$8 NLHE MTT: Call 3 streets on turn flush w/ 2pr?

[Pokerstudent]

Hey all. I'm ticked that I played the hand bad. But in retrospect, I don't know how best to play my two pair given that I have no info on the villain.

Critique the hell out of my hand, please!

full tilt poker $8 + $0.80 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t50/t100 Blinds - 9 players - View hand 1286863
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BB: t4990 49.90 BBs
UTG: t5605 56.05 BBs
UTG+1: t3100 31 BBs
UTG+2: t4975 49.75 BBs
MP1: t5730 57.30 BBs
MP2: t2880 28.80 BBs
CO: t13120 131.20 BBs
BTN: t9020 90.20 BBs
Hero (SB): t3185 31.85 BBs

Pre Flop: (t150) Hero is SB with J

Q

7 folds, Hero calls t50, BB checks

Flop: (t200) 9

J

Q

(2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets t100, Hero calls t100

Turn: (t400) 4

(2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets t200, Hero raises to t1000, BB calls t800

River: (t2400) A

(2 players)
Hero bets t700, BB raises to t3790 all in, Hero calls t1285 all in

 

[seanDCFC]

I personally wouldnt have raised the turn, its a very wet board. I would have been happy to keep the pot relatively small and try to see a showdown without getting all the money in. Also I would have raised pre-flop.

 

[ben_rhyno]

c/r or lead the flop and hope to see a cheap turn and river. Value bet a safe river

 

[Gunner57]

Tough one....

I might raise preflop to steal the BB or make him pay for pos but call is just ok. If I knew opponent was good I may even fold this and pick more lucrutive hand as you can get in a lot of trouble with these types of hands. You cant really like being out of position with mid strength hand against oppenent that has you covered. (plus in MTT seems early enough where you can pick your spots a little better).

I would have bet on the flop. to check is giving him equity as unless he has K 10 you should have him beat. If checked like you did, you should have check raised as he is likely on st8 or flush draw. I would raise to about 400-550 or so on his post flop bet.

If he called and diamond came out you can either 1) bluff and fire one last shot at taking down this pot or 2) check to keep as cheap as possible (I would go with #2). At this point if you cant steal it, you want to see the hand down as cheaply as possible. If you raise and he plays back at you, you may need to fold before you get too committed. If blank came out on turn I would bet (maybe half pot..) as you dont want any flush or str8 draws getting free equity.

On River I would check as you just want to showdown at this point. The only way A helped him is if he had AA or QA otherwise he was on a draw and missed or had a made hand. Check and try to see the showdown as cheap as you can.

I think the toughest part about this hand is your position... You just cant be sure of where you stand and you are not in control. Even if you bet you have to be afraid of raise or even a call. Added the relative unimportance of this hand pre-flop.. I think the best thing to do is keep it as cheap as possible and check down once you think he has something.

 

[jbbb]

Tough one....

I might raise preflop to steal the BB or make him pay for pos but call is just ok. If I knew opponent was good I may even fold this and pick more lucrutive hand as you can get in a lot of trouble with these types of hands. You cant really like being out of position with mid strength hand against oppenent that has you covered. (plus in MTT seems early enough where you can pick your spots a little better).

I was thinking about stealing pre, but in an MTT I don't think it's necersarry with these small blinds. They are very small compared to average stack size, and if called you'll be playing a bigger pot OOP. eg raise to 300 pre, get called. the pot is now 600. c/r flop or c/c flop and now the pot is 1,000 and soon you could be playing for stacks with this marginal hand. keep the pot small pre to avoid massive pots with marginal hands.

I would have bet on the flop. to check is giving him equity as unless he has K 10 you should have him beat. If checked like you did, you should have check raised as he is likely on st8 or flush draw. I would raise to about 400-550 or so on his post flop bet.

Agree about doing something better on the flop. Check calling is so weak on a draw heavy board. you're hand is best right now 95% of the time: charge him to draw to a better hand. Not sure whether c/ring or c/cing is better though.

 

[WiZZiM]

Depends on opponant, but raising pre usually isn't something i really enjoy getting into the habit of doing. Stealing the 150 chips out there isn't really that great for us. And when we are called we are suddenly playing in a substantial pot postflop when we are Out of position. So i'm really quite happy with the limp here from the SB.

Generally when i do limp, i'm stabbing at a hell of a lot of flops, and this is certainly a spot where i'm always leading out, to build the pot, to charge draws and numerous other important reasons(Image, setting up a dynamic with the BB etc).

 

[cjatud2012]

Limp could be fine depending on the type of villain. If they're really tight I'd just min-raise and hope to take it down. But if they're gonna call a lot, then raising is not as good. If you think you're likely to get 3-bet then just folding might be your best option.

As played I definitely lead the flop, you have a monster, and checking is a good way to win a small pot plus the board is so wet that risking a free card is not something you want to do, especially in a pot where no one has the initiative (and BB has even less reason to bet because he didn't choose to enter the pot).

So the turn brings a pretty bad card (and truth be told there are not going to be a ton of turn cards you like), so I don't like check/raising as much. Maybe you check/raise small, so either you can 1) fold to a 3-bet comfortably, or 2) scare your opponent into calling, then checking back the river when you check to him. The other option is to just check and reevaluate based on the size of his bet, and since he's bet only t200 you can call and see what develops on the river.

Also, betting less than all-in on the river is pretty silly imo.

 

[Pokerstudent]

Great views. That helps me a lot. Thanks!

 

[ClubArrow77]

Limping in from SB was good. On the flop, I would have check raised since the board was draw heavy with straight draws and flush draws. By checking, you allow the villain to play with Axs diamonds, Tx for an open straight draw, and are losing to KT. If you reraised on the flop significantly enough, you might be able to get draws to fold and top pair to mayve call. I like the reraise on the turn although 5x the raise may be too much. I would be more inclined to go with 3 or 4x but 5x is not bad. You also learn from here that villain is strong so he most likely made his flush. I don't like the bet on the river and would have check folded in this situation because I think I would have been beat by now although the raise is not too bad for one last steal attempt or a bluff that hit the ace and thinks its ahead (although I would find this line unlikely). The reraise all in by the villain would be what seals it for me though. Given that if you fold here you still have 12BB, you still have the stack to make a comeback if you fold although you will need to resort to push/fold. The shove indicates the villain has a really strong hand so unless you strongly believe the villain did not make the flush for some reason, I would have folded to the river shove.