$2650 NLHE MTT Deep Stacked Bounty: $$2650 NLHE MTT Deep Stacked Bounty: CRStals' VENOM Hands

[CRStals]

$2650 NLHE MTT Deep Stacked Bounty: $$2650 NLHE MTT Deep Stacked Bounty: CRStals' VENOM Hands

So I recently won a VENOM $2650 ticket and got to play on day 1D. As you'll note, the deck was ice cold for me. I attached the full list of every hand I was dealt as well as a photo of the key hands and my comments attached but below are three hands I pulled out that I'd love feedback on.

Hand #1 - 77 - https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/4q1BAfEp

Hand #2 - TT - https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/7q1BBLsB
Hand #3 - AQ - https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/7q1BBQHx

 

[300HPGOD]

On the AQ bust out hand I am going broke on this hand as well but I am doing it in a different way than you are. At 25 BBs there to start the hand I think I lean towards jamming pre flop as it has fold equity and we do have a hand that is strong. Obviously villain stats would come into play but this being the venom I will assume there are very few if any 40/5 players or something like that. I would not have expected an overcall with KK from villain #2 which is a good play when it works but can also backfire.

I really dont like playing the flop as you did. When you jam you should not be getting called by anything that you beat outside a chance of getting called by KQ and that might even fold but has a chance at a bounty hunting call. Otherwise all Qx that you beat is folding and any pocket pairs under QQ are folding so your bet is foregoing value if you are ahead. As played on the flop with a dry board I like just calling and looking to check jam the turn. We also have one of the two overcards to be worried about so I think calling here on the flop will make you more money than raising small would and definitely more money than jamming will. Obviously that would not matter due to KK but we did not know that and we should still focus on playing future hands the best even though it would not have mattered in this hand.

 

[Endwarfin]

Hand 1, with the 77, is a spot I find myself in trouble with a lot.

We heavily block the nut straight, block both flushes, and have a gut shot... is this a bluff jam spot? IDK, I probably fold when villain over bets pot... he probably only has an over pair though, his bet looks like he's scared of the wet board and wants to end it now. I think there are a lot of cards he might fold the river on. Definitely a spot ive come across frequently recently, and I'm curious how to approach when we block all best value and draws, because, this weighs our opponent into having marginal value.

Hand 2, nothing you can do about that action I think it's a fold.

Hand 3, I think you kind of have to go broke here no matter how its played. However, do you 3bet preflop often? The only way I could see you getting away here, would have been a small 3 bet, with the intention to fold to a shove pre...

The player with Kings was clearly trapping, often times players like this limp 4bet or call then 4bet. If you can identify a trappy nit at the table, 3betting helps you get away from their monsters.

 

[CRStals]

On the AQ bust out hand I am going broke on this hand as well but I am doing it in a different way than you are. At 25 BBs there to start the hand I think I lean towards jamming pre flop as it has fold equity and we do have a hand that is strong. Obviously villain stats would come into play but this being the venom I will assume there are very few if any 40/5 players or something like that. I would not have expected an overcall with KK from villain #2 which is a good play when it works but can also backfire.

I really dont like playing the flop as you did. When you jam you should not be getting called by anything that you beat outside a chance of getting called by KQ and that might even fold but has a chance at a bounty hunting call. Otherwise all Qx that you beat is folding and any pocket pairs under QQ are folding so your bet is foregoing value if you are ahead. As played on the flop with a dry board I like just calling and looking to check jam the turn. We also have one of the two overcards to be worried about so I think calling here on the flop will make you more money than raising small would and definitely more money than jamming will. Obviously that would not matter due to KK but we did not know that and we should still focus on playing future hands the best even though it would not have mattered in this hand.

All fair points - generally the table was very tight though. This was hour 4 and we had only seen 1 KO to this point which I thought was odd. My main reason for not jamming pre was I felt I would only have gotten calls from hands that destroy me and with a small stack not yet on life support I was willing to see a flop on the cheap with the expectation that if we hit, I would jump in and try and chip up. When it came queen high and it went bet / call, I felt like at that point I was stuck. Obviously not folding, but I didn't believe a call was justified. Pot was 64k, calling 10k leaving back 103k. My SPR was too close to 1 to call & then get away from if a King or the board paired. I didn't want to be three way, so I didn't see how I could size up a raise w/o pot committing. So it felt like a shove on that flop given the options and what would happen after that.

Rain played kings poorly IMO but was fortunate to get away with it given the flop didn't have an ace & the eventual turn gave him top set.

 

[CRStals]

Hand 1, with the 77, is a spot I find myself in trouble with a lot.

We heavily block the nut straight, block both flushes, and have a gut shot... is this a bluff jam spot? IDK, I probably fold when villain over bets pot... he probably only has an over pair though, his bet looks like he's scared of the wet board and wants to end it now. I think there are a lot of cards he might fold the river on. Definitely a spot ive come across frequently recently, and I'm curious how to approach when we block all best value and draws, because, this weighs our opponent into having marginal value.

Hand 2, nothing you can do about that action I think it's a fold.

Hand 3, I think you kind of have to go broke here no matter how its played. However, do you 3bet preflop often? The only way I could see you getting away here, would have been a small 3 bet, with the intention to fold to a shove pre...

The player with Kings was clearly trapping, often times players like this limp 4bet or call then 4bet. If you can identify a trappy nit at the table, 3betting helps you get away from their monsters.

Interestingly I had a poker friend run hand #1 through a GTO solver and the only 77 that might be able to call is my hand. but it's 83% fold at that point. I found that fascinating but there are so many river cards we don't want to see I can see logic as to why 77 does poorly there.

3 betting pre - I was doing it a decent amount but as mentioned the table was tight and given where I was, I was focused on seeing flops, and then applying pressure where hands warranted it. With a raise & call and being OOP a small three bet (especially from the smallest stack) isn't going to scare either hand off IMO. And if they just call, what happens on the flop? I'm going to bet, get raised and forced to call off or be left extremelly short. It definitely appears to be one of those hands that unless you played as a total nit, you're going broke every time...

 

[Endwarfin]

Interestingly I had a poker friend run hand #1 through a GTO solver and the only 77 that might be able to call is my hand. but it's 83% fold at that point. I found that fascinating but there are so many river cards we don't want to see I can see logic as to why 77 does poorly there..

Yeah, I ran it through poker stove, depending on your opponents range, you only need 25% to 35% to call his overbet with you hand here. The question is, because you block the strongest of value and you have position in the BTN, you have river plays without making a hand.

The problem is, you cant call value, but you block the best value, is your opponent capable of bet folding?

*You have 1 heart and 1 club on a 2 heart 2 club board with blockers to both straight flushes (the 7) By having both a heart and a club, and two 7s you have the nut straight card.

3 betting pre - I was doing it a decent amount but as mentioned the table was tight and given where I was, I was focused on seeing flops, and then applying pressure where hands warranted it. With a raise & call and being OOP a small three bet (especially from the smallest stack) isn't going to scare either hand off IMO. And if they just call, what happens on the flop? I'm going to bet, get raised and forced to call off or be left extremelly short. It definitely appears to be one of those hands that unless you played as a total nit, you're going broke every time...

Yeah, its a tough spot, a small 3bet I'm still going broke after this flop, but its possible the small 3bet gives me the oppurtunity to fold pre to the cold call 4 bettor.

 

[fundiver199]

Hand 1 77
Preflop and flop seem very standard. Turn would also be a call against normal sizing, but when he overbet, that obviously change things a lot. I dont think, blockers are particularly relevant, because he probably does not even open 75 from MP, and if he does, its only 75s, so at most we block 2 out of 4 nut combos.

What he has way more are sets and overpair, so there is a lot of value, that beat us, and when behind we only have 6 outs to improve. So it all boils down to, if we think, he is bluffing often enough, or if perhaps we even want to turn our own hand into a bluff. I honestly dont know, what the "correct" play is here, and whenever that is the case, its definitely best to take the low variance route, which is to fold and preserve your chips for another situation, which is more clear and easy.

Hand 2 TT
Think its ok to fold here, because there is already a 3-bet in front of you, and you have no fold equity. It is close though, when the action is in late position. Of course its always annoying to fold and then see, you would have been ahead and won, but thats results oriented.

Hand 3 AQs
This hand is just a set-up, and there is no way, you can avoid going broke. Preflop I lean towards jamming, because with a field caller you are getting a good risk-reward. Because they can win your bounty, you are likely getting called wider than normal, but thats ok, because you have a great hand, and you need a dubble up. So its totally fine, if someone sticks it in with AJ or KQ. You actually want that to happen.

I dont like a small 3-bet, because I dont think, you are deep enough to get fold equity without committing yourself. I also think, that because of the bounty dynamic, you will get 4-bet quite a bit, and I dont want to 3-bet fold a hand as strong as AQs. So for me a 3-bet here is a jam, but it is an ok alternative to just call as well, because you are closing action.

As played I would just check-call the flop. Of course slowplaying is always a bit risky, but its a very dry board with no draws, so the only bad card, you need to dodge, is a K. My plan would then be to check-jam turn, if someone takes the bait. I think, that when you check-jam here, you are just forcing them to fold a lot of hands, that has very little equity, and only getting action from hands, that beat you, or that you coolered like KQ/QJs. And you can get action from those hands on the turn and river anyway.

 

[IADaveMark]

I'm completely cool with #1 and #2 as played. For #3, I agree with others that shoving pre- is better, but it wouldn't have changed the outcome in this instance.