Hey, i learned how to use hand replayer
Have a look at this one i played today in an MTT
https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/4q11rFWT
What you think about just calling preflop? Was it beter to 3 bet?
Also i decided to donk bet the flop well i usually dont do it but he just min raised preflop and i thought it would be fine.
I think you made some mistakes in this hand as well. Again, there are no reads on the other player. Was he loose, tight, aggressive? Was he playing a lot of hands from all positions? Did you have any other hands against him?
This is actually a very interesting spot because the solver likes to mix 3-betting about 80% of the time with calling about 20% with 99. What makes this interesting is that TT 3-bets and calls about a 50/50 mix and 88 3-bets about 20% of the time and calls 80%. All of the pairs lower than 88 call 100% but they are set mining. I am going to put in some charts below that you can reference that show what the GTO strategy is for this spot. Keep in mind that not all players will be playing a GTO strategy. This looks like a freeroll so I doubt very many players are playing a GTO strategy. But, he did min raise UTG, so he may have some familiarity. All of that being said. His (or her) range may be a lot tighter or a lot looser than what I have shown.
What you think about just calling preflop? Was it beter to 3 bet? I agree with the solver that either is fine in this spot. Really, this is a spot that is player dependent. I always advise anyone who I talk to about taking notes and using labels to identify what other players are doing. Things like, what are the opening with and in what positions? Do they have more than 1 open-raise size (this is a VERY good tell)? How often are they c-betting and are they using different sizing depending on their hand strength? This list can go on and on, but the more things that you observe and take notes on against a player, the better you will be able to play against them. So, back to the spot. I do 3-bet here often because I have a 60/40
equity advantage over their entire range (GTO speaking) of the UTG player. So, unless I had a good read on this player, I would be 3-betting here with this hand pretty often because there is already one other player in the pot and flatting here gives the BB a great price to come along. The BB now has to call 1 BB into a pot that already has about 7.5 BBs in it. That is just too good of a price. So, by calling, you are going to have 3 other players in a pot and 99 does not play very well multiway unless you flop a set (and then depending on the texture, that might lead to some reckless adventures). IN fact, against the range of the CO and BB, you now only have 17% equity in the pot and UTG has almost 62%. That shows the power of 3-betting and getting it heads up! But, even though 3-betting is preferred in this situation, I do use it as a calling hand too. So, absent any specific reads, I think calling was probably just fine here. It would have been pretty nasty to 3-bet and get 4 bet. There really aren't the implied odds to call but if you 3-bet to about 10 BBs (2.7 x 2 BBs + 2 BBs from the original raiser + BB + antes) then you have put about 25% of your stack in the pot. That almost pot commits you.
I think donk betting the flop was a horrible idea because the pot is multiway. If you look at the BB's range, he can be calling with anything, including a 3. The CO has a lot of 7's, medium pairs and suited connectors in his range not to mention A3s. UTG has big pairs and big broadway draws so he did not connect with this board as well as your range would. But there are a couple of thoughts on this. First of all, your range is somewhat capped because you just called out of the SB. If you have TT+ or AK and AJo+ and a few other AXs, you would be 3 betting. So your actual range is capped really at 99 (that calls a portion of the time. TT and JJ will also call a portion of the time, but they are also 3-betting), a lot of medium and small PPs (including 77 and 33 but there are not a lot of combos of those) and a ton suited cards, especially A7s and K7s that could make top pair. You are actually close to the top of your range with 99 but the equities are pretty close. If you were just against the UTG player, you would have a 70/30% advantage over him (or her). Again, another reason to get the pot heads up. When you want to donk lead is when a flop is excellent for your range and really bad for your opponents. In this case, the flop was great for your range, but just as good for the BB and the CO.
Aside from a GTO perspective, the other side of this is that a donk lead 1. further caps your range and 2.
tells other players that you have a medium strength hand that needs protection. It does this by telling the other players: Hey, I either have top pair that I want to protect, which would be A7s or K7s , or I have 88 or 99. If you had 77, 33 or A3 in your hand, you would have a monster that you would most likely be checking (although IF you had one of these and donk led and then checked the turn, I would LOVE it). Here, if you check-call or check-raise the UTG player, it looks REALLY strong (especially the check-raise) and you can still have 77, 33 and A3 in your range (although I would check-call 77 and 33 and sometimes check-raise A3 and then check raise A7, K7, 65s and 54s for balance..again, depending on the player I am against).
I also don't like the sizing of your lead. You went about 55% pot on a very dry board when a bet of about 5 or 6k would have led to the same result and the pot would not have been so bloated. If you bet 6k into the pot and get called then the pot is now only 28k, which gives you more options on the turn.
You bet a little over half pot and UTG calls. UTG can be calling with a lot of hands here. There are a lot of premium hands in his range but there are still plenty of overcards in his range, especially suited overcards. You actually pick up some equity on this turn and against this range are about a 72/27 favorite. Plus, the 7 still does not connect well with UTG's range. He does have 77 and A7s but there is now only 1 combo of 77 and 2 combos of A7s. This was a great card for you to continue on. Checking here makes you look really weak and that is why UTG bet back at you. Since this card does put the possibility of a flush draw out there, I would have wanted to bet it close to 60-70% pot but since that is my whole stack, I would have moved all in. The other option is to play it like you did and check, but again, going for the check-raise. You still have 77 and 33 in your range so you have 2 possibilities for quads plus, you have a lot more 7's in your range that UTG's, so a check-raise here looks like you either have quads or a full house. If you check-call here, you are really saying that you have an overpair that you will likely fold on any scary river.
I think overall, you need to up your aggression in your games. You seem to play pretty passive and want to wait for the nuts before wanting to make a big call. On that turn spot, you were looking at 3:1 odds so you only have to be right about 25% of the time. You had a 72% equity advantage on that card so you were actually a 3:1 favorite against UTG's range. Sometimes I will make that call intending to call down on most rivers. If an A, K, Q or club comes off, those are not great cards for me (hence, why I want to get it in on the turn when I think I am still ahead), but IF I call the turn, then I am going to hero call a lot of safe looking rivers.
Hopefully I can get to see you play sometime and we can look at a lot of hands in a row so that I can better understand your game.
