blonde poker forum

Final table of the Blackpool Monthly £100 deepstack. 8 players remain. We are already ITM with the top 12 of 151 getting paid. Blinds at 8000/16000-500.

I started the final with 375,000. I've got this number up to about 475,000ish without showing down a hand, but also without being particulary active. Throughout the tournament I've had an image of a TAG player (i had a complete maniac to my right, meaning i pretty much had to play this way), but the villian in this pot was from another table. Villian appears to be playing quite tight himself, and he has been very quiet on this final table thus far.

I'd only had 1 unopened pot on the button the final table before this pot, which i elected to lay down. This time however, I decided to make a raise.

Hero: 475,000ish
Villian: 300,000ish.

Folds to Hero OTB  3h 5h
Hero raises to 40,000 (a small raise, but a number that has previously worked for me)
SB folds
Villian calls from BB

Flop:  Ts 4d 2h

Not a bad flop considering our hand and the fact we were called.

Villian leads for 40,000.


What is our line here?

stacks are awkward. you cant do much wrong, but i like call.

pre raise is fine...just about perfect actually.

on the flop it's quite tricky...he's already got 80k of his 300k in and he bets out for such an amount that he is tempting you to shove so that he can snapcall.
Unless I think he might lay down to a push I flat call here and see what he does on the turn.

Same here.

Flat call, fold the turn if he bets 80K+, if he checks set him in/check depending on reads...

Personally I don't like the call so much. I would put villain on either a 10 or an underpair like 9-9 or 8-8, and as such villain is open to pressure here. While what Boldie says about the bet tempting you to raise may well be true I think it is more likely to be a probe bet. If villain does read you as kinda tight why would he think you will suddenly get aggressive and fall into his trap? At this stage villain will be putting you on a pair or high cards if he saw your initial raise as genuine, which he prob does. Would you call the 40k with J-J or Q-Q? I'd prob raise with these hands, so I'd raise here as well. At least this way you tell a convincing story that you do indeed have a pair, and it's a big one. The absence of any obvious draws makes this a story worth telling imo, and unless this guy is betting out a set, which I doubt, you will really be putting him to the test. And he's not a loose & spewy guy, so putting all his chips in at the FT is gonna be a tough ask.

Alternatively you can call the 40k, but what story are you telling now? Prob that you have overcards you don't want to fold for this small bet. So if the turn drops no ace no paint villain is surely pushing, especially with a bumper 150k already in the middle. There's no way we want to go fishing for our draw at this late stage when we know we're prob only seeing one more card for our 40k. And especially when everything tells us we can put the tight guy on the ropes.

I'd just put another 80k on top of his bet and put the ball back in his court. If he wants to push for his tournament then let him, but that's much easier said than done.

yeah I can see both Mantis and the others point.. I dont have much faith in people folding after donking this board for 40k, so I'd prolly just call, but if live experienced players get folds here by raising, it might be the best play. Given these reads in the OP, I donno if a raise would get a fold, but I'd defer to better live players about this.

Yeah, that's why I'd make it 120k rather than pushing. If you push he could well think the size of his balls are up for debate and could make the call thinking you have A-K or similar and are bullying. The triple bet raise looks far more genuine and he finds himself in an impossible situation cos he can now only push with zero FE into a hand that looks like a big pair. If you substitute that story for call the 40k & push when he checks the turn (which is unlikely imo) what hand are you repping? There just isn't a hand you call small on the flop with only to push big on the turn when your oppo slows down. Again you will look unconvincing and he could well hero call. Your FE is at it's greatest on the flop cos this guy is leaving enough behind to fold should you confirm your strength.

I disagree, i think theres a strong chance he will fold if we bump it upto 120kish.

I would make it 117,000 and then obv call any shove.

They usually fold to the raise on this flop after donk leading in my experiences.

i think i would jst ship it if u have a tight image and it doesnt look too drawy.

but i wouldnt know if i would just push or just raise.

probs just raise as it looks alot stronger

While there's a small chance villain has a big hand e.g. overpair or set, the evidence suggests that's unlikely. Would he smooth pre to play a pot oop rather than 3bet a button raise with a hand like Q-Q? I doubt it. And if he's got a set why lead on a super safe board that he feels hero prob hasn't connected with? So if he's not strong we have an invitation to pressure him off his hand. Why wouldn't we take it? Let's say he's a typical ghey live player and he leads for info...calling his bet gives him all the info he needs that our hand is weak. And we have 5-high so he'd be right. Much better to tell him we're strong imo.

Blatent i made the final table in a £100 deepstack brag post if u ask me!!

Some good arguments there for both options :) I'll go thru my thought process at the time, let me know if you think what was going through my head was right, I don't have much experience on these live final tables afterall :)

The first thing is what sort of hand do I think the villian has? Well, I'm guessing he has a T. I was CL (or there abouts, maybe 2nd CL), and am yet to pull any crazy plays, so by betting into me I'm assuming he has a hand, albeit not a brilliant one.

Bearing this in mind my first thought was to raise. 120k was the figure going through my head, but I wasn't convinced this would be a brilliant play, as do I think the villian will fold? Well, I point out that he's probably got top pair, and has been playing quite tight so far. But this is only based on about an hours play, and I've not seen anything post flop from him so far that'd suggest he'll fold top pair here. If he shoves in over the top of me then I obviously have to call with my draw, and I don't really want to commit all my chips to this hand, as it can badly damage my stack.

The next option was to fold. I usually wouldn't be a fan of folding here, as it'd just make my button raise look weak. However, given that board I could quite easily have Ax/Kx etc that've simply missed that board, so I dont think I'd be damaging my tight image here by folding. In this case however, I've picked up a well disguised draw so should probably do something with it.

The final option was to call. But for this to be viable I have to think I'm going to get to see both cards. I was reasonably happy I would. Given my read of his hand, I got the impression he wanted me to go away with that bet, but may well have stuck around had I raised. Well, there's plenty of turn cards that might scare him, and even if a scare card doesn't come he may well check to keep the pot small. Obviously, if he leads out I have to be done with the hand, unless I hit my straight of course.

So, in the end I called. And now the thread continues :)

Turn:  Qs

Villain checks

What now? Bet into it, or take the free card?

Bet it now...this is the time to take it away from him.

I'm not convinced by this line, if he is a good player and you bet the turn he might well crai, we have <30% equity against ace high and approx 15% equity against the 10 that OP says we suspect he has. Our line so far will have done nothing to make the villain think we have a hand, our hand looks super weak at the moment imo. Make it 120k on the flop is so much better. What hand/range of hands are we expecting the villain to give us credit for at this stage?

 

I don't really want to commit all my chips to this hand, as it can badly damage my stack

OK so check it out. This is not how you should be feeling as the CL at the FT. However, your reluctance to lose SOME of your chips does give you a very good idea about how your oppo is going to be feeling about losing ALL of his chips. Your job is to pressure that feeling. Your job is not to worry if he will call. If you don't pressure him you end up fudging the decision by just calling and hoping to hit cards. Ok, so Boldie says bet now to take the pot, how much you gonna bet? There's what...about 150k in the pot. So you bet say 100k. Already the hand is costing you more than if you raised 120k on the flop (and I thought you were worried about losing chips?), also you now only have one card left to see, and finally you're pinning all your hopes on him believing you have a queen. What will you do if he pushes? This strat just turns your hand into a bluff and you can do that any time with any hand. Raising the flop widens your hand range past 1 card, costs you less, you have more outs, and your mentality is ftw.

bet the turn small to setup another river barrel if need be.

FYP buddy :)