$2 NLHE STT Turbo: TT w/ 6 Q 4 flop

[jaded848]

$2 NL HE STT Turbo: TT w/ 6 Q 4 flop

Early in the sng, no reads. Villain is 9/9 after 11 hands, but that barely means anything. I raise UTG 3x the BB and get called by villain in the BB. Flop is 6 Q 4 rainbow, not the best flop but not terrible w/ only 1 overcard. Villain donk bets it, which usually indicates a bluff at these donk stakes because if the villain had a real hand he would let me cbet (which I would have) and then raise. He bets about 2/3 the pot, a little more than I would like to call, but I can't just assume the queen hit him so I make the call. Turn is a queen, a great card, and villain checks. At this point I feel pretty good about my hand and bet half the pot. Villain shoves, which I hate to see, and I'm sure you can guess the rest...My question is, was this just a combination of bad luck and villain playing correctly, or could I have avoided this? Can I really lay down my hand on the flop? I considered checking behind on the turn, but then i give AJ, AK, and KJ a free card to draw out on me...

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, 2.25 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (7 handed) - Full-Tilt Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com
CO (t1300)
SB (t2435)
BB (t2125)
Hero (UTG) (t1470)
UTG+1 (t3195)
MP1 (t1540)
MP2 (t1435)
Hero's M: 19.60
Preflop: Hero is UTG with 10

, 10

Hero bets t150, 5 folds, BB calls t100
Flop: (t325) 6

, Q

, 4

(2 players)
BB bets t250, Hero calls t250
Turn: (t825) Q

(2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t400, BB raises to t1725 (All-In), Hero calls t670 (All-In)
River: (t2965) 2

(2 players, 2 all-in)
Total pot: t2965

 

[rounder22]

When he donk leads the flop and checks the turn your going to think your ahead but when he check raises the turn you certainly beat most of the time unless he's bluffs alot but I can't blame you for calling there either.

 

[c9h13no3]

Just fold the flop. Its early, and you're giving up a very small edge by folding. In a cash game, I'd play the hand, but in a SnG, where doubling up doesn't double your payout, you pretty much just need to let this one go on the flop.

I'd check back the turn, if I got there. You're still essentially WA/WB, and we'd like to keep the pot small if possible.

Also, I'd make your preflop raise size smaller. Your stack is 30 big blinds deep, so keeping your raise smaller preflop will give you more room to maneuver post flop. 125 instead of 150 makes the SPR 5 instead of 4, which is a pretty significant difference. But that's mostly just me being nit-picky.

 

[WiZZiM]

Agreed, fold the flop. It's annoying and frustrating facing donk bets like that, but we can't really speculate in this spot. folding is clearly our best option.

As for raise sizing i dont mind 3x, it's what i use actually, but 2.5 is ok too. The only problem with 2.5 at low levels is we get more callers on average i believe. Since were raising such a tight range, it think its better to be 3xing it at these levels, but i understand why some players 2.5, personal preferance i believe, once the blinds are up, definately 2.5x it. Just as an example, i 3x it when i play the 3.40 tables, but 2.5 when i play 6.50 tables, just because theres more good players, more likely to fold to that bet, so i can get away with smaller raises.

 

[c9h13no3]

Purely from a theoretical standpoint, I'd rather make it like 225 or 125 here. 3x just gets us in a weird spot. I want to either get committed on the flop, or have room to play a river.