99 tourney hand

Top 4 paid, table is somewhat tight. No one is going anywhere fast.

First person to tell me to fold to the check-raise gets a banning request filled out on them Wink

I think I screwed up this hand before it got to that point... How much do you raise pre-flop and what's your plan on the flop?

PokerStars Game #562983309: Tournament #2142184, Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2004/07/23 - 05:01:58 (ET)
Table '2142184 1' Seat #6 is the button
Seat 2: Player2 (2590 in chips)
Seat 3: Player3 (2670 in chips)
Seat 4: Player4 (3285 in chips)
Seat 5: Player5 (4200 in chips)
Seat 6: Fnord (2950 in chips)
Seat 7: Player7 (2800 in chips)
Seat 8: Player8 (5080 in chips)
Seat 9: Player9 (3425 in chips)
Player7: posts small blind 100
Player8: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Fnord [9c 9d]
Player9: folds
Player2: folds
Player3: folds
Player4: folds
Player5: calls 200
Fnord: raises 600 to 800
Player7: folds
Player8: calls 600
Player5: folds
*** FLOP *** [4c 7h Ah]
Player8: checks
Fnord: bets 1000
Player8: raises 3280 to 4280 and is all-in
Fnord: calls 1150 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [4c 7h Ah] [Kc]
*** RIVER *** [4c 7h Ah Kc] [6s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Player8: shows [Ad 4s] (two pair, Aces and Fours)
Fnord: shows [9c 9d] (a pair of Nines)
Player8 collected 6200 from pot
Player9 said, "vn"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 6200 | Rake 0
Board [4c 7h Ah Kc 6s]
Seat 2: Player2 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Player3 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Player4 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Player5 folded before Flop
Seat 6: Fnord (button) showed [9c 9d] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 7: Player7 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: Player8 (big blind) showed [Ad 4s] and won (6200) with two pair, Aces and Fours
Seat 9: Player9 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

I think I'm coming down on the side of calling and no/set no bet policy unless there under cards Smile

You should have waited until you had a Ripptyde special and pushed with 74os. Wink

What Tournement is this ? If this was a cash game I would have played it similar but in a tournement when there are still 10 players I look for premium hands. Could be why I've never done so well in MTTs.

As i've said I play very tight early in an SnG is this a MTT ? I'm not sure why you would risk exiting a tourney with 99 when you aren't short stacked. This is the reason i'd call and look for a set because I don't want to be stuck with a marginal hand in a tricky situation.

I also think its an easy fold to the All In bet on the flop Wink

Fold to the check raise. Razz

I'd either call, min raise, or raise 3x BB preflop depending on the table. 3x BB would be the max, and I'd do that at a very tight table, hoping to win it right there, or that they fold on the flop. I'd only min raise if the BB was tight enough to fold an average hand to a min raise.

Once the flop hits and there's an ace out there, I'd just redo my preflop bet at 3x BB (600) after I was checked to. If I'm raised, I'd fold. Its pretty likely he has an ace just by his preflop call, and likely even more since he checkraised. Even if he just called at the flop, I'd slow way down. Its more likely that he'd have an ace in that scenario than a flush draw, and he has to put you on an ace after your preflop raise, so he's not likely to bluff here, or make a crazy call with K high or something.

AA-TT would've reraised preflop in my opinion. At least that's how the typical player plays them nearly every time. KK - JJ would've reraised for sure.

So eliminating those, from the preflop call you have "Ax KQ KJs QTs JTs", lower pocket pairs than yours, and maybe a couple other hands like K9s, KJo, etc. as possibilities of what he has. But unless he's a moron, I don't think he'd call a 3x BB bet on the flop with any of those combinations, except Ax, a flush draw, or a set or pocket pair (TT-88) if they don't believe you have the ace (or don't want to believe).

If for some reason they decided to slowplay KK-JJ, which I really doubt, I still think they're calling. I've seen enough of the average online pokerplayer to know that they aren't willing to lay down a big hand like that, even with an A on the board and a big bet to them. This guy called a 4x BB bet preflop with A4 off, for godssake. You really think you'd be able to bluff him out if he had KK or QQ?

I think a very large percentage of the hands that'd call that bet on the flop would have you beat. Unless they're a complete maniac, I think any hand that raises you has you beat. Your best hope would be K7 or 88 or something crazy like that. Not very likely.

So anyway, I'd have bet a bit smaller preflop, a good deal smaller on the flop, and ran like hell once I was raised.

Wow, now that seems really weak. I mean, why would you even raise preflop if you're just going to check/fold if one card higher than a 9 comes?

Backup your preflop raise with 2nd pair. Don't give KQ a chance to bluff you out on the turn or get a free card on you. Just don't bet again if they call you on the flop.

... But ok, I'll stop now.

This is why I fold this hand early in an SnG too much hassle . . .

You still havn't mentioned what type of game it was ?

ok, I'm going to take a guess and say its early in a MTT.

I think you played it fine based on your read of Player 8. You really don't want to see a flop with 99, since any callers are likely to have overcards, and you thought 800 was enough to fold out any marginal hands, including Ax.

In hindsight, it's clear to me that pushing would have been best, since Player 8 is probably not calling 1/2 his stack without a great hand. I think the key here is your misread of Player 8 rather than how you played postflop - you were pretty much screwed when he hit two pair. Maybe there were some clues you missed in prior hands that would have helped you realize that Player 8 would call 600 for a 1300 pot with a marginal hand but the big stack.

FWIW, I don't think that was a terrible call on his part, though I probably wouldn't have made it.

With all due respect to you and michael1123, I don't think the answer is raising less preflop, since that only invites calls from the BB, which is not what you want with 99. On top of that, the less you raise preflop, the more you have to fear each and every overcard that appears on the flop.

If his goal was just to take the blinds, I would've moved all in preflop. If he didn't mind a call by one player, considering that most hands miss a flop (so the caller will likely miss), then I would've bet 3x BB at most, and bet again at the flop hoping to win it right there.

I agree 4x BB would be better if you had a bigger stack. But if you went 3x BB preflop, and then 3x BB at the flop (which I still maintain would fold a hand that missed the flop), then you wouldn't feel pot commited to a raise on the flop, which you did with 4x BB preflop and 5x BB at the flop.

If you were going to pot commit yourself, you should've just moved all in preflop, since your hand was unlikely to improve.

You gotta respect the Ace way more than any other overcard. When that ace hits the board, I always figure that somebody paired it. Even if only me and one other person see the flop. It just seems like its impossible for people to throw away Ax preflop.

I think you have to throw out a weak bet after the flop, and then surrender the pot to any raise. I know it screams weakness, but what else can you do with all these Ax maniacs running around?

One other observation: Fnord's opponent here was just messed up and made two ridiculous calls, three if you count the limp-in. Its just hard to put people like that on any type of hand.

Hmm? Fnord's opponent was the BB. He just made one call in the entire hand.

It wasn't a good one though.

Sorry, I thought he limped in and then called Fnord's preflop raise.

I also counted the all-in raise as a "call", and what I meant was that a rational player would have folded there. A "non-fold" is what I should have termed it.

You're scaring me, Natural. The guy had two pair when he went all in. He should've folded? Confused

HAHA

I was thinking he had ace pair low kicker.

I must just be out in space somewhere.

Man, the second time this week that has happened. I just have no clue what I'm talking about. From now on I'm going to watch a hand in the replayer before I attempt to make a comment.

Haha, no problem. I thought you were missing something.

My thoughts:

3xBB might have been enough of a pre-flop raise considering your stack size. I believe that you went for 4x, which certainly isn't way off.

On the flop:

I'm afraid I'd probably check to the ace. That's probably the only overcard I'm checking to. This guy open limped from late, which is often the same type of weak player who will call a raise with a weak ace. If the same flop came but with a king instead of an ace, I'm betting. I must admit it's very tempting to bet that ace when it gets checked to you though...

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99 tourney hand

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99 tourney hand