Bad luck or poorly played?

[bianconi_10]

Hi, new to the community (first post) so the formatting wont be the best. My question is about a certain hand that was played in a small-stake live tournament in my local poker club.

It is a common problem for me that I build up my stack throughout the game by playing solid poker but I often times lose a big hand to a shorter stack. I don't want to blame it on luck or variance, I want to focus on anything that can be improved. I do not have power over luck but I do have power over my decisions.

Hero: Well known player with a decent enough winrate and is considered very dangerous to play against. Feeds off this image and uses it to his advantage, plays a somewhat tighter LAG style.
Villian: Decent player, has good knowledge of the game, knows Hero and is somewhat of a friend.

Live tourney, last 15 players. (avg. stack around 20bb), BB ante.
CO: Villian (eff. stack: 40bb)
Button: Fish (eff. stack: 20~bb)
SB:Hero (eff. stack: 90bb)
BB and further: Not important.

- Folded to CO: CO raise 2.5bb.
- Button folds.
- Hero 3bets (Jh9h) to 8bb. (Hero knows Villians range is wide, Villian was opening more than 3/4, aim: wants to get a fold for 2.5bb + 2bb Big blind and Blind ante)
- BB folds, CO tanks and calls.

Flop: 2c 3h 5h. Pot: 18bb Villian: 32bb, Hero: 82bb
- Hero in SB c-bets 12bb
- Villian tanks and calls.

Turn: 2h, pot: 42bb Villian: 20bb, Hero 70bb
- Hero bets 20bb, Villian hesitantly calls.

Villian shows : Kh8h (better flush) Hero: Jh9h

River: 8c.

Now if the pot wasn't a 3-bet pot, I think I could bring myself to fold... in my head I would probably check-call the flop... check-raise the turn and if facing an all-in I would fold. Due to the fact that the range would've been wider. But in this current situation it didn't occur to me that he would have a better flush.

I have the Jh .. so a hand like AJs (h) is out of the question, AhKh or AhQh would've been a profitable 4bet push from him (he would get a fold from me most of the time and he knows it) so only a hand like KhQh, KhTh or Kh Xh QhJh at most. Then when it comes to AXs: Ah4h is the only which would make sense. I didn't expect Kh8h to be fair and I feared only 3-4 combinations ... altough my view of his range has changed after this game I still feel like there's room for improvement.

Any thoughts? And by any I mean any... I don't care if you're new to the game or a veteran any ideas can enrich my playstyle

 

[puzzlefish]

I guess the big take away here was that you need to ask: why couldn't he have a better flush? And are you really interested in doubling up your friend with a weaker flush? It's sort of a cooler but I think given your stack size and how close you are to the final table, it's worthwhile controlling the pot size a bit more and finding better spots to shear the smaller stacks.

 

[kowrip]

There are a couple of things I noticed. When you state that you play a "somewhat tighter LAG style" and that villain knows you well, I think you have to easily put all of the AXs and KXs hands in his range. In addition to that, he needs to call 5.5BB for a 11.5BB pot, giving him over 2 to 1 pot odds. Plus, he has position on you. Still, as @puzzlefish stated, it is a bit of a cooler since 7 of the 9 known cards were hearts and a J high flush is pretty solid.

 

[greatgame230]

Hi, I did not understand the 3 bet on the pre-flop, but I think it's a very complicated hand I particularly had not made the 3 bet on the pre-flop and I think I would have reached the end as you did but without hurting so much my stack since I had not done a CBet and I was expecting the villain's movement after the flop, I'm not saying it's the right thing just the way I would have played the hand