$1.50 NLHE MTT: do I squeeze vs 5x and a caller? do I check to induce a bluff on the river?

[tewwa94]

$1.50 NLHE MTT: do I squeeze vs 5x and a caller? do I check to induce a bluff on the river?

4.87x seems so odd of a size from EP, I thought about squeezing, but it would've have been to around 20 bb and OOP it seems like I would have to check fold a lot so I opted to call and reduce variance. On the river tho I should have the best hand most of the time but since the hand is played so passively, I don't want it to go check, check, so I bet.

Should I squeeze even if the sizing is super weird?
should I induce a bluff on the river by checking?

PokerStars - 10/20 Ante 3 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP+2: 69.85 BB
CO: 74.2 BB
BTN: 80.9 BB
SB: 73.7 BB
Hero (BB): 74.7 BB
UTG: 74.7 BB
UTG+1: 74.7 BB
MP: 77.55 BB
MP+1: 74.7 BB

9 players post ante of 0.15 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.85 BB) Hero has 9:club: 9:diamond:

fold, fold, MP raises to 4.85 BB, MP+1 calls 4.85 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 3.85 BB

Flop: (16.4 BB, 3 players) T:spade: 6:spade: 7:club:
Hero checks, MP checks, MP+1 checks

Turn: (16.4 BB, 3 players) K:diamond:
Hero checks, MP checks, MP+1 checks

River: (16.4 BB, 3 players) 8:club:
Hero bets 8 BB, fold, fold

Hero wins 16.4 BB

 

[300HPGOD]

Personally I would not be squeezing in this spot much no matter how large the initial raise was given the stacks we are on. At around 75 BBs I like set miming here even though we are paying a slightly higher price than we would like to. A squeeze there as you mentioned would be a hefty raise which would be somewhere around 20%-25% of our stack. With 99 I just dont like it. Its a hand where I want to be all in pre flop or play it as a disguised set mine hand.

As far as the hand played out I like the way you played it. I think on the river since we have both 9s its unlikely someone has one of the other ones (we would be losing or chopping if they did so not wanting it) and without a set they wont be calling many bets. I would doubt someone would have a King and check so unless set of 8s just happened you arent getting called often. That would point to checking here to see if you could get someone to bluff which I think is a good idea to do some of the time but betting is not bad here and its what I do more often than not in hands like this where it has checked twice through. The reason is that we would be bluffing here some % of the time too and if our opponents think that then they could call light here instead of checking behind themselves. Plus once in a while you will get an ace high to call here, not often but sometimes.

 

[fundiver199]

Preflop
I would also just call here given the unusual sizing, which typically either mean someone, who dont know the "correct" betsizing or someone, who is opening big with only premium hands. If its the latter, we obviously dont want to 3-bet and get jammed on by a range, that has us crushed, and we also need to proceed with caution, if we flop an overpair on a low board and face a lot of heat.

Flop
Decent flop since you have second pair and a gutshot. My plan here is to check and call any reasonable bet from either opponent.

Turn
Bad card since it might have hit them, so now my plan has changed to check-fold, unless I get a good price to draw to 6 outs.

River
You rivered a straight, and while its difficult to get paid on a 1-liner, it checked around twice, so I see no reason to assume, someone is going to bet now. If they wanted the bluff, they would have done so already. They are either both very passive, or they have some kind of hand, where they just want to get to a cheap showdown. So I would also bet for value, and not getting action does not mean, it was a bad decision. Its obivous, that we can not always get called, when we bet for value and get folds, when we are bluffing, so its important to avoid results oriented thinking. And at the end of the day you still won a nice medium sized pot due to the large preflop raise.

 

[zuker]

preflp: nice call for setmining
postflop: missed our set, playing check/fold or call reasonable bet
river: trying to extract value

 

[theANMATOR]

You played this hand well, exactly like I would have. Looks like your villain was betting big preflop with A/J or some small pocket pair. Add a note to that one.