AK with a dangerous board

[Schatzdog]

I'm playing in a live tournament last night ($5 entry) with 160 participants. This is the first blind level (25/50) and we all start with 1000 in chips. (I know the structure is horrendous but that's how it is) No-one is out of the tournament yet so it's early days and no real reads on opponents just yet. Most of us have pretty much identical stacks.

I get AsKc UTG. I raise it to 200 and get two callers from middle position. Both blinds fold.

Flop is Kd Qd 6d. There is 675 in the pot. I bet out 600. My thinking is that chances are no-one made the flush and I want this pot now. I didn't move all-in based on the slim chance of a made flush and an early exit. I get called by the next player and the next player folds.

The turn brings.......9d.

What's the play? I only have around 150 left. Also, what do you think of the flop play?

 

[robwhufc]

Play now? You've only got 150 left so might as well sling it in and hope for the best. If you were right about opponents missing flush, then the 9d was just bad luck.

Pre-flop play - fair enough.
Post flop - either bet a bit less to make flush chase bad value, but to keep a bit more back (i'd say 350), or go all-in. Then you wouldn't have this decision to make would you? .

 

[colin_147]

There is no way you can throw away the hand now, the pot odds alone makes it an automatic call.

It looks seriously like a flush draw and I would think I am beat here but with only 150 chips left and blinds pretty high, you gotta take a chance.

I wouldny say you played it badly. A decent preflop raise, 4 x bb is pretty standard.

I think you made a good bet on the flop. An all-in move can sometimes look like a desperate attempt from a preflop raiser who has missed his flop, but a raise is normally a sign of strengh. Also, this is just under a pot sized bet, but there isnt too much else you can do

I would have played it probably the same. Although with the blinds pretty high and with a drawing hand like big slick, you might wanna be thinking of either an all-in move preflop, as players will be calling with suited connectors and KQ, KJ etc hoping to catch

 

[SexyAceJoker]

first of all, where did you play these little cheap tournament. 25/50 blinds starting with 1000 chips is just horrible. thats like 20 BB right of the bat with a 1000 chip count,


anyways the preflop raise was good although you should of slammed a 5times BB, that way the players would of suspect you are a maniac and would of pushed then you call, making it astrong play i guess. With those blinds you need to double up or risk being eaten alive. In the flop you had to push all in , this way players would think you had some sort of Ax or a small pair and didnt like the board, most likely someone would of called.

 

[t1riel]

Yeah, you might as well go all in since 150 isn't much to work with if you fold. There are times in poker where there is nothing you can do in certain situations. What did you end up doing and what was the result?

 

[Rockbuster]

Dog good play BAD LUCK on the board. I agree pot odds would make you go all in and hope he has no diamond..................Rock

 

[Dorkus Malorkus]

Don't leave 150 in front of you, just push it in with the rest on the flop. If someone raises you on the flop are you really going to fold and leave 3BBs in front of you? If someone calls, are you really not going to throw the extra 150 in?

 

[Schatzdog]

Okay, the result.

I checked to him, he bet out 200 and I layed it down, face up for all to see. My opponent turns over Qh10h!

Now I've obviously thought about this and I thought the mistake was made by him in calling my flop bet. I can't bet into that board.

Left with +/- 150 I managed to get my stack up to 2000 around 10 hands later. I got an unreal run of cards and won some race situations.

Based on that tournament structure I will never play there again.

Any thoughts on the turn play apart from calling the bet?

 

[colin_147]

Wow, I told you people will be calling with suited cards or paint, mainly cos of the high blinds. The other guy obviously didnt put you on the flush, he prob put you on the draw at best and the check on the turn he obviously saw as a weakness and took his opportunity to take down the pot.

Unfortunately he had the mindset YOU should have had "I am pot commited and I sink or swim right here"

Still, well done on clawing your way back

 

[Kj Sexton]

Sounds like the player just identified your weakness personally.
That or they just play loose aggressive, but even this level of loose aggressive is a bit extreme , lol.

 

[Schatzdog]

Definite loose aggressive. He ended up getting busted fairly soon after this while trying to bluff out TPTK. I had no read on him going into the hand I posted so I gave him credit for a Diamond.

 

[chicubs1616]

Raising to 150-250 in EP is a bad idea in this structure. If you are called and miss the flop, you have to act out of position for the rest of the hand and have a large portion of your stack commited. Limping AK here is an option as well as open-pushing (yes...all-in).

In your situation, PUSH preflop. There is NO reason you should not be pushing here. Betting 600 is commiting you to the pot. Your fold on the turn is terrible. You are getting amazing odds (over 10:1) and your opponent will not have a flush more than 10 out of 11 times here. 150 chips!!! I don't think I need to say anymore.

Not to be malicious, but an absolutely horrendous decision on the flop and turn.

 

[Schatzdog]

Ouch. Harsh words, but point well taken.

Limping or open-pushing is interesting in this situation and definately something worth considering in the future.

Turn this around though. Firstly, would you call an open raise of 200 with Qh10h? Probably not.

Would you call a pot sized bet on the flop with that board and Qh10h? I doubt that too.

 

[chicubs1616]

Limping or open-pushing is interesting in this situation and definately something worth considering in the future.

The only reason I say this is because of the structure of this tournament. If the blinds were 5/10, 10/15, 10/20, 15/30 or something like that, a standard raise is more appropriate, however, with only 20BB to start, you need to be making moves fairly quickly, and this is a spot where you might want to do it. If you don't want to get too aggressive with this hand here a limp is fine, otherwise I think I would lean more towards pushing rather than bet off 1/4 of my stack preflop and not knowing what to do if I miss and am out of position.

Yes, the other player is a moron for having called with Q-10...