$11 NL HE MTT: Good spot to bluff? Power path tourney

[sitingman]

Game

Hold'em

Game Format

No Limit

Table Format

MTT

Buy-in

11

Currency

$

Hi,

I thought this was a good bluff spot at the time. One player checked the King on turn and river and the other checked the K turn after betting the Ace on the flop. I felt they were both weak so seized the opportunity.

Good bluff? Cheers!

This was an 11 dollar power path ticket on pokerstars.

PokerStars, $10.27 + $0.73 - Hold'em No Limit - 400/800 (80 ante) - 8 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

UTG: 18,433 (23 bb)
UTG+1 (Hero): 27,640 (35 bb)
MP: 8,790 (11 bb)
MP+1: 23,408 (29 bb)
CO: 17,790 (22 bb)
BU: 7,270 (9 bb)
SB: 25,653 (32 bb)
BB: 14,566 (18 bb)

Pre-Flop: (1,840) Hero is UTG+1 with J♦ T♦
1 fold, Hero calls 800, 1 fold, MP+1 calls 800, 2 players fold, SB calls 400, BB checks

Flop: (3,840) 6♥ T♣ A♥ (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks, MP+1 bets 800, SB calls 800, BB folds, Hero calls 800

Turn: (6,240) K♠ (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, MP+1 checks

River: (6,240) K♥ (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets 3,120, 2 players fold

 

[fundiver199]

Preflop
Why are you limping into the pot? Raise or fold this hand.

Flop
Usually this would be a fold in a multiway pot, but when they only bet around 20 % pot, you are getting the odds to continue.

Turn
Standard check.

River
Your hand is to in between to bet. If they have better, they will usually call, and if they have worse, they will fold. Maybe you can occationally get someone off a chop, but thats just about it. Just check and hope, MP checks behind again.

 

[sitingman]

I've been watching too many Daniel Ngreanu videos lately, "limping is pimping".
Is it not ok to limp some times as stacks start to get shorter?

 

[fundiver199]

I've been watching too many Daniel Ngreanu videos lately, "limping is pimping".
Is it not ok to limp some times as stacks start to get shorter?

The situation, where I have most commonly seen professional players limp, is from BTN, when the blinds would otherwise have a good reshove spot. And from SB limping is of course very common, especially with an ante. But from UTG+1 as the chipleader? I would be pretty surpriced, if this is GTO strategy. Suited connectors go down in value with short stacks. But if Hero dont want to min-raise here, he can just fold. That would be a little on the tight side but certainly not crazy.

That being said the more important street here is the river, where at least for me this hand does not pass the fundamental river betting test: "Can I get better hands to fold or worse hands to call"? Hero is basically trying to fold out AX, and he can certainly represent some strong hands. He could get here with trips, a straight or even a flush. But the paired board means, that A2-AT chop, and AJ+ is unlikely, since its a limped pot. So if I was SB or MP+1 and got to the river with A2 of spades, I would most likely hero call, expecting to sometimes beat a bluff and sometimes chop with another A2-AT.

 

[sitingman]

Thanks alot Fundiver. Great analysis as always!

 

[canbora]

I've been watching too many Daniel Ngreanu videos lately, "limping is pimping".
Is it not ok to limp some times as stacks start to get shorter?

Nothing is ever always or never. ... boy thats a mind twist isnt it?

So. There can be SOME cases where limping is OK. I think if you're in super low passive microstakes and you have a PP. You limp. If your 9 handed and have QJ offsuit, limp. Either you see a flop or you fold. I'm not saying to do this, I'm just saying, I've seen in my studies where this can work. You dont have to worry about the other players analyzing you, they have no idea what they're doing. Just act like youre clicking buttons, and mix it up once in a while and do it with a premium hand and show it.

But yeah, anyway... 99% of the time, Raise or fold. Calling is a losing strategy...oh how do I know that. lol

And I hate to say this because I sound like I'm talking out of my rear but I've seen Dnegs do some garbage too. I watched one of his tourney videos and he was giving all of this great advice and insight. I practically grabbed a notebook. Then........out of nowhere when he was shortstacked, all of them were as a matter of fact. When chips are most precious, late stages of a tourney............... his villian was showing strength and his history would prove he had something. No doubt. Denegs had like, I think bottom pair plus a king high flush draw........a draw!! he shoves all in. Yes he has fold equity, but with the stackss that short and small of course he was calling. The villian of course did and Dnegs lost and was out. He banked his tourney life and big payout on less than 50%. Assuming ALL of his diamonsd were still in play and assuming his opponent didnt have the A. and assuming if he hit two pair that would be good. A lot of iffs, plus odds were against him anyway. Villian had the best hand, Top pair with a good kicker.

I was like...........bro...................................WTF was that?????????

 

[fundiver199]

I've been watching too many Daniel Ngreanu videos lately, "limping is pimping".

I dont warch that many Dneg videos, but inspired by this thread I did watch one, where he explained, why he was limping UTG with 100BB in a 6-max 300k highroller. And as I understand it, he mostly did it to force his opponents, who were high stakes pros, down some path of the decision tree, they have not studied as much. Or in other words giving up some EV preflop in the hope, that his opponents will then make larger mistakes postflop, because they have spend less than 10.000 hours analysing the spot with solvers.

This idea however does not really apply to low stakes online MTTs, since you are not playing against high stakes crushers, who spend their entire life studying poker. Usually when people limp online, they have not developed a balanced limping strategy, and they dont think about, how their range interact with the board, as Dneg does. Instead they limp, because they think, their hand is to weak to raise but to pretty to fold. And as Dneg also say in that video, that is extremely easy to play against, and its not a good strategy

 

[canbora]

they limp, because they think, their hand is to weak to raise but to pretty to fold.

But they will still call a big raise 🙄 ...because lojick.

I mean I'm half joking half serious here. But like the more I study, the longer I play, the more years that pass, the more it irritates me to watch people chronically limp in a game when I'm involved in the hand. When I'm not I don't care what they do.. (like being in the big blind with nine deuce or Jack four)

 

[fundiver199]

But they will still call a big raise 🙄 ...because lojick.

Yeah you see that all the time. People limp with 11BB, and then they call a jam with hands like 44, KJo or A9o. Hands that are usually strong enough to jam with fold equity but not to call it off for all your chips.