$2 NLHE STT Turbo: 99 UTG...need some advice here

[jaded848]

$2 NL HE STT Turbo: 99 UTG...need some advice here

Villian Stats (VPIP/PFR/AF): 30/7/10

Pretty sure I played this hand awful...

Dealt 99 UTG with a nice size chip stack. I elected to go with a standard raise of about 3 BBs. Could have raised higher since I was out of position but I didn't want to get hit with a shove from one of the mid stacks and have to lay it down. Is that good thinking or should I have done something different?

I get called by the other big stack, the SB. He wasn't very aggressive but liked to play alot of pots. He donk betted real small on the flop, and I read that as either a midpair (55,66,77), overcards, or a flush draw. Heck, I thought he may even have just an ace and wanted to see if I connected with the flop. I raised to 800- perhaps this was too small, as it gave him the correct odds to call. But I definitely wanted to raise because the J scared me and I felt my hand could easily lose more value if a diamond, T, Q, K, or A fell, so I wanted to get him out of the pot. If he reraised I could lay my hand down knowing I was beat.

Is this the correct way of thinking? I can also see how this is a WB/WA scenario, and in that sense perhaps a smooth call would have been best on the flop. But I felt because my hand was unlikely to improve, and since there were so many scare cards out there, I had to raise to protect it. Let me know if it's correct to think this way...

The turn card was good, as it was low. He checked, making me further suspect he was on a flush draw or overcards. If he hit a set or had a 4 I would expect a check/raise here, so I fired out a decent size bet both for value or information as to whether I was beat. He simply called, at which point I gave up on the hand and checked the river (also because a diamond hit).




Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, 2.25 Tournament, 80/160 Blinds (4 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Button (t2300)
SB (t4250)
BB (t2595)
Hero (UTG) (t4355)
Hero's M: 18.15
Preflop: Hero is UTG with 9

, 9

Hero bets t500, 1 fold, SB calls t420, 1 fold
Flop: (t1160) 4

, 4

, J

(2 players)
SB bets t320, Hero raises to t800, SB calls t480
Turn: (t2760) 5

(2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t900, SB calls t900
River: (t4560) 8

(2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks
Total pot: t4560

 

[WiZZiM]

Villian Stats (VPIP/PFR/AF): 30/7/10

Pretty sure I played this hand awful...

Dealt 99 UTG with a nice size chip stack. I elected to go with a standard raise of about 3 BBs. Could have raised higher since I was out of position but I didn't want to get hit with a shove from one of the mid stacks and have to lay it down. Is that good thinking or should I have done something different? as the blinds get higher, we want to actually raise smaller amounts not bigger. a std raise here is 2.5-3bb so my std raise would be something like 375 or so. as the blinds get higher, they represent a bigger proportion of our stack. and if were raise/folding, its even better to raise a smaller amount, as we lose less in these spots..

you also put youself in an akward spot postflop, as now the pot is much bigger.

I get called by the other big stack, the SB. He wasn't very aggressive but liked to play alot of pots. He donk betted real small on the flop, and I read that as either a midpair (55,66,77), overcards, or a flush draw. Heck, I thought he may even have just an ace and wanted to see if I connected with the flop. I raised to 800- perhaps this was too small, as it gave him the correct odds to call. But I definitely wanted to raise because the J scared me and I felt my hand could easily lose more value if a diamond, T, Q, K, or A fell, so I wanted to get him out of the pot. If he reraised I could lay my hand down knowing I was beat.

Is this the correct way of thinking? I can also see how this is a WB/WA scenario, and in that sense perhaps a smooth call would have been best on the flop. But I felt because my hand was unlikely to improve, and since there were so many scare cards out there, I had to raise to protect it. Let me know if it's correct to think this way...

The turn card was good, as it was low. He checked, making me further suspect he was on a flush draw or overcards. If he hit a set or had a 4 I would expect a check/raise here, so I fired out a decent size bet both for value or information as to whether I was beat. He simply called, at which point I gave up on the hand and checked the river (also because a diamond hit).






Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, 2.25 Tournament, 80/160 Blinds (4 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Button (t2300)
SB (t4250)
BB (t2595)
Hero (UTG) (t4355)
Hero's M: 18.15
Preflop: Hero is UTG with 9

, 9

Hero bets t500, 1 fold, SB calls t420, 1 fold
Flop: (t1160) 4

, 4

, J

(2 players)
SB bets t320, Hero raises to t800, SB calls t480
Turn: (t2760) 5

(2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t900, SB calls t900
River: (t4560) 8

(2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks
Total pot: t4560

its an akward spot.. we dont want to gift chips away here and give up our chance of shoving on the shorter stacks. so i like calling on the flop. you said he isnt very aggressive, so he may just freeze him and he might check the turn if he misses his draws and may check with a jack also. i prefer the call. but i dont think raising here is bad..


so against that i like calling the flop, and if he fires the turn id consider giving this up. i certainly dont like the turn bet. i like checking behind here.. if the river blanks then we can possibly call a bet on the river..

i dont think you played it that bad. but this is a very marginal hand. i think your raise preflop was the catalyst for the way the hand played out. and in fact i think that was the biggest mistake here..

 

[cjatud2012]

I really hate donk bets, I usually raise them without hesitation (which is not always good, btw). The problem here is we're playing against the only stack that can really threaten us... Against the shorter stacks, I'd probably ship the flop, but against this villain we need to control the size of the pot.