$3.30 NLHE MTT: $3 NLHE MTT: One off the money SB vs. BB

[TheBigFinn]

Tournament started with 28 players with the top 7 getting paid.
UTG 7.9 BB
UTG+1 14.2 BB
LJ 41.9 BB
HJ 21.5 BB
CO 8.9 BB
BT 7.7BB
SB 27.3 Hero Ah9s
BB 8.4 Villain

The two other big stacks are playing very tight, and it folds around to me. BB is in the fold or shove mode and is the most active at the table. I am a little afraid of a bigger ace and elect to limp. Villain checks.

Pot=2.3BB Flop comes: Qd 6s 2c.

It missed me completely so I check. Villain insta-checks like she had the check fold button set.

Pot=2.3BB Turn is the 6c

I think she will fold to a bet so I bet 1.5BB. Villain waits and finally calls.

Pot=3.8 BB River finally hits me with the As

Villain has 6BB left and I am now beating everything except a 6. Sadly Villain insta=calls and shows

Spoiler

6h 2h.

.

Should I have bet 3BB preflop?
Should I have shoved preflop?
Should I have bet the flop?
Should I have checked the turn and/or the river?

 

[toots babos]

easy jam preflop to put the pressure on the short stack who will only call you with the top of their range on the bubble

 

[fundiver199]

Preflop
When the effective stack is less than 10BB, some might even say 15BB, then we should always either fold or jam, when it folds to us in SB. In this situation you even had the opponent covered, and it was near the bubble, so you apply so much pressure by jamming, and you even had A9o, which is a monster heads up. It sounds like, you are playing scared, because its near the bubble, and this is something, you need to rethink, if your goal is to make money in MTTs.

Flop
When you limp from SB, and the opponent takes a free flop, you should do a lot of betting on the flop, and this is certainly a situation, where I would also have bet. Your hand is not quite strong enough to use as a bluff catcher, so just bet and try to take it down, and if you get action, you can usually just be done with the hand, unless you spike a pair.

Turn
As played I dont see much point in a delayed continuation bet. You have chosen to play your A high for showdown value, so just continue that line now and check-call.

River
You did not say your bet size, but as played I would bet around half pot for value hoping to get called by a worse ace, a small pocket pair or maybe a Q, that decided to play in a very passive way.

Results
This is basically a case of making a very simple situation needlessly complicated and getting punished for it. If you jam pre, then 62o folds, and thats a great result, because then you win the blinds and antes and dont have to show down the best hand.

 

[300HPGOD]

I agree with fundiver to a T until the river. Definitely a jam pre flop. As played pre then you should bet flop. As played turn should be a check behind. However the river I believe should be a check. The reason for this is not because I am scared or think Im beat (Id never put villain on what they have) but I would be thinking that what hands will call me that I beat? Worse aces if they did not jam pre we chop with since the board paired and Q is there. Hands I could possibly see calling would be 33-55 but those probably jam pre (maybe they dont because of the bubble but if they arent jamming pre cause the bubble then they arent calling the river because of the bubble) and the bigger pocket pairs like 77-99 more often jam pre or get it in before the river.

Checking here makes us look weak and now some hands that would fold to a bet will possibly make a small bet to try to lure us into thinking they have an ace. Checking with the intention of calling I think gets you more in the long run as almost all checks behind if we check would be folds to our bet imo. This seems like a prefect spot to bluff catch to me and check with the intention of calling any size bet. You would have the same result playing it my way since Im sure villain would jam if we checked and I would call but I think it does give you a better chance of picking up extra chips.

 

[QA77]

Im shoving preflop 100% of the time. If he calls and loses, you’re still top 2 in chips.

 

[fundiver199]

However the river I believe should be a check. The reason for this is not because I am scared or think Im beat (Id never put villain on what they have) but I would be thinking that what hands will call me that I beat?

I actually missed the fact, we are chopping with worse AX, and then it is a bit to thin to bet for value. If Villain had a Q, he would most likely have bet the flop, and if he had a decent pair like 77-JJ, he would most likely have jammed preflop. So as you say, what are we even trying to get called by here? A pair of ducks or 33-55? Given that he cant really afford to call and lose, those hands most likely fold to a substantial river bet. But if we check, we allow him to bluff, and then we can use our hand as a bluffcatcher. Or he check behind, and then we most likely win at showdown.

 

[dallam]

So that's the attitude I think you have to get rid of when it come to online poker. I'm gonna explain how I mean that.

Its a 3.3$ MTT with probably really mixed quality of players. You did a great job as reaching this point of the stage. So as only 1 off the bubble is over, everyone will be a little bit much tight, even agro players especially with small stacks can feel the pressure.
Perfect outcome as everyone folded till you come. 27.3BBs on small-blind and big-blind has 8.4BBs. You cover her stack, having 3x more. Having A9o here is just a dream, and no-brainer a jam.

You can't be afraid of better combinations here - you are the one, who have more stacks by 3x times, one off the money, and a very strong combination in SB vs BB situation in general. The pressure is not on you, is on her! You have to understand that if you are running into a stronger combination or a lost party, you will still have 19bbs as a 3rd place out of 8 reamaning.

Bubble is against the small stacks, where big stacks leading the parties. If small stacks are going for the pot, we have to count that they have premium hands - Until that, every med. hand becomes premium in our hands because of the situation.

So don't worry these hands can be easily write to future progress, and next time maybe you have more braveness in you to take it pre all-in.

 

[Jon Poker]

Especially on the bubble we want to be putting max pressure on the BB - I would jam into the BB with almost any two cards since all they have to do is wait out one more play to secure the cash.

That being said, mid game on 20bb effective nowhere near the money bubble - your hand is an open jam from the SB.

So by missing the open jam here you allow your villan to realize all of their equity and go to a flop where they could potentially connect and are simply never folding - costing us a free 3bb pot. Missing spots like these doesn't mean much in the moment, but over the course of an entire tournament it can be the difference between having 15bb after the bubble bursts, or having 40bb.

 

[fundiver199]

Especially on the bubble we want to be putting max pressure on the BB - I would jam into the BB with almost any two cards since all they have to do is wait out one more play to secure the cash.

I plugged the hand into ICMizer telling the program, it was a 45 man SnG on Stars, since 7 places pay in these, and it is in fact a "jam any two cards" spot for Hero. Its almost sick, how profitable jamming is. Jamming AA wins Hero 0,76% of the price pool, but even 32o wins Hero 0,32% of the price pool, so its not even like, its a close decision at all to jam here with junk.

The reason is of course the excellent risk-reward, where Hero only need to risk 8BB to win at least 2BB, when Villain fold, and the fact, Villain can only call with very strong hands. ICMizer has Villain calling with 14% of hands, so 86% of the time Hero picks up the pot uncontested. Even just doing the math in our head, we can see, that the jam is profitable, even if Hero has zero equity when called. And of course any hand will always have some equity.

If I flip the stack sizes of Hero and Villain, so that Hero is the short stack with 8,4BB, the equilibrium changes dramatically. Now Hero can only jam 44% of hands, and Villain can call somewhat wider with 26% of hands. The reason for this is, that now Hero is the player at risk. Any ace is still a jam though and A9 is still a solid money maker.

But the main point here is, that on a final table with stack distribution like this the mid and large stacks want to avoid each other but put relentless pressure on the short stacks by open jamming on them at almost any given opportunity. Whereas if you are a short stack you still want to find spots to open jam, but you are going to need a somewhat reasonable hand to do it, because its a disaster, if you get called and lose.

And by the way this dynamic does not only exist here on the bubble. Each position has a payjump now, so when its down to 7, 6, 5 etc. the dymanic is fundamentally still the same. This is an area, where some people also tend to go wrong, because they go like "I am in the money now, so its ok, if I bust". But this is not the right way to look at it, because in for instance those 45 mans a 7. place only pays 3,5% of the price pool, and even leveling up to 5. place pays 9% of the price pool, which is more than twice as much. So not letting a short stack get those payjumps at your expense is just as important as making it into the money.