How would you play this hand? I forgett the buyin size of this tournament but villian is lag. I think the best course of action and easiest play is to just 3 bet allin but instead I went with a call. After reviewing the hand the way I played it I like just check calling on the flop versus pushing to allow my opponent to get it in with worst/bluff. How would you play the hand?



Yatahay Network - 6000/12000 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3 : http://www.holdemmanager.com

CO: 541,579 (45.1 bb)
BTN: 614,705 (51.2 bb)
SB: 175,115 (14.6 bb)
Hero (BB): 241,819 (20.2 bb)
UTG: 849,389 (70.8 bb)

5 players post ante of 1,500, SB posts 6,000, Hero posts BB 12,000

Pre Flop: (pot: 25,500) Hero has Ah 3h
fold, CO raises to 24,000, BTN calls 24,000, fold, Hero calls 12,000

Flop: (85,500, 3 players) As 2s Td
Hero checks, CO checks, BTN bets 27,375, Hero calls 27,375, CO calls 27,375

Turn: (167,625, 3 players) 7d
Hero checks, CO checks, BTN bets 84,000, Hero folds, fold

Results: 167,625 pot (0 rake)
Final Board: As 2s Td 7d

BTN wins 167,625

Unless the cutoff is a very tight player, it's best to shove pre-flop here. There's around 1/3 of your stack in the middle and the button is unlikely to be strong since he didn't 3-bet pre-flop. Take advantage of these great risk-reward situations by shoving wide, in this instance at least all pocket pairs, suited aces, and suited broadway hands.

I also prefer a 3-bet push here. The outcome is a perfect illustration of the problem with just calling a hand like A3s. Unless we flop two pair or better, we are either drawing or bluff catching, and we are out of position against two players, who both have a much larger stack and can easily push us around. As played I would also have folded on the turn. We are against two players here, and either of them could easily have a better hand.

Another vote for the 3b shove here. Buttons overcall range should still be pretty wide here and we are doing well vs many other broadway holdings that do note have an A. Btn should be 3betting all their strong Ax here such as AJ and possibly even AT here - if they are trapping with the overall good for them, but its not going to be the case very often. Also when we shove here on 20bb even with the raise and a call we still have some good fold equity so we could possibly get better Ax hands to fold. Get it in preflop, the rest will be what it is.

As played once you connect with top pair here, on 20bbs you have to do one of two things...fold to the flop bet since you did not connext well enough to be ahead of ANY other Ax holdings - or, you have to call it off and go broke with top pair here. You are too short to keep putting in significant portions of your stack just to find a fold later on. As played you invested roughly 20-25% of your remaining stack just to fold turn with top pair. This is just making your life more difficult as things progress.

That said, I think this is a common mistake lots of players are making. Missing the jam pre, then playing passively post, committing more chips just to find a fold on later streets, etc...its just something that can be avoided here with proper strategy. Hope this helps with the other comments as well.