$Freeroll NLHE MTT: Another way to play this?

[tzuriel]

Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD 2 Poker Tracking Software

PF is an easy call.

Always hard to range someone in a freeroll. If I shove the Turn he's calling anyway with this holding but would that have been the better play? In the end I think this is just a suckout. I was 91% ahead on the flop. Oh well.

NL Holdem $0+$0 (600.00BB)
EP ($5510)
MP1 ($14412)
MP2 ($2170)
HJ ($7276)
HERO ($19767)
BTN ($16631)
SB ($5706)
BB ($7429)
UTG ($9528)

Dealt to Hero: A♠ J♥

UTG Folds, EP Folds, MP1 Raises To $1335, MP2 Folds, HJ Folds, HERO Calls $1260, BTN Folds, SB Folds, BB Folds

Hero SPR on Flop: [3.19 effective]
Flop ($4095): 2♣ 9♦ A♣
MP1 Checks, HERO Checks

Turn ($4095): 2♣ 9♦ A♣ 2♥
MP1 Bets $1024 (Rem. Stack: $12053), HERO Calls $1024 (Rem. Stack: $17408)

River ($6143): 2♣ 9♦ A♣ 2♥ Q♥
MP1 Bets $7593 (Rem. Stack: $4460), HERO Calls $7593 (Rem. Stack: $9815)

Spoiler

MP1 shows: Q♦ Q♠

MP1 wins: $21329

 

[fundiver199]

Preflop
This is an EP open, where he have 7 people left to act behind him. So unless you have HUD-data or other reads telling you, he is opening to wide, I would actually just fold AJo. You are not in great shape against a normal EP opening range, and the hand definitely suffer from some reverse implied odds, because you never really know, where you are, when you flop top pair.

My second choise would be to simply jam. It looks like, you are to deep for that, but you are not the effective stack here, because you cover both the original raise and everyone behind. I dont like calling, because you have 3 short stacks left behind you, who can ship, and I dont want to have to call it off with AJ preflop. I am ok getting it in, but I want to have fold equity.

Flop
Not sure why you are checking behind here? When he check to you, it looks like, you probably have the best hand, so why not bet for value and equity denial? You dont hold a club, so why let the board run out with club-club and let any hand with a random club get there for free? You dont have to go very big, but bet something like 30-40% pot.

Turn
He goes for a delayed C-bet, but he goes really small with just 25% pot. This is just an awkward spot, because if you just call, you are letting everything get there for ultra cheap, but if you start raising, your line is really weird, and it almost feels like, you would be overrepping your hand. I honestly dont know, what to do here, because I would never play preflop and certainly not the flop like this, so I would never be in this position.

River
Now he overbet, and its just a really weird spot, but your hand is underrepresented, so as played I guess, I would also pay him off. You have to be asking yourself though, what play this way, that you beat? And I cant really think of anything other than a bizarre line with a bluff. So its almost like, its a curiosity call more than a call, because we think, we are good often enough. And of course he end up showing you the one hand, which makes complete sense, and which of course you lose to.

Conclusion
For me the big important decisions in this hand are preflop and flop. Preflop I dont like calling with AJo, I would either fold or jam. And as played when I see this flop, I am 100% betting for value and equity denial. I think, when you slowplay like this, you just end up screwing yourself most of the time, and this is exactly, what happened. If you bet flop and bet turn, then most likely QQ goes away, and thats fine.

 

[tzuriel]

Sigh...

 

[puzzlefish]

At this level most people just don't bluff enough to justify the call in the end. But is he going to fold his hand on the flop if you played any different? It's hard to say, but you may have ended up with the same result anyway.

 

[EvertonGirl]

What you have to think about is AJo is just a marginal hand when facing an OR from MP1. They are likely going to have QQ+ AKo/s

You definitely need good reads to play a marginal A against an EP villain, but a good rule of thumb is to stay away from these situations.

Flop, I would definitely have a stab at the flop when he checks. You are blocking aces, so it's unlikely he's not checking the nuts, just scared of the A as you could easily have an Ax in your hand as you only flatted. He more than likely would have called but he could also be a fit or fold player.

When he cbets the turn, he's thinking you don't have an A as you would have bet on the flop.

I'm folding to the overbet here, not many people overbet on a bluff, especially with a paired board. An overbet screams the nuts.

Put it down to a learning curve, and avoid marginal hands against an unknown in EP

 

[fundiver199]

But is he going to fold his hand on the flop if you played any different? It's hard to say, but you may have ended up with the same result anyway.

If Hero bet flop and bet turn, then Villain might have called, but that also mean, Hero would get value all those times, where Villain dont bink his 2-outer. And then its totally acceptable to check back the river, if we think, we have run out of value at that point. Here is, how it could have played out:

Flop 4.000, effective stack 13.000
Hero bet 1.500 get called

Turn 7.000, effective stack 11.500
Hero bet 3.000 get called

River 13.000, effective stack 8.500
Hero check behind

A check back on the river would be reasonable, because not many worse hands will pay us off, if we stick him in for his last 8.500 chips. Some players might even be able to find a fold with hands like A5s and similar. Of course its possible, that Villain would not give us the chance to check behind, because he would lead into us. But then we would just need to make a decision, if we think, he is bluffing often enough with a call, call, donk line.

 

[zuker]

Call is bad. Raise if you think his range is wide(maybe push) or fold.

 

[tzuriel]

What you have to think about is AJo is just a marginal hand when facing an OR from MP1. They are likely going to have QQ+ AKo/s

You definitely need good reads to play a marginal A against an EP villain, but a good rule of thumb is to stay away from these situations.

Flop, I would definitely have a stab at the flop when he checks. You are blocking aces, so it's unlikely he's not checking the nuts, just scared of the A as you could easily have an Ax in your hand as you only flatted. He more than likely would have called but he could also be a fit or fold player.

When he cbets the turn, he's thinking you don't have an A as you would have bet on the flop.

I'm folding to the overbet here, not many people overbet on a bluff, especially with a paired board. An overbet screams the nuts.

Put it down to a learning curve, and avoid marginal hands against an unknown in EP

Thank you!

 

[rock0001]

you should have played more aggresively specially on the turn. villain checking the flop and making a 1/4 pot bet on the turn indicates weakness in most scenarios so its most likely that he doesnt have any ace taking into account the way he played the hand. so if you had re raised the hand or make a bet on the flop then he would have most likely fold his pair of queens... nevertheless you were very unlucky when the queen hits on the river.