$$11 NL HE MTT: $11 Sat straight lose against full house on river

[lacroir]

Game

Hold'em

Game Format

No Limit

Table Format

MTT

Buy-in

$11

Currency

$

Here is the replay: https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/425c1kYpB
I am really curious about your opinions whether I played the hand correctly or I did mistakes (I think I did..).

So, this is the really first hand of the tournament, have no background info about the players. I'm on SB dealt with . No one entered the pot so it's only me and the BB. I raised villain called.
Flop comes: . I thought it's not a bad flop after all. Both straight and flush draw on the board, and I should be worried about a or regarding better flushes. So I raise, villain calls.
Turn comes: and I got blind. I had the straight and did the raise, villain called.
Then river: . I raised 5BB and villain 3-bet to 19.5BB. I think this is the part where I did (the biggest) mistake, and quickly called. Haven't even thought about flush or full house with the Ace. Then villain showed and won with.

I don't play this higher stakes at all, I always play around $0.25 or $0.50, but for this tournament I won a ticket. I felt after this hand like they are playing totally differently than what I am used to. Maybe I was just naive and got used to random fishes jamming with a K or even with a J in their hand?

What would have you done differently? Any input is highly appreciated as I'm still well in the learning and practising phase. Thanks.

 

[fundiver199]

Preflop
QTo is definitely a hand, we need to play, when it folds to us in SB. But the question is how, and of course we dont have a specific preflop strategy for a specific hand, so this is about our general preflop strategy. And I think, there are two reasonable options here. We can either limp with intention to call any reasonable raise. Or we can raise large enough, that we get fold equity, which means at least 3BB and more likely 3,5BB, since we are deep and out of position. Raising to 2,5BB is in itself the worst possible play, because you are just increasing the size of the pot, when you are not ahead of even a random hand, and you are out of position.

The only justification for this is one, I heard Jonathan Little explain in a free video on Youtube. Which is, that you raise preflop and bet the flop using undersized bets, that get no fold equity. But then you put down the hammer on the turn and river, and thats where you get folds. So if this is the idea, you had, and you had a reason to think, this strategy is good against the specific opponent or the player pool, then well done. But if you just raised to 2,5BB, because that is the sizing, you use from other positions, then its a leak, you want to remove from your game.

Flop
Seems fine to C-bet with a gutshot and a heart in your hand, and you are in fact using the small sizing, that gives no fold equity now, but build the pot, so that you can bluff him out of a bigger pot on the late streets. So if that was, what you was doing, still high five.

Turn
Now its time to put down the hammer. Since you actually made your hand, its for value, but even on a brick, you should still bet big now to execute the plan, you hopefully had even from preflop? Half pot is to small here, so this is the first point in the hand, where I cant find any justification for your sizing. But the line is still fine of course.

River
The board pairing does of course create a possibility for a full house. However there are not many boats in his range, that play this way. AA, KK, JJ, AK and AJ usually 3-bet preflop, when its blind vs. blind, and you make an undersized 2,5BB raise. 33 or A3 might play like this preflop, and maybe also on the flop, because its a monotone board. But at least some percentage of the time those hands are raised on the flop or turn. Especially 33. He could also have a flush, but with Th you block some of the combos, and some of the time a flush would also have raised the flop or turn.

So all in all my mindset here is, that you still very likely have the best hand. And I also think, there is a decent chance he has AX, which just made trips. And for that reason I agree with betting for value, but I think, your sizing is to small. You bet half pot on the turn, and this is at least the sizing, I would also pick now. As played I think, you have an easy call. Your sizing looks so weak, that he might even raise trips thinking, its for value. Or you might have induced a bluff from some missed draw like Q5 with Q of hearts.

Results
Just a cooler / setup. Only thing to take away is to work more on your betsizing.

 

[lacroir]

Thank you very much @fundiver199 !

Preflop: To be honest I haven't thought about being out of position (I still forget about this very important aspect many times..). By seeing your explanation, a 3-4BB bet really would have been better, then maybe BB would have folded. I didn't think through this deep to have undersized bets preflop and flop and then the hammer, rather I had in mind something like: I don't have a very strong hand right now but later it might have good chances to improve (and also hoped they will just call with something like 89s).

Flop: That's correct, I wanted to build the pot in the hope that I will hit straight/flush. Also, I was expecting that if I don't raise, BB will, so it was also a bit of pot control from my side.

Turn: I had two reasons in mind which seemed to be justifying a smaller bet. One, that I was still afraid of a flush being slow-played and expected some huge 3-bet. Secondly, if I was ahead, I wanted to bet a size that I still expected from BB to call. If I would have raised a pot size, I would have been afraid that they will fold.

River: I was afraid of the FH, so did I not raise big enough.. Though, I would have still received an even bigger 3-bet most probably and lost more in this case.

I will definitely work on my betsizing. I think I'm too afraid sometimes to raise big enough.
Also, I'm not even sure what was my original goal with the pre-flop raise: did I bet to have BB fold or did I bet for value? Maybe that's also something I should think about next time and build up my plan accordingly for later streets.

Thanks again for your detailed analysis, it helps a lot!

 

[feisas7991]

pre n otf depends on your overall strat and it can be custom there so wont commend.

on the river its a little sketchy but i think its best to jam given he would raise most of his flushes on the turn. therefor his range is left of mostly none broadway Ax combos and some blufffs, thus making our jam appealing
tho double check it in calculator and let us know

Hope this helps and Good Luck!