Apologies first of all if this is pretty basic - it's been a while.

First level of a small live tournament, 30-odd runners, blinds 25-50. Haven't played a hand. Approx 6000 chips for all players in hand.

Mid-position raise to 150, button calls, SB calls, Hero in the BB with  and decides to call. In retrospect I guess this is pretty bad just calling on auto-pilot because I convince myself I'm priced in.

Flop comes down 

SB checks. Hero checks. Original raiser bets 325 which I think is weak, button calls and SB folds. I'm pretty sure that this is just a standard c-bet and that my  is good, and if that's not the case then my opponent will let me know.The button is fairly loose/bad and I think is calling with most draws and any pair. I think he's passive enough to have  ,  as well.  I don't think my hand here is strong enough to just call, esp with the button call, so I raise to 1325. Normally with a better jack I might raise here to 800/900 for value, but essentially I'm just trying to end the hand here. Raiser obliges by folding but the button calls. Having played the button before he is essentially a bit of a wimp and will normally call/fold a middle pair or flush draw here in the face of a check-raise.

So: apart from maybe folding pre, would you have played the flop differently?

Turn is the  .

What do you do?

Will do. I seem to have much more trouble finding the time and inclination to write posts than I do just keeping up with the general diversions on Blonde  - including yourself and Tom's equally, um, tasteful diaries.

Similar sometimes to finding it a bit easier or just more interesting to read about poker (in whatever format) than actually going through the motions of actually playing it. Or perhaps I just need to find a more interesting regular game! 

Technically Barry may not have signed the frontispiece - that usually means the illustrated page facing the title page - unless that's what you mean?  Maybe he signed the title page, or the flyleaf, or even the front free endpaper itself(!).  Sometimes the frontispiece on older books will also have a sheet of tissue paper covering it as protection - have you ever seen that?

Endpapers ended up being used for multiple purposes: decoration, illustration, notes etc. But I think originally they were there to strengthen the binding of the book (sometimes they used a better or thicker quality of paper), adding a bit more protection to the contents, and taking some of the strain off the main text block when the book was opened. I'm sure someone who's done any practical bookbinding could give you a better and more detailed answer than that, but that's probably a relatively scarce craft these days...

I sigh-folded  in the end.

Local donkfest was about right. Cutoff had (wut?), UTG called off stack with  and UTG+1 also called with  . 

Fives held on a ten high board.

FML etc

I think I'd be less likely to fold AK here than a mid-pair (with shallow stacks) thinking that if we hit we're likely to more than treble up and set ourselves up for a final table run, and we're only really conerned about KK or AA which we can't automatically put anyone on - deeper stacks and it might be a different story. I didn't have AK so I don't know what I'd do in reality but with hindsight I might have taken the gamble. With a pair lower than queens I'm kind of assuming at least two overs, probably three, and there might still be an overpair to ours out there, and it doesn't feel like that much of a great spot.

Just a quick one:

Fast blind structure live tournament. Slightly less than thirty (half the field) left. Blinds now 600 / 1200 no ante. We have had an early double up but card dead / inactive the past few orbits after having moved to new table. Currently on around 17k which is about average.

Quietish UTG raises to 3600. Flat call from bad player in UTG+1. Cutoff shoves for about 10K. UTG has maybe 10k total as well, UTG+1 has about 16k total. UTG+1 already looks like she's calling(!). 

We are on the button.

What do we generally need to call/shove?  Is a range of AKs /QQ+ too nitty or just about ok? 

I wasn't loving it but in the end I called and got shown AJ for two pair.

Realistically I don't think there was much chance of opponent folding at any point in the hand however I play it but thinking it through has been good regardless. On reflection I couldn't have played more into the Villain's hands if I'd tried.

I think if I'm more in the 10-15 BBs range stack-wise then I would normally shove here pre-flop, I guess I just wasn't desperate enough to be getting it in here with the information we had. That might be a bad mindset and I'm... mulling it over. As it is maybe in the future I nit-fold here as suggested when I don't have the balls to shove. 

I'm not convinced that calling pre-flop then smooth calling the flop bet is that great unless we've decided that 2nd pair is good and we are going to the river come what may. If we are hoping to get to showdown for free surely a good opponent with a large stack will fire a second bullet when we've played this passively? 

I think so too! I'm finding all of the replies so far pretty helpful in one way or another.

@ actionman: Easy bud. I may only be a bad live player but I’m not normally in the habit of calling raises with queen ten off with a medium stack, so my problem is more specific: I’m struggling to play my 20bb stack when I don’t have much information on villain, Q10 feels too strong in a BvB situation to just fold in position and too weak to shove when we are only really guessing at villain’s range, and our “tight” image is only an orbit old.  It’s context dependent – if villain raises in all BvB situations as observed over course of the day then I am happy shoving, but in the absence of that information I guess I thought at the time I’d take a flop even if it led to a difficult decision. Maybe I should have made a stronger decision whether to pass or shove pre-flop but at the end of the day that reduces the complexity of how the hand plays out:  I’m trying to work out having called what the best course of action is given that I felt I made a hash of it, even if just shoving pre is easier/better. Next time I will have a plan.

I am definitely feeling now that the raise on the flop is bad, and turning my hand into a bluff unnecessarily as Longy said. My thinking – for what it’s worth – is that I want to take the hand down there, and typically to me raising looks stronger than just jamming. But as pointed out the size of the raise in relation to the pot is ineffective, and leaves me more or less pot-committed with 2nd pair, which once he calls isn’t looking all that hot. And of course if I’m ahead of villain on the flop then I’m not really afraid of him hitting much (random Kings and 2 pairs/trips aside) and I don’t want him to fold, and when he’s ahead of me the range of hands he might fold is pretty narrow: KQ, QJ, maybe, weak aces but it’s unlikely.

 Is that pretty much it?

If we call pre-flop and call on the flop, what are we doing if the villain bets 15-20k on turn or river? Have we decided we are calling on the flop to get it in on the turn regardless?  I understand why the raise on the flop is bad but I'm not actually sure if it effects how the hand plays out. 

How would the hand differ if we had 30 big blinds rather than twenty? Presumably it’s not a pre-flop shove there. Is it still call the flop, potentially call future turn/river bets?

[Next orbit again folded round to Villain who makes it 6k to call from the SB. I call with Q 10 off]

Final two tables of live deepstack freezeout. Nine-handed.  Blinds 1,000 and 2000 with a 200 ante, 45 min levels.

Started Day 2 as a mini-stack and have doubled up twice to just over 40k. Have just moved tables, no history with Villain who is on my immediate right, have only played one other hand SB vs BB: folded round to SB (villain) who raised to 3BBs and I folded my rags. Next hand (and only other hand that orbit I recall) Villain raised from button with A7 Clubs, call from the BB, Villain flopped trips which held against BBs draw – so think Villain is now on over 100k.

Next orbit again folded round to Villain who makes it 6k to call from the SB. I call with Q 10 off, thinking I am ahead of his range but that twenty bigs to too much to just shove pre flop and don’t want to raise/fold for half my stack. Shove > call here?  Or anyone just letting it go pre?   

Flop is AQx rainbow.  Villain bets 8.5k, I raise 11k on top, Villain calls. 

Turn is a Jack, goes check check.

River is a brick and Villain bets enough to put me all in. On the river I have about 14-15k left and the pot will be around 70k. 

Blatant “I made Day 2” brag post aside, I think the size of my raise is pretty bad on the flop, but I don’t really like folding or calling much here. If we call the flop what do we do if Villain bets turn?  Should I be shoving the flop thinking I am ahead of most queens and pairs?  Obviously we are behind to an ace but don’t think villain’s range is likely anywhere near that narrow. The call on the flop says we are behind but I’ve not left myself much back if we fold the river.

Opinions please.

eh? I don't undertand.

Why flat pre Flushy?  Keeping the pot small? We’ve probably got the best hand, if we raise we’ll probably find out if we don’t, and by raising we can 1) get more chips in the pot and 2) rule out the more dubious hands like 78, 910, J9, J8 that would connect strongly with this flop. Genuinely interested, as I think that I’ve over committed myself to the hand by raising pre and and betting on the flop, but don’t understand how or why I should have done otherwise.

I considered raising more pre but thought that I would drive away action (especially by weaker hands like AJ, KJ, J10) by doing so. Might have been a better option though.

On the flop I’m obviously hoping that oppo has planned to check-raise a c-bet from me with a hand like AJ or semi-bluffing a hand like J10. Presumably I can then pass hands like AQ, AK, nines or tens.  I agree that I don’t think I can call here if I think I’m behind. Calling leaves me around three and half thousand left, and reasonably certain opponent will bet at least half that on the turn. If I call I’ve committed half my chips to this hand and I won’t be able/willing to lay it down.

I’m also struggling to think of the arguments for shoving to be honest. If oppo has the Jack and thinks it might be good then shouldn’t we flat and call/raise/bet the turn? But I’m more inclined to put opponent on a pocket pair from the limp call pre, or a loose call from a weaker hand like J10, QJ. I think he open raises AJ, so although I can’t be sure shoving and hoping that he’s got AJ and will make a poor call seems optimistic at best.  Obviously I suspect I'm beat but the deficit of information is giving me the tricky decision.

I really like oppo’s bet size incidentally. If he is check-raising a hand with a jack that we’re beating, he’s left himself (in my opinion) enough chips to fold if we shove. But it’s such a little amount then 1) we’re tempted to shove 2) we struggle to pass for this amount with this hand on this flop, but if we call we’re committed.  Would anyone bet more on the flop?  If we bet in the region of 1800-2000 and oppo raises another 2k into us does that give us enough information to pass here?  A couple of people have mentioned that three checks on the flop was suspicious in itself, but there’s no way I can check the flop here to three other players is there?  A feeler bet? 600 maybe? 

First level of a live tournament, 7000 starting chips, around 35 runners.  Table has been pretty tight so far.  I’ve played a couple of hands, winning one small pot, still roughly on the starting stack. Twenty minutes in there’s a limp from third to act, re-raise to 200 from player on our direct right, we put it up to 600 with pocket Queens from the cutoff, button and SB fold, BB calls, early limper calls, original raiser calls (less than ideal clearly). Flop is seven, eight, Jack rainbow. Checked to us, we bet half the pot (1200). BB folds, the solid regular who originally limped in check-raises to 2800, the original raiser folds. We have just over 5000 left , and have him covered (just).

What do we do next?

And more importantly: what kind of information do we need on the situation to make that decision accurately?   

LeKnave has it: decision based on getting just over two to one on a call. Sorry for the confusion in describing the total pot (that is, including the call) as 14k - I never seem to word it quite right.  Does that turn it into a fold for most folk then or would anyone still call with any two?

Not a snap call on my part by any means, but the way I thought about it was that if my 35% chance came through I would be up to slightly over 20k, a fair bit closer to the chip average, a stack that I can use to use to go over the top of the standard raise, and generally able to wait just that little bit longer for decent spots. Losing the hand would not significantly change my only future action from that arising from a fold (shoving all in for either 6BB or 9BB), although obviously it would diminish my fold equity.  The table was a mix of more passive players who could fold, thinking players that know I'm shoving with a wide range, and looser players who will call with anything half-decent. My feeling was broadly that the difference in my stack size is primarily going to effect the decisions of that middle group and much less so the others. I was motivated to call because my present stack was of no use after a raise, and for the past orbit a combination of the other short stacks shoving and larger stacks raising meant I was frozen out, and I'd rather call for a quarter of my stack getting two to one than effectively min-raise a medium or big stack with my jack six off (or whatever) for all my chips. If another orbit passed where I couldn't find a spot to shove I'd be in a similar-ish spot anyway. I understand the fold, and maybe with more tournament experience I would have made it, but that was the thinking behind the call.
 

90 player live tourament. 16 players left. Current stack of around 15k. Blinds 800 / 1600, Antes 150. We have not made any big mistakes and caught some good cards early on, but been inactive for a few levels and the blinds have caught up with us. Been looking for unopened spots to shove for the past couple of orbits but only managed it once, picking up the blinds. In the hand immediately preceeding this one the player to our left has pushed all in UTG and busted, so we are now on the big blind. The next level of blinds and antes commences in about 10 mins.

Villain goes all in for 5800 from mid-position and it folds round to us. We look down at 8 10 off. With the blind in we have just over 13k left and it's costing us 4200 to call to win a pot of nearly 14k. Villain has admitted to being card dead and shoved the previous orbit with A5, doubling up. We think he'll do this with any ace, any pair and probably any two face cards. We're getting more than two to one so we call. 

So, two options: we call, knowing we are almost certainly behind, leaving ourselves with 9k and ever diminishing fold equity for our shoves if we lose. Or pass, leaving us 13k.

Thoughts?