$1.50 NLHE STT: A4o on the bubble

[Hermus]

Villian Stats (VPIP/PFR/AF): 20/16/2

pokerstars, $1.32 + $0.18 - Hold'em No Limit - 100/200 (25 ante) - 4 players
Replay this hand on CardsChat - https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/824Cy3t03

UTG: 2,075 (10 bb)
BU: 2,607 (13 bb)
SB (Hero): 2,946 (15 bb)
BB: 5,872 (29 bb)

Pre-Flop: (400) Hero is SB with A♥ 4♣
2 players fold, Hero raises to 500, BB calls 300

Flop: (1,100) 3♥ K♥ 5♠ (2 players)
Hero bets 330, BB calls 330

Turn: (1,760) 9♥ (2 players)
Hero bets 528, BB calls 528

River: (2,816) A♦ (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets 1,408, SB (Hero) folds

Total pot: 2,816
BB wins 2,816

-----------------------------------------

So I'm in the small blind with A4o not short enough to shove, but looking to steal the blinds. I follow up with a C-bet after missing the flop, and semi-bluffing the turn after picking up a flush draw. I miss the flush but the turn gives me top pair. Here I'm really lost and I end up folding to his 1/2 pot bet.

In this hand I'm not sure about:
- C-betting with 15 bb on the bubble
- My bet on the turn
- Folding top pair in this situation

I'm really curious what your line would've been in this situation.

 

[zuker]

I would not steal from cheapleader on the bubble because he can push pretty any two.

 

[300HPGOD]

Great hand to post and a spot that comes up a lot if you play SnGs. To start I would look at the chip stacks of your opponents two are smaller than you but they are not really that much smaller. 15 BB to 10 BB is not much of a difference when we come to the point where it is push fold poker time. I would treat this situation like I am tied with my opponents compared to a spot where if someone was at 7BB or less.

As far as the hand goes I think the worst thing that can happen pre flop for you is what happens and that is you raise and get called. Now we are playing in a bigger pot out of position against the chip leader who can make life hell for us. SPR is around 2.5 which puts in a no maneuver post flop spot. All of this gets me to believe that this is a jam or fold spot. I can see going both ways on this one. The fold because you are second in chips even though it is not by a lot you are second and folding is okay with 15 BB. I can see jamming (this is what I prefer here) because we have an Ace, we will be heads up where position and our opponents chip lead is negated, and he may call with cards that we are way ahead of. Either of those options is fine but when you raise like you did and get called, you get yourself in a bloated pot, out of position against the chip leader on the bubble and they will outplay you very often.

As the hand is played I don't mind the bet on the flop and think the sizing is pretty good. After that I am not putting any more into this pot unless my intentions are that all my chips are going in. I think you can make a case for jamming the turn although I wouldn't do that myself but there probably is an argument to made for it. On the river I think its tough but I would not put villain on Ax, I would put them on a flush or air. I think as played I would jam the river because top pair heads up is a good hand and villain has not shown any real strength other than just calling your bets. They would be calling down up to this point with all their one pair hands that you would now beat.

 

[atcj13]

Raising without going all in is probably the worst option preflop in this hand. You have to fold to any raise and if called you have to play out of position against a stack that can put a lot of pressure on you. The only time I can see a raise like this making sense is if your opponent is insanely tight and will go all in with hands better than yours and fold all worse hands.
You definitely are short enough to shove. Although if called you are usually dominated or have one over. Completing is also an option. Personally I am probably doing different things depending on who my opponents are in this hand.

As played I think c-betting here is a mistake. This hand has showdown value and equity. I think betting only really makes sense here if you have a hand that isn't folding to a raise.
Outside of going all in I don't think you should be betting the turn. Yes you pick up equity but for a small size he can continue with any made hand. At least by going all in you would put a lot or pressure on his marginal hands and have some emergency equity when called.

 

[fundiver199]

Preflop
Given stack sizes you can either limp or jam here. By making a small raise, like you did, you allow him to call in position with almost any two cards and put significant pressure on you postflop. I would pretty much only limp, if BB is a passive player, that will allow it, and otherwise I would jam.

I know, its on the bubble, but as stacks are distributed, you cant fold your way to the money. You need to get aggressive, and while it sucks to have the chip leader on your left, this situation is not going to go away, and the only way, you can pretty much get him to fold, is to go all in pre.

And yes 15BB is a large open jam, but its not out of the ordinary, and there are no better options available. If he fold, you pick up 2BB uncontested, which is pretty meaningfull and put the pressure on the two shorter stacks.

Flop + turn
Its kind of the same story now. You are trying to play some finesse poker, which you are just not deep enough to do. Your cute little C-bets are not getting him to fold, because once again he have position, and he is the massive chip leader. So you are just making the pot bigger in a situation, where he still has all the advantages.

River
You put in half your stack, and you rivered top pair blind vs. blind. I think, you have to call it off, even though your hand is only a bluff catcher. Otherwise you are allowing him to use his stack and position to completely run you over with bluffs, and you might well end up bubbling anyway.

 

[Jon Poker]

This is an easy jam preflop for 15bb - its soooo easy to get called by worse when we do this consistently and it's a great move in general. The other strategy may include limping and then lead betting almost every single flop. Shutting down of course when we get called.

The way this hand plays out is super strange to me...we have been bluffing for two streets - we hit top pair on the river with half our stack invested - check to give the opponent room to bluff - and then we fold.....how did we come to that conclusion??? Our opponent automatically is floating us with a better Ax hand the whole way? He didn't try to get us all in with a flush on the turn??...it just makes absolutely no sense both logically and mathematically here to not put in the $$ and accept our fate. Folding once we actually connect with the best showdown value we could ask for is a MASSIVE mistake. With 20bb or less when we hit top pair it is mathematically fine for us to stack off if need be - with 15bb here, this is a no brainer.

Conclusion: just shove preflop - as played - NEVER fold river after you hit top pair...what were you thinking?

 

[Hermus]

Thanks for the useful insights everyone Your comments clearly showed me my mistakes in this hand. I've further limited my small raises at these stack sizes and feel that I'm making better decisions because of it.
Post-flop play, in general, is a part of poker that I need to put some more study time into so thanks for making me more aware of that.

 

[SuzdalDEcor]

What? Bet bet with nothing and fold with a top pair. If you dont wanna go out you must play push preflop or check flop. But if you play bet bet you must bet or check call in this spot.

 

[mara2259]

[QUOTE

I'm really curious what your line would've been in this situation.[/QUOTE]


It looks like it was not your day: having a flush draw and a holey straight draw, on the river you got a slippery top pair! Interestingly, after the flop and the turn, you have nothing but a chance for candy, but you showed activity, and with a pair of aces you showed weakness. Curious what villain's hand you tried to fight? If you put an ace on him, have you really seriously calculated that you will beat him with 2? To put half the stack and not get an answer to any question, agree quite strange. Perhaps it would be better to get pre-flop resistance immediately to sit or go to the end.

 

[antoniogtp]

A4 on the small blind in the bubble

I would just limp in your situation... The BB is a big stack and I think it would be really hard to steal his blind with a normal raise preflop... Mostly BB is likely to call your preflop raise because he can afford it with his big stack.. A4 is most likely to miss on the flop and if you only limp you can safely check fold and not lose so much chips on the bubble... But what you did is put in many chips on the pot with a weak hand and even hitting top pair on the river made you fold...A4 only is good to play in blind vs blind situations pushing all in preflop if your blind battle rival is short on chips too.. It wouldnt be a good hand to shove against a bigger stack because if you get called you could be dominated or at best in a flip situation.. and if you dont get called you win some blinds but you have to think about the fact that if the benefit of stealing the blinds is more than the risk of being eliminated in the bubble with a hand that has low equity in an all in situation...

 

[Dkerridge14]

Villian Stats (VPIP/PFR/AF): 20/16/2

PokerStars, $1.32 + $0.18 - Hold'em No Limit - 100/200 (25 ante) - 4 players
Replay this hand on CardsChat - https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/824Cy3t03

UTG: 2,075 (10 bb)
BU: 2,607 (13 bb)
SB (Hero): 2,946 (15 bb)
BB: 5,872 (29 bb)

Pre-Flop: (400) Hero is SB with A♥ 4♣
2 players fold, Hero raises to 500, BB calls 300

Flop: (1,100) 3♥ K♥ 5♠ (2 players)
Hero bets 330, BB calls 330

Turn: (1,760) 9♥ (2 players)
Hero bets 528, BB calls 528

River: (2,816) A♦ (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets 1,408, SB (Hero) folds

Total pot: 2,816
BB wins 2,816

-----------------------------------------

So I'm in the small blind with A4o not short enough to shove, but looking to steal the blinds. I follow up with a C-bet after missing the flop, and semi-bluffing the turn after picking up a flush draw. I miss the flush but the turn gives me top pair. Here I'm really lost and I end up folding to his 1/2 pot bet.

In this hand I'm not sure about:
- C-betting with 15 bb on the bubble
- My bet on the turn
- Folding top pair in this situation

I'm really curious what your line would've been in this situation.

Now with this hand I would like to be shoving or folding. Stacks are not insanely deep and you are picking up a good amount of chips when you get through. Villain is actually going to call with worse hands in this spot quite frequently trying to catch your steal. I think playing it how you have has just gave the villain too much incentive to stick around.. of course when you are playing Ah then you aren’t going anywhere on the turn I think you should ship it however