he probably would be raising those preflop. Biggest issue was really that if I put him on a flush and folded I’d be short stacked already and top 2 is a decent hand to get it in on.


Am I a total fish, how would you have played this?
Was this a live tournament? Sounds like it was live.

Anyways, pre flop raise is fine. Flop check, I find terrible. TP+TK should be near the top of your C-Betting for value range. Specially with a board this draw heavy. Flatting the flop bet by villain was even worse. That was the perfect spot to check-raise! The turn check though, is the worst. That's about the safest card on the deck for you. Simply bet and bet big. If you called the flop thinking you were ahead, you were the still ahead on the turn and that's the time to get the money in.

On the river, check with intention of calling a small/medium bet but plan to fold to a shove. With the Ac all the potential got there. No use in value betting. Top two is definitely decent, but on this board + way the hand played out top two is a bluff catcher or best case scenario villain is crazy and is value bet shoving a worse two pair(very unlikely, specially in a live tournament).

Limper who called 5X, his range would mostly be two Broadways, suited or otherwise (Weaker than AQ), + some small/mid pockets+ sometimes some random suited cards (depends a lot on the kind of player). On the flop, you are crushing that range. If he shoves on the flop, you should happily call it off because his shoving range will mostly comprise of draws (flush and/or straight) and hands you have crushed (KQ, KJ, K9, A10, Q10, J10), sometimes he may have K10 or 1010 (in that case you got coolered and not much to do). But against that overall range, your check shove or calling his shove would both be +EV.

Now in hindsight, he might have called (although depends a lot on what kind of player) your flop shove but unlikely he calls a big bet on he turn. And you would have ended up losing anyways but it's all about getting it in good spots when you are significantly ahead.

Either ways, it's best to not think result wise but instead think optimum strategy wise.
 
guccipix

guccipix

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Yeah it was a live tournament. Thanks for the analysis! I appreciate it
 
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dpoole71

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I agree with person above me perfect spot to lead after raising pre flop or check raising trying to get tricky if you make a big check raise puts him in a tough if he calls and you make another big bet on the turn after he misses hell probably be inclined to fold
 
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TheShek

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It can be tempting to play TPTK trappy as you did, but you also have to think about protecting your hand. Different lines have different merit.

Sounds like a fun tournament with players limp-calling J6 suited! Were you scared of a set on the flop?


When he checks the turn behind you, think about what his range is. He is definitely betting sets, top pair hands, and monster combo draws a lot of the time. When he checks he's telling you he has a weak hand, so maybe a second pair type hand, or a flush draw. When he jams over your raise you would ideally have already considered his range of hands and you then have to stop and think. He's showing a lot of strength, you have two pair which is very strong but he's telling you he just got there. Do you think he's ever doing this as a bluff? If you have that type of read then you can consider calling, but in a regular live MTT this is a fold on the river. A tough one, but you still have a roughly 50bb stack to play if you fold and find a better spot to get your chips in.
 
guccipix

guccipix

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This is a great response. For some reason in my head having half of starting stack is debilitating, but at those blinds I did still have a significant enough stack to fold and keep playing. Shoulda coulda woulda. Bad move by me I guess.
 
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