Am I playing my monsters too fast in a high blind situation?

Jacki Burkhart

Jacki Burkhart

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I play mostly live MTTs. This was a $200 buy in tourney last night with 175 players.

Question: Am I playing my monsters too fast in a high blind/ante situation?
Last night, I developed a tendency that killed all my action and I don't know if that is because they just didn't have a hand to call me with, or if I was just way overplaying my strong hands and "letting them off easy" so to speak.

Hand #1
New at this table. I believe blinds are 2000/4000/500. I have about 90k for an M= about 9. Average stack is an m=7 so about 70k. The table I came from had no chips, we didn't knock out almost any players in the first 4 hours. This new table has TONS of chips.

2nd hand at the new table I am in the SB. TAG regular opens to 17,500 in early position He has about 130k. Unknown young-ish Asian big stack flats (has maybe 160k). It folds to my SB I have :as4: :ac4: . Now, I've already decided I'm gonna raise. Pot contains 45k right now, I'm looking for 1 caller. I played with the opener all day last weekend in a big tourney. We both made the final table and I have a good line on his play after playing with him for 12+ hours. His early pos opening range is very, very tight, so there is a decent chance he has a monster like QQ, KK or AK that he could call a big bet with. The other guy I don't know but I figure he might call if the opener folds since he is a big stack and Asian (yes, I'm being racist but around here, it's really true). I really want to make just a raise, but I think that will look too strong as even a min raise will be more than 1/3 of my stack. So, I do a "mini hollywood" then I go all in because I think the all-in looks weaker, like a squeeze play. (I give off some "strong is weak" reverse tells, like stacking all my chips out strongly and counting it out without the player asking for a count. Then I stare down the opener). He tank-folds and the other guy quickly mucks. I pick up the 45k and now I have 135k. Too fast? Thoughts?

Hand #2
About 3 orbits later blinds have gone up to 3000/6000/1000 so CPR=18,000. I have about 125k so my M=7. Avg. M = 5. Villain (Big stacked Asian, middle aged regular) opens in early position to 21,000. I am in the hijack with :ac4: :kc4: I decide to take a flop in position against him. He has been bullying a lot, c-betting a lot of flops, trying to bluff people off their hands. If I connect with the board there is a good chance he'll double me up. We're heads up to the flop. pot contains 60k.

Flop comes :10s4::10c4: :6s4: . he leads out for 40k. I decide it's highly unlikely he likes that flop, and even if he has a pocket pair, it's doubtful he has one that he can call me with, so before I've given it too much thought, I'm all in. He tanks. He gets a count....oh woops I only have 89k behind. Somehow I had my stack size wrong....that makes me a little bit nervous since my big "all in apply the pressure" move was actually only a min raise in an already pretty big pot. he's getting great pot odds to call me, costs him just 49k to win 189k. He gets the clock called on him, but for some reason the dealer doesn't alert the floor to a clock for like 2 more minutes so by the time the clock actually runs out on him he tanked for 5 full minutes, studying me and saying things like "I know you. you cannot make play without hand. You must have pocket jacks. it's either pocket jacks, AT or.... maybe nothing? No....not you....you don't make play with nothing.". anyways, his hand is dead due to the clock running out. I think I narrowly escaped with my tourney life there. I think he folded a hand like 88 or 99. Even if that was the case though, I still had outs.... and it's possible I got a hand like AK to fold which would be a good outcome... YAY for position! Now I have 189k and I'm the table chip leader and Villain has about 160k and is fuming. he wants my head on a platter and I note that next time I play a pot with him I better have a powerhouse...

Hand #3
I'm moved to a new table. Things are getting bubbly. I have about 170k. There is 1 bigger stack at this table 3 to my left who has about 300k. tons and tons of short stacks are holding on...we are 5 from the money. The average M is still about 5. Blinds haven't gone up yet (they will in about 3 mins) so my M=9. UTG short stack limps for 6,000 off a stack of about 45k (why?). Folds to the button who raises it up to 25k off a stack of about 90k. I am in the SB and look down at :ks4: :kc4: (sound familiar?) What to do? Again, I want to raise....don't want to play KK out of position 3 handed with stacks being so relatively shallow....how much to raise? Well, a min raise would be 50k and would put the limper all in. It would be more than half of the raiser's stack, and it would be more than 25% of my stack.... I think the min raise looks too strong. any other raise size looks even stronger. I would have loved to have this situation come up again at the last table because with my 2 previous all ins and no show down, they'd probably get suspicious and call me light....but this is a new table with mostly new faces. I decide all in looks the weakest and who knows? maybe the short stack will call.... so I jam and they both fold. grrrr......what would the best play be here? I show my KK because I plan on bullying on the bubble, and this way they might give me credit...now I have 216k.

Hand #4
Very next hand it folds to my Button. I have :as4: :kh4: I raise it up to 16k. SB folds. BB quickly moves all in with his shortish stack. I'm thinking I have to call here, since he's gonna be jamming light with a short stack vs. a perceived button steal. But I go ahead and get a count. Yikes...he has 105k...a lot more than I originally thought. So this is basically flipping for half my stack near the bubble. I don't know this player at all. There is also a chance he's jamming with a worse Ace here though....If I was him I'd jam right there with AT+ and any pocket pair 55+ and maybe even KQ. Against that perceived range, he only has 40% at best. Do I really want to gamble half my stack with probably 60% equity? I decide, yes. Don't wanna play scared poker and also my future raises won't get much credit if I fold now...and if I'm gonna fold AK to a possible re-steal I may as well just wait around for AA.... so I call and he turns over :10d4: :9d4: Flop and turn miss us both and then he rivers a gutshot. grrrr.... what do you think? Should I decline to flip? Should I just open jam since I have both players covered by a wide margin?


Right after that they propose paying 3 bubbles. I know my playing partner (she's at another table) and I are both on a short stack with our M=5 and blinds going up in about 1 min....so I agree to the bubble. Not much happens for an orbit or 2. a few people bust, I have no hands and no opportunities. Now I'm UTG with an M=2.4 I'm about to have 25% of my stack in the blinds in the next 2 hands. I look down at :jh4: :6h4:. I decide it's good enough because both blinds are really tight and I've only shown down monsters at this table and folded everything else. Also, the next 8 spots all pay just $200 and then the next 3 after that only pay $400....so "climbing the ladder" is not a strategy I'm at all interested in. it folds to the BB who snap calls with JJ. I'm out.
 
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Jdawg0913

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Hand 1 - very standard. If you 3 bet less than all in you might as well show him your hand.

Hand 2 - you have to ship all in there preflop. You have 20 big blinds. That is the perfect stack to 3bet shove. He could look you up dominated because he may think you are restealing. By flatting, you put yourself in a bad spot post flop. He should have called you on the flop given the odds. You maximize your fold equity by shoving all in preflop.

Hand 3 - I think this is a spot where you need to flat call. You flat then the limper shoves or calls or you take a flop with an under repped hand. He most likely will shove the flop and you can pick him off.

Hand 4 - not sure what the blind level was but super super standard. Cannot fold here.


Last hand there is nothing you can do. That's what's happens sometimes. My advice to you is to study stack sizes and what plays to make with each stack size.
 
el_magiciann

el_magiciann

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I think you too good to take my advice :D I like very much the way you played your hands and i can say only 2 things, the first one is IMAGE, if u had that super tight image whatever raise you did they should fold, and with this blinds, they obviously want stealing some blinds, and after your raise they just folded their suited connectors or weak A. And the second thing i can say is that i dont like the way u played hand number 4, i dont want to tell it is wrong because it isnt and u were favour and unlucky at the river, i want to tell this because it is actually bubble play and 100% coin flip thats what i dislike at all and u risked 50% of your stack at coin flip. :) Thats all, good luck at the tables!
 
Arjonius

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It looks like you may be guilty of thinking that other players think like you do.

In hand 1, for example, you partly base your decision to shove on the assumption that the opponents will consider the possibility you're squeezing. But had they shown any indication they (a) know what a squeeze is, and (b) would widen their calling ranges because your range includes squeeze hands? Also, you know your stack size means they have no fold equity if you 3bet and get 4bet, but do they?

I'm not saying this should change your decision to shove, just that on some hands, it can tip the scale.

As for shoving, while it can't be bad, I don't think I'd argue with flatting either. Neither opponent can have more than two immediate outs, so how bad can it be to see the flop three ways? The large majority of times one or both hit the flop and become willing to put more chips into the pot with hands they would have folded to your pre-flop shove, they're still behind.
 
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