$330 NLHE MTT Deep Stacked: how to play AJs and pocket Jacks in early stage

[SWJFF]

Hi guys,

First of all, I'm first time here so a big hello to the community.

Now, I played the ANZPT $330 Buy-In live tournament yesterday (starting stack is $10,000 chips, 40 minutes blind level) and was ultimately busted because of two key hands which I'd appreciate some advice and hand analysis from everyone so I can improve my game. I am generally speaking a tight and sensible player especially during the early stage of tournament, and play to the advice following this particular article https://www.cardschat.com/early-mtt-tournament-strategy.php just so you have an idea of where I am coming from.

HAND ONE:

Small Blind 75, Big Blind 150, no Ante yet

Everyone folds to the Villain who's raised in mid-late position (think it was HJ) for $375, with about $9k chips. I am in the CO with AJ suited and $11k chips and decided to flat call and see a flop. The button flats and both blinds fold.

Flop comes J Q 5 (or some other small irrelevant-ish card I can't remember) rainbow. The villain bets $800 and I called and the button folds. Question: is this a bad call to start with?

The turn is an A, still rainbow. The villain checks and I bet $1.7k which I thought my AJ two pair is the winning hand here.. The villain thinks for a while (hollywood or not who knows) then decided to call..

The river comes a K and villain bets $5k. It was tough decision but I ultimately folded because if I call and lose i will be very short stacked and it wasn't worth it.

I put him on either KK which he will bet the flop and slows down on the turn or he has a 10 with something like Q10 or J10.

Was this a good fold or bad fold or how should I played differently in this hand? Fold the AJs in CO pre-flop seemed too soft for $375, but probably should fold the $800 on the flop bet or should I bet much bigger on the turn or maybe just check the turn for pot control i think?

HAND 2:

Small Blind 100, Big Blind 200, Ante 25, Full ring with 10 players

Villain is in the early position raise to $1500 which is a massive raise and the guy on his left flat calls and I am in the late position with Pocket Jacks.

The stacks size is about even, I have about $9k chips, villain has about $11k, the other guy is little less than me.

What should I do with the Jacks? Fold, flat call or shove all in?

I decided to shove all in and the villain cold calls me with the big AA and got me busted..

The reason I shoved was because I thought his $1500 raise is so massive and weird since typically the raise is about 3 to 3.5x the big blind.. so this big raise got me thinking he's either got small to middle pocket or AK or AQ or something which he doesn't want to see a flop with and since he still has about close to 50 big blinds left after his raise, I might have some fold equity with the 45 big blind shove..

Was this a bad play, should I just fold the Jacks and not put myself at risk i.e even if he has AK it'll be a close coin clip.

Thanks guys, I've written a lot here, so appreciate if I can get some feedback

 

[Jacki Burkhart]

Hand #1....
you need to utilize your tight image by 3betting this guy preflop with AJs. I agree folding is too tight. vs. a Hijack raise AJs is likely ahead. But then if you leverage your image the HJ is gonna let go a lot of his hands. 3betting in position to isolate weak players or to isolate wide ranges is a key move for any good player...but it is absolute GOLD in the hands of a player with a tight image.

If you had 3bet preflop most likely the button folds, so now you're playing a heads up pot in position with the lead. He will often check to you on the flop and you can Cbet and he'll fold pretty much everything besides AQ/KQ.

If you 3bet preflop and he has a true monster like KK or AK he is probably going to 4bet you preflop and you can Hollywood fold (which just reinforces your tight image. if you only Hollywood fold your 3bets very occasionally people will not realize you just got busted 3betting light, they'll think you're even tighter than they thought and probably just folded a hand like JJ or AQ).

The benefit to having a tight image is using it. You never want to have a certain image and also play that exact same way, that makes you very easy to play against. So either cultivate a wild image and then switch gears and play tight, or cultivate a tight image and run a few bluffs.

OK...as played....
I think you can reluctantly call his flop bet, although he is leading into 2 players out of position so it is likely more than a naked Cbet. But 2nd pair top kicker is probably enough to continue in this spot. Folding on the flop is OK too if you're concerned about the button or if you feel you will be outplayed. I will often call here because I'll have position on the preflop raiser.

Turn: that is both a good card and a dangerous card for us. Yes, we have 2 pair. AQ still beats us and now KT makes a straight but most likely we are ahead. Once he checks to me I'm most likely betting here, just like you did. Your bet size was fine.

River: Yuck. he bets 5,000 into a 6,350 pot. That is basically a nuts or nothing bet. KK won't make that bet because they know they'll only get called by a straight and any T makes a straight. So one of 2 things are happening here, he either has a T and just got bailed out by the deck, or he is banking that you are a tight player and YOU don't have a T, you mostly have just an A and will fold to the pressure.

it's a tough call. I'd have to go with my read but I'm leaning towards a fold here. If I've seen him active in a lot of pots and making a lot of big bets then I think I have to suck it up and call him down. Without a read like that I'll reluctantly fold because you'll still have a workable 6,000 stack and if you call you're essentially all in as you'll have 90% of your chips in this pot.

The fact that he bet 80% of your remaining stack suggests to me that he is bluffing. If he wanted a call he would often bet an amount you can call, something like half the pot so he might bet 3,000 trying to "sucker" you into calling.

still...it is a tough spot to call of for essentially your whole stack so it would all come down to my read.

hand #2 I replied in your other thread.

 

[IceRedefined111]

Ok on hand one I think ur giving him too much credit w KK. Plus why lead the river w that? Line wouldn't make sense. I'm thinking KT personally. Checks to u when he hits his hand on turn as s disguise, not pot control w underpair. N yeah, for me at the early stage of a tourney I don't wanna ever get tied up w 2nd pair n be left making tough decisions throughout. If u didn't hit the ace on the turn would u have called half pot bets + the rest of the way? U have to have a plan. It's easy to hit call once cause u think ur ahead of the c bet. Even then u have players behind too. I don't like the spot at all n u absolutely had to fold the river. I don't hate ur turn value bet attempt, but this early on chips lost hold much more weight than chips gained. Ur value is in ur ownership of a piece of the equity in the tourney prize pool.

 

[IceRedefined111]

The 2nd hand is an insta fold for me. I've done what u have done many times b4 n I've learned. If it were a smaller raise and/or multiway u can play it different. I'm still prolly doing no more than set mining or playing position if it's an overpair post. U just have to ask yourself why ur shoving there... Fold equity? U have no idea. U think ur flipping? U have no idea. Value shove? HIGHLY doubtful. My best advice is find the discipline to lay down ANY hand short of AA if the situation n numbers are wrong (example KK is still only 70% against an aggressive A2. Sometimes u find a better spot w a worse hand to yield better results overall) and never shove or call a shove if u don't think ur way ahead or have a good amount of fold equity. One hand is ur tourney way too often. Also I've become a big believer in maxing out on gaining information... IE not getting it in pre n reevaluating every street. This increases skill n decreases luck big time IMO.

 

[IceRedefined111]

Hand #1....
you need to utilize your tight image by 3betting this guy preflop with AJs. I agree folding is too tight. vs. a Hijack raise AJs is likely ahead. But then if you leverage your image the HJ is gonna let go a lot of his hands. 3betting in position to isolate weak players or to isolate wide ranges is a key move for any good player...but it is absolute GOLD in the hands of a player with a tight image.

If you had 3bet preflop most likely the button folds, so now you're playing a heads up pot in position with the lead. He will often check to you on the flop and you can Cbet and he'll fold pretty much everything besides AQ/KQ.

If you 3bet preflop and he has a true monster like KK or AK he is probably going to 4bet you preflop and you can Hollywood fold (which just reinforces your tight image. if you only Hollywood fold your 3bets very occasionally people will not realize you just got busted 3betting light, they'll think you're even tighter than they thought and probably just folded a hand like JJ or AQ).

The benefit to having a tight image is using it. You never want to have a certain image and also play that exact same way, that makes you very easy to play against. So either cultivate a wild image and then switch gears and play tight, or cultivate a tight image and run a few bluffs.

OK...as played....
I think you can reluctantly call his flop bet, although he is leading into 2 players out of position so it is likely more than a naked Cbet. But 2nd pair top kicker is probably enough to continue in this spot. Folding on the flop is OK too if you're concerned about the button or if you feel you will be outplayed. I will often call here because I'll have position on the preflop raiser.

Turn: that is both a good card and a dangerous card for us. Yes, we have 2 pair. AQ still beats us and now KT makes a straight but most likely we are ahead. Once he checks to me I'm most likely betting here, just like you did. Your bet size was fine.

River: Yuck. he bets 5,000 into a 6,350 pot. That is basically a nuts or nothing bet. KK won't make that bet because they know they'll only get called by a straight and any T makes a straight. So one of 2 things are happening here, he either has a T and just got bailed out by the deck, or he is banking that you are a tight player and YOU don't have a T, you mostly have just an A and will fold to the pressure.

it's a tough call. I'd have to go with my read but I'm leaning towards a fold here. If I've seen him active in a lot of pots and making a lot of big bets then I think I have to suck it up and call him down. Without a read like that I'll reluctantly fold because you'll still have a workable 6,000 stack and if you call you're essentially all in as you'll have 90% of your chips in this pot.

The fact that he bet 80% of your remaining stack suggests to me that he is bluffing. If he wanted a call he would often bet an amount you can call, something like half the pot so he might bet 3,000 trying to "sucker" you into calling.

still...it is a tough spot to call of for essentially your whole stack so it would all come down to my read.

hand #2 I replied in your other thread.

U could find a call in this spot? U think he's turning his hand into a bluff here sometimes? Either way unless u have history, n even then he would have to be a maniac type, it seems like an awful call. What hands is he opening pre, c betting into 2 people, check calling a big bet on the turn, n then lead bombing the river with? His 2 pair is about equal to bottom pair here I'm thinking, no?