$2 NLHE 6-max: Top Pair + Top Kicker against harmless board

[Yapsinho]

Hey guys,

https://www.boomplayer.com/32237973_7ACBFBBD9C

I'm not sure if I played the hand right or if I should have been more curious. I'm usually playing tournements and I tried out some cash game. I would probably played this hand a bit more conservative in tournement, but I'm not sure.

I like to have some advice on that hand and if you have a tip for me how to play such hands in tournements I would be really glad

 

[Bozovicdj]

I have to ask why would you play this hand more conservatively in an MTT as oppose to cash games?

In my experience, players are actually tighter in MTTs then in cash games. Therefore, in cash games you are more likely to be against a random straight, a random 2P etc as oppose to tournaments. In my opinion, TPTK has less strength in cash games overall then in MTTs.

As for the particular hand, I think that calling river would be just fine. When you re-raise the river you need to put yourself in Villain's position and ask yourself, what is he going to call with - that you beat?

So the answer is Ax that isnt 2P, and considering that Villain opted to donk turn and then continue on the river, I believe we are safe to say it wouldn't be a weak Ax but only AT+.
So we have AT-AQ that could call and we beat them, and we have AX that are 2p that will call that beat us, add some sets and random 2P hands and you find that there are more hands that will call your raise and beat your TPTK, as oppose to hands that would call your river raise and lose to your TPTK.

IMO, it is hard to get away from hands this strong, because it is the best Top Pair Top Kicker you can have, which is why just a call is completely fine on that river, and opposing such aggression from Villain.

 

[Sidetracked]

Unlucky. I think with the extra money in the pot preflop maybe raise to about 4X pf. Other than that, TPTK vs an underset is just unfortunate.

 

[quant1986]

I think against short-stack you can just raise-call the turn as Villain wouldn't fold Ax. River I think the raise is a bit thin.

 

[Jon Poker]

The raise preflop and bet on the flop is fine. Things get weird when our opponent starts leading a blank turn card - I would call this bet as you did - then the river rolls off and our opponent leads huge into us again - what are they doing this with? Called a raise and a flop bet, then lead turn and bet big on the river - are they ever doing this as a bluff? I dont think so....especially down at the $2NL stakes I think most players are playing ABC poker - betting when they've got it, slowplaying monsters and rarely ever bluffing.

With that in mind I ask again - what is my opponent doing this on the river with? My answer is almost always going to be 2 pair or better...if we are non believers we can just call here and find out.

The hand goes off the rails when we raise the river! What are we doing this for? Are we raising for value or as a bluff? What worse hands are going to call our value bet? What better hands can we get to fold if we turn top pair into a bluff? Practically none! So when we take this line, we get called by either some weird weaker Ax that decides to take the betting lead - or, we are only getting called by better hands! We do not need to raise the river, our hand is a single pair holding and while it is fairly strong it is far from the nuts on this board!

So in conclusion - I like preflop I like the flop, turn call is fine as well - the river is horrible. I think best option is to fold river here and 2and best option is to call. The worst option of all is raising here...we see that most of the time we are only getting called by better here and are spewing chips.

 

[TheDude6622]

Just a cooler hand. You flop a monster with no other draw. Cash is a different animal than tournaments and AK is a monster hand pre. Just be happy that it was a microstakes table that you didn't lose your shirt on.

 

[John A]

I just need to bitch... I hate these replayers. Never once will I comment of give feedback on hands in replayers. It seems there's a flood of hand history posts using various replayers now.

 

[zuker]

Top pair top kicker - good hand but not great.
Preflop and flop played norm.
On turn it would be better to start think what he has.
On river it obvious he has somthing better - double pair, set.

 

[Bozovicdj]

I just need to bitch... I hate these replayers. Never once will I comment of give feedback on hands in replayers. It seems there's a flood of hand history posts using various replayers now.

It is easier to post a hand using replayers then using text. I would say it's easier to understand situation, positioning, stack sizes etc. Why would you be against replayers?

 

[GWU73]

With tptk you still only have one pair. You also had a flop where the pot was very small relative to stack sizes. This situation requires careful play.

Pre flop. Raise was a good idea. Open larger until your post flop play improves. 3-5 bb. It's ok to use 3 for most hands and more for ak qq+ unless you have substantial hands against Someone.

Flop. C bet was good.

Turn. Your opponent donk bets into you. This should set alarm bells off in your head. Still, calling is good. I was assuming you were beat here, but it's not certain and calling may get to showdown without a river bet.

River. If turn donk bet was alarming, the river pot sized bet should be scary with one pair.
Shoving was the worst option because you fold out everything you beat and get called by everything that beats you. You could make an argument for calling to bluff catch, but I think folding is the clear action. Just get out of the way, shrug your shoulders and move on.

 

[c0rnBr34d]

Pre is fine, I do 3x but 2.5x is also fine. Flop is a bit large for this dry board. We are heads up vs wide BB range. We are getting too many folds for this sizing (almost 3/4 pot). There are no draws and we have TPTK. I would go 1/2-2/3 max. Turn is fine after V calls huge flop bet then leads a blank turn. River I agree with Jon Poker. With our large flop bet into a dry board and Vs lead turn pot river our TPTK has been reduced to a bluff catcher vs the range V should have here. It should be all 2 pair+ pretty much since you have provided no reads. If you are a non-believer just call. This line looks stronger than 1 pair though so on our A game I think we can find some river folds unless V is very aggro and can do this with one pair or 67.

 

[JBGoode]

Hey guys,

https://www.boomplayer.com/32237973_7ACBFBBD9C

I'm not sure if I played the hand right or if I should have been more curious. I'm usually playing tournements and I tried out some cash game. I would probably played this hand a bit more conservative in tournement, but I'm not sure.

I like to have some advice on that hand and if you have a tip for me how to play such hands in tournements I would be really glad

Took ourselves to value town on the river for sure. After the donk turn, big bet river we gotta just call....

Not gonna nit pick pre, your fine. I would had went 3x.... flop I would had bet smaller to keep the 3s and 5s in along with draws and worest Ks.... when the 8 comes on the turn, (assuming he donks), we can just flat, to see what happens on the river. With him donking turn, then the 7 on the river, I'm just flatting the river. No need to put ourselves in a situation where only better is calling and only worest is folding, and only better is calling, when we raise.

 

[fundiver199]

Preflop and flop is totally standard. When Villain lead turn, the hand gets pretty weird, and alarm bells should already be ringing in our head. Because what is he really doing this with? There are no draws, so he is kind of saying, that he has two pair or a set. Maybe a hand like A3, which just got there. Still we cannot give up so easily, so always calling him on the turn.

But then he bomb the river. This suck, because we are almost always beat, when someone take this line, yet our hand feel like to strong to fold. So I would not blame you for calling here, but there is absolutely no point in raising. He actually gave you a chance to get to showdown without risking it all, because he failed to check-raise the flop or turn. You absolutely have to take that chance rather than almost playing his hand for him.

If this was a tournament, then I would lean more towards folding on the river, because chips won are not as valuable as chips lost. You also can not reload, so making a “curiosity call” is typically not something, you can afford to do in tournaments.

 

[kley126]

a lot of difference between tournaments and cash but in this last AK it was a very good hand which should be played very aggressive pre flop but as you see, poker is no hand gives you the guarantee of winning only a high or low percentage that can change once when the cards arrive at the table

 

[Aballinamion]

What happened in the River?

Hey guys,

https://www.boomplayer.com/32237973_7ACBFBBD9C

I'm not sure if I played the hand right or if I should have been more curious. I'm usually playing tournements and I tried out some cash game. I would probably played this hand a bit more conservative in tournement, but I'm not sure.

I like to have some advice on that hand and if you have a tip for me how to play such hands in tournements I would be really glad

Hi there Yapsinho, thank you for posting your hand. I believe the way was played was totally fine, until river: why did you check-raise JAM river with TPTK? The calling seems much more profitable, because you have a very strong value hand which IS NOT THE NUTS!
Sorry for my candor, I say it here a lot of times here, but it seems many players never get it:

A) The Nuts: The absolute better hand x board configuration
B) Value Hand: A hand that is strong but there is a slight chance of not being the best hand.
C) Semi-bluff: No hand at all but a good equity for turn and rivers such as OESD+FD
D) Bluff: When we have air, nothing, but we believe Villain will have % Fold Equity.

Villain's out of position, donks turn and c-bet river, a pretty decent sizing. You can call here profitabily many times without making your value hand becomes a bluff, which was pretty much the case.
I am not being oriented by results, I would simply call turn and call river, because the size of the pot is okay given that I have only TPTK. Why do I need to win 100 Blinds pot everytime I hit TPTK in a "harmless" lower board?
I will only put up a shove in this river if I have played 25.000 (25 K hands sample) with this Villain. Other possibility for I put up a shove in this river is if I know that Villain can fold a better hand, and Villains at the micros would never fold any set! BB should know that because you opened out of position you will have all the AA and sets of A's in your range, however Villain process of thought is: "Dear Lord! I have a SET! I am getting millionaire right now, insta-call!"

Regards;

Carlos 'Aballinamion' Barbosa

 

[Aragveli81]

Actually I prefer to fold river if no special reads on player.

 

[maxi_j]

Preflop and flop and turn well played.

oponent looks like played 77, 46s, 87, 75, random bluf (10%), sometimes 42s. Easy fold vs such big sizing. Raise worst action you could make.

 

[ksandr010]

On the river, the opponent makes an overbet, it is clear that he has at least two pairs. I would play fold

 

[moulan7]

Hi there,

Preflop and postflop standard. The sizes may differ from person to person but nothing weird or wrong here.

I like your just call on the turn, but I don't know about your intentions here, to be honest, since you shoved on that large bet on the river. Were you trying to trap or something?
I prefer to just call here because the board is so dry and his lead bet pretty out of line and suspicious (also he called a large bet on the flop). We need to be aware of sets and two pairs with Ax type of hands.
You could consider to raise against a loose aggressive opponent if the board was wet and you were thinking that he might was drawing.

Blank river and boom, large bet. Just call here. Yep it sucks, hard to get away (fold) with top pair top kicker (or overpairs) on boards like that but opponent's line and final bet are really suspicious and suggests that he has a strong hand. Nothing to bluff here for.
Shove it's a mistake here unless, I don't know, you have some kind of weird history with that exact opponent, but still.