$1.50 NL HE MTT: Some interesting ICM spots

[tzuriel]

Game

Hold'em

Game Format

No Limit

Table Format

MTT

Buy-in

1.50

Currency

$

Whether you want to accept it or not, ICM is real. I am certainly no expert but here are a couple ICM disasters that my opponents experienced in a recent micro MTT that I was able to win. I hope these are useful.

Here I am opening UTG with A5s (I probably could have shoved here but it's pretty close) and it folds around to the chip leader in the BB. He should not be very interested in getting into pots with me, the only stack that can really cripple him. Everyone else is quite short. We are down to the final two tables and he is in a good position to have a decent stack as we get to the final table. I suppose his call here is not terrible but he misplayed the turn, I think. I would have had a hard decision if he jams there and I would probably fold since I am 2nd in chips with a decent stack that can find better spots to get it all in later.

NL Holdem $1.50+$0.15 (12000.00BB)
CO (9.7BBs)
BTN (11.6BBs)
SB (6BBs)
BB (53.2BBs) [VPIP: 30% | PFR: 14% | AGG: 34.6% | Hands: 50]
HERO (44.6BBs)
HJ (9.8BBs)

Dealt to Hero: 5♠ A♠

HERO Raises To 2.3BBs, HJ Folds, CO Folds, BTN Folds, SB Folds, BB Calls 1.2BBs

Hero SPR on Flop: [7.45 effective]
Flop (5.7BBs): Q♠ 2♠ 4♥
BB Checks, HERO Checks

Turn (5.7BBs): Q♠ 2♠ 4♥ Q♥
BB Checks, HERO Checks

River (5.7BBs): Q♠ 2♠ 4♥ Q♥ 6♠
BB Bets 5.7BBs (Rem. Stack: 45.1BBs), HERO Raises To 16.7BBs (Rem. Stack: 25.6BBs), BB Raises To 50.8BBs (allin), HERO Calls 25.6BBs (allin)

Spoiler

BB shows: 7♣ Q♦

HERO wins: 90.3BBs

======================
Here, I have become a massive chip leader at the final table. There are only 4 left and the 2 shorties are REALLY short (the BTN has less than a blind left!). The 2nd place guy just needs to let me be the bully and fold everything. However, he decides to limp in the CO (which is UTG) and calls a shove which is a real ICM disaster for him. Probably better to just fold or shove pre here and give me a decision. I am probably calling his shove with my A since if I lose, I don't really lose much. So he just needs to fold a lot and wait a few more hands to probably guarantee his current 2nd place. Instead he is out in 4th and the shorties profit much more than they should have.

NL Holdem $1.50+$0.15 (25000.00BB)
CO (11.2BBs) [VPIP: 18.2% | PFR: 6.8% | AGG: 0% | Hands: 44]
BTN (1BBs) [VPIP: 22.8% | PFR: 12.8% | AGG: 12.9% | Hands: 80]
HERO (48.1BBs)
BB (4.5BBs) [VPIP: 21.1% | PFR: 18.8% | AGG: 9.1% | Hands: 131]

Dealt to Hero: 3♦ A♠

CO Calls 1BBs, BTN Folds, HERO Raises To 48.1BBs (allin), BB Folds, CO Calls 10.1BBs (allin)

Flop (60.6BBs): 2♠ 4♠ 6♥

Turn (60.6BBs): 2♠ 4♠ 6♥ 2♦

River (60.6BBs): 2♠ 4♠ 6♥ 2♦ 7♦

Spoiler

CO shows: 9♣ K♣

HERO wins: 23.7BBs

 

[fundiver199]

Hand 1 A5s

Preflop
Standard raise. I would definitely not open jam here, since you are 44,6BB effective with big blind. Yes all the other guys are short, but thats way to much to risk even against a single player. So his stack size dictate, how you play the hand. Also you dont mind getting called by him specifically, because you have position on him.

Flop and turn
I would bet here as a semi-bluff and to build up the pot for the nuts. Maybe it can be argued, that checking is deceptive, but I think, its leaving some value on the table.

River
You made the flush, and now he lead out for full pot. Obviously we are never folding here, but I think, its at least a close decision between raising and just calling, because the board is paired, so you dont have the nuts. It might seem very conservative to just call, but I dont think, he ever has trips, because then he would have led the turn, after the flop got checked through. And he can have some boats. These dont need to worry about protection, so can certainly check as a slowplay. Or maybe he rivered it with 66.

So in my opinion he has either a boat, a worse flush or a bluff. Bluffs are obviously not calling a raise, so by raising you are betting on him having more flushes than boats and to also call with the flushes. Its probably ok, because the pot is so small, but its not as clear-cut, as you might have thought in real time. When he 3-bet, I dont like the situation any more, because a worse flush should really not be doing that. But it is a very low buyin, and you are getting a decent price, so I would also stick in the call.

Spoiler
No idea what the opponent was doing here. Was he turning trips his hand into a bluff, or did he seriously think, trips bad kicker was the best hand? Either way good result for you and nice hand.

Hand 2 A3o

Yeah this is ICM suicide by CO. If he want to play his K9s, he can open jam, and maybe that would have gotten you to fold A3o. But he cant limp, and he especially cant limp-call. And with a stack distribution this extreme I would just have folded the K9s and waited for BTN to be forced all-in two hands from now. Even if he win a "flip" against you, you still have nearly twice as many chips as him. So this is really a spot, where he should be focused on outlasting the two short stacks rather than accumulating chips.

 

[tzuriel]

Hand 1 A5s

Preflop
Standard raise. I would definitely not open jam here, since you are 44,6BB effective with big blind. Yes all the other guys are short, but thats way to much to risk even against a single player. So his stack size dictate, how you play the hand. Also you dont mind getting called by him specifically, because you have position on him.

Flop and turn
I would bet here as a semi-bluff and to build up the pot for the nuts. Maybe it can be argued, that checking is deceptive, but I think, its leaving some value on the table.

River
You made the flush, and now he lead out for full pot. Obviously we are never folding here, but I think, its at least a close decision between raising and just calling, because the board is paired, so you dont have the nuts. It might seem very conservative to just call, but I dont think, he ever has trips, because then he would have led the turn, after the flop got checked through. And he can have some boats. These dont need to worry about protection, so can certainly check as a slowplay. Or maybe he rivered it with 66.

So in my opinion he has either a boat, a worse flush or a bluff. Bluffs are obviously not calling a raise, so by raising you are betting on him having more flushes than boats and to also call with the flushes. Its probably ok, because the pot is so small, but its not as clear-cut, as you might have thought in real time. When he 3-bet, I dont like the situation any more, because a worse flush should really not be doing that. But it is a very low buyin, and you are getting a decent price, so I would also stick in the call.

Spoiler
No idea what the opponent was doing here. Was he turning trips his hand into a bluff, or did he seriously think, trips bad kicker was the best hand? Either way good result for you and nice hand.

I couldn't put a 2 or 4 in his range and though a boat was really unlikely. I was certain he checked the flop with a weak Q since it seems he really just wants a cheap showdown. After seeing his hand, I cannot figure out why he checked the turn. That was a huge mistake, it seems. In game, the river was not even a thought to only call because trips would have bet the river and again, I didn't think a 4 or 2 was in his range that would give him a boat. I'm sure you're right that it was not as straight forward as it felt in real time but I went with my read and this time, it turned out correct!

 

[fundiver199]

I couldn't put a 2 or 4 in his range and though a boat was really unlikely.

Why cant he have 22 or 44? Those are totally standard hands to defend your big blind with. Even Q4s or Q2s would be pretty reasonable. So your thought process, that a boat "was really unlikely", dont seem logical to be.

I was certain he checked the flop with a weak Q since it seems he really just wants a cheap showdown.

He naturally checked to the preflop raiser, which can be any hand, that he defended with preflop. Just because he did not donk bet, does not mean, you can start to narrow his range down at all. Unless of course you knew, that this player does a lot of donk betting, and that he does it on boards like this.

After seeing his hand, I cannot figure out why he checked the turn. That was a huge mistake, it seems.

Yes absolutely. But maybe he was trying to go for a check-raise. That makes at least some sense, but is also rather ambitious. If you had some kind of weak hand like 55-JJ, you are probably not calling a turn check-raise AND then also a river bet, so he should just be happy to get two streets of value.

In game, the river was not even a thought to only call because trips would have bet the river.

But if trips would have bet the turn, he cant have it on the river. Obviously this was wrong, but your thought process is not congruent. A hand range gets narrower from street to street, and once we have removed a hand type from it, he cant have it later. For instance he also cant have KK or AA, because we think, he would have 3-bet them pre.

but I went with my read and this time, it turned out correct!

Yes you got a great result, and I also think, your river line is ok. But its still important to practice hand reading, which is the whole purpose of sharing hands here

 

[rastapapolos]

Everytime villain do mistakes you win. The first hand is a big spew from villain, as you opened the pot first to act, you have a lot of Qx in your range and there are no bluffs in this board. I think you played well all the way to the river by just checking and not betting your flush draws, which confuses him.
The second hand also is the correct play to push with Ax, and here also villain made a mistake by just limping, he normally shove/fold with 10bb.