NuRelic
Rock Star
Silver Level
First, the setup:
You’re at a local multi-tabled tournament in your city. You’ve been hitting this place more for the social scene rather than honing your poker skills. More than half of the people there, you would call friends (not necessarily close but still) and it’s generally a “fun” event. The tournament you’re playing in is for a whopping $50. However along with that $50 you will also get a chance to qualify for an entry into a monthly $1,000 tournament of champions with winners of other tourney’s around the city. Then the top three qualifiers of this tourney, move on to a year-end tournament for a single entry into the wsop. So there is some seriousness to it.
Okay, here’s the scenario:
There are 75 entrants on this night and you’ve been seated at the featured table. Over the course of the first hour you’ve been drawing some incredible hands; AA - once, KK – twice, QQ – once and smaller PP at least 3 other times. Each time your hand has held up and as a result you are second in chips only to another player seated two seats to your right who has also been on an incredible winning streak. Five players have been busted out from your table so far and they have been replaced. After starting with $5,000 in chips you are holding roughly $16,000 in chips and the chip leader is holding roughly $16,500. The blind are at $125/$250 on a full table when this hand comes up…
You’re on the button, both blinds post (putting $375 into pot), the cards are dealt and the first guy to act raises 3xBB.
Archie (a.k.a. player 1) - a pretty solid player (he’s a player you’ve played against several times before). He’s rarely ever caught making a risky bluff and he’s almost always able to show the goods when it comes to the showdown. You could label him as a:
Good/Solid/Aggressive player.
Chips stack size - $4,400
Pot size - $1,125
The next player to act re-raises to 6xBB.
Barry (a.k.a. player 2) - a little loose with his betting but still semi-solid player over all. His problem is that he occasionally over-values a painted hands and tends to be a little Ace happy. You could label him as a:
OK/Semi-Loose/Agg-Pass player.
Chips stack size - $6,300
Pot size - $2,625
The next player to act cold calls.
Charlie (a.k.a. player 3) – he’s the odd man out at the table. An obvious call station, who will play Ax, panted hands and almost any suited connector. He only raises with premium hands like AK, AA, KK or QQ; otherwise he’s just calling. Also, he’s a very tricky player who frequently uses the check-raise to pop unsuspecting players and almost always tries to steal the blinds. You could label him as a:
Poor/Semi-Loose/Pass-Agg & Tricky player.
Chips stack size - $3,400
Pot size - $4,125
Next player cold calls.
David (a.k.a. player 4) - Here's the wild card of the bunch. You’ve never seen this guy before tonight and in thirty minutes of play (he replaced one of the first guys to bust out at your table) you haven’t seen this guy go to the show-down once. He has either folded or won the hand on or before 4th Street. His betting during this time seems to be pretty straight-up with standard 3x-4xBB raises from late position and no PRF’s from early or middle position. Your best guess for a label on him would probably be a:
Solid/Semi-Tight/Semi-Agg player.
Chips stack size - $5,500
Pot size - $9,750
Next player (a.k.a. player 5) folds. He’s SS w/ $2,200.
Next player re-raises to $1,000.
Edward (a.k.a. player 6) – The chip leader. Like you he’s been running rough-shot over the other players since busting out a maniac on the 3rd hand who went all-in on a semi-bluff (holding 44) with QQ. He’s a little loose calling with semi-marginal hands from time-to-time but he’s been catching a lot of cards and generally winning with 2P or better. You could label him as a:
Poor-OK/Semi-Loose/Agg player.
Chips stack size - $16,500
Pot size - $10,750
Next player (a.k.a. player 7) folds. He’s also SS w/ $2,000.
You’re next to act (a.k.a. player 8 ) and you look down at AA. Remember you are sitting on $16,000 (second in chips). The SB and BB have both been sitting at the table for less than an orbit and have chip stacks between $7,000 & $8,000. You don’t have much of a read on them because they’ve folded every hand since joining the table.
So there's no real obvious question here, you going to be moving all-in - that's pretty much a given. But with that said, there is a point to this set up, I'd like to see you rationalize your answer with the reads that you’ve been provided and give some insight on what their actions prior to your turn to act have on your decision (if any). In other words, with the information you have please work out what you think each player is possible holding and tie that into what move you make. Please don’t just say, “I’d move all-in.”
NuRelic
PS
This was an actual hand played out a few weeks back and I'll post what happened along with with hands I know (or was told) that the other players had after getting some feedback.
You’re at a local multi-tabled tournament in your city. You’ve been hitting this place more for the social scene rather than honing your poker skills. More than half of the people there, you would call friends (not necessarily close but still) and it’s generally a “fun” event. The tournament you’re playing in is for a whopping $50. However along with that $50 you will also get a chance to qualify for an entry into a monthly $1,000 tournament of champions with winners of other tourney’s around the city. Then the top three qualifiers of this tourney, move on to a year-end tournament for a single entry into the wsop. So there is some seriousness to it.
Okay, here’s the scenario:
There are 75 entrants on this night and you’ve been seated at the featured table. Over the course of the first hour you’ve been drawing some incredible hands; AA - once, KK – twice, QQ – once and smaller PP at least 3 other times. Each time your hand has held up and as a result you are second in chips only to another player seated two seats to your right who has also been on an incredible winning streak. Five players have been busted out from your table so far and they have been replaced. After starting with $5,000 in chips you are holding roughly $16,000 in chips and the chip leader is holding roughly $16,500. The blind are at $125/$250 on a full table when this hand comes up…
You’re on the button, both blinds post (putting $375 into pot), the cards are dealt and the first guy to act raises 3xBB.
Archie (a.k.a. player 1) - a pretty solid player (he’s a player you’ve played against several times before). He’s rarely ever caught making a risky bluff and he’s almost always able to show the goods when it comes to the showdown. You could label him as a:
Good/Solid/Aggressive player.
Chips stack size - $4,400
Pot size - $1,125
The next player to act re-raises to 6xBB.
Barry (a.k.a. player 2) - a little loose with his betting but still semi-solid player over all. His problem is that he occasionally over-values a painted hands and tends to be a little Ace happy. You could label him as a:
OK/Semi-Loose/Agg-Pass player.
Chips stack size - $6,300
Pot size - $2,625
The next player to act cold calls.
Charlie (a.k.a. player 3) – he’s the odd man out at the table. An obvious call station, who will play Ax, panted hands and almost any suited connector. He only raises with premium hands like AK, AA, KK or QQ; otherwise he’s just calling. Also, he’s a very tricky player who frequently uses the check-raise to pop unsuspecting players and almost always tries to steal the blinds. You could label him as a:
Poor/Semi-Loose/Pass-Agg & Tricky player.
Chips stack size - $3,400
Pot size - $4,125
Next player cold calls.
David (a.k.a. player 4) - Here's the wild card of the bunch. You’ve never seen this guy before tonight and in thirty minutes of play (he replaced one of the first guys to bust out at your table) you haven’t seen this guy go to the show-down once. He has either folded or won the hand on or before 4th Street. His betting during this time seems to be pretty straight-up with standard 3x-4xBB raises from late position and no PRF’s from early or middle position. Your best guess for a label on him would probably be a:
Solid/Semi-Tight/Semi-Agg player.
Chips stack size - $5,500
Pot size - $9,750
Next player (a.k.a. player 5) folds. He’s SS w/ $2,200.
Next player re-raises to $1,000.
Edward (a.k.a. player 6) – The chip leader. Like you he’s been running rough-shot over the other players since busting out a maniac on the 3rd hand who went all-in on a semi-bluff (holding 44) with QQ. He’s a little loose calling with semi-marginal hands from time-to-time but he’s been catching a lot of cards and generally winning with 2P or better. You could label him as a:
Poor-OK/Semi-Loose/Agg player.
Chips stack size - $16,500
Pot size - $10,750
Next player (a.k.a. player 7) folds. He’s also SS w/ $2,000.
You’re next to act (a.k.a. player 8 ) and you look down at AA. Remember you are sitting on $16,000 (second in chips). The SB and BB have both been sitting at the table for less than an orbit and have chip stacks between $7,000 & $8,000. You don’t have much of a read on them because they’ve folded every hand since joining the table.
So there's no real obvious question here, you going to be moving all-in - that's pretty much a given. But with that said, there is a point to this set up, I'd like to see you rationalize your answer with the reads that you’ve been provided and give some insight on what their actions prior to your turn to act have on your decision (if any). In other words, with the information you have please work out what you think each player is possible holding and tie that into what move you make. Please don’t just say, “I’d move all-in.”
NuRelic
PS
This was an actual hand played out a few weeks back and I'll post what happened along with with hands I know (or was told) that the other players had after getting some feedback.
