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PokerStars Hand #83776863314: Tournament #591621017, $27.58+$2.42 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2012/07/24 13:49:19 WET [2012/07/24 8:49:19 ET]
Table '591621017 1' 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Player 1 (960 in chips)
Seat 3: Villain (4276 in chips)
Seat 4: Hero (2169 in chips)
Seat 6: Player 4 (1595 in chips) is sitting out
Hero: posts small blind 25
Villain: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Ad Qs]
Player 1: folds
Villain: raises 50 to 100
Hero: raises 200 to 300
Player 4: folds
Hero: calls 200
*** FLOP *** [Kd 2h Kc]
Hero: bets 260
Villain: calls 260
*** TURN *** [Kd 2h Kc] [7d]
Hero: checks
Villain: bets 360
Hero: calls 360
*** RIVER *** [Kd 2h Kc 7d] [8s]
Hero: checks
Villain: bets 1150
Hero: calls 1150
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Villain: shows [Ts Jh] (a pair of Kings)
Hero: shows [Ad Qs] (a pair of Kings - Ace kicker)
Hero collected 4190 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4190 | Rake 0
Board [Kd 2h Kc 7d 8s]
Seat 1: Player 1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Villain (button) showed [Ts Jh] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 4: Hero (small blind) showed [Ad Qs] and won (4190) with a pair of Kings
Seat 6: Player 4 (big blind) folded before Flop

The hand I will talk about is from a $30 6 max turbo Sit and Go played earlier today. The hand is played against a fellow regular player who isn't folding's number 1 fan and certainly has been known to throw a few bluffs into the mix. Although I don't know him, my feeling is that he tends to get emotionally involved in the game and will often try and outplay players who he feels are getting after him and I've witnessed him spewing his chip stack away as a result. This means that, whilst in most cases game flow can be overvalued (as many pros play lots of tables), it is definitely a consideration when playing a player of this nature.

So, I find myself in the small blind with an unsuited Ace Queen and with Player 1 folding his hand it is left to our Villain to act. He is an observant player and is likely to have noticed that Player 4 in the big blind is sitting out. *Free Equity* I hear you whisper. Subsequently, I can safely assume that his button raise is likely to include a wide range of hands. When he does min raise I feel I'm left with little choice but to 3 bet, both for information and for value. A quick peak at my HUD says that the villain folds 50% of the time that he's 3 bet and only 4 bets 8% of the time. I 3 bet here with the intention of folding vs this opponent's 4 bet as his range is simply too strong against my holdings. However, some of you may think its a bad decision to reraise when 42% of the time I'm going to be left out of position in a bloated pot. This is the case a lot of the time but my hand is too strong to simply flat call and check fold a low flop when my opponent is relatively loose. It is important to maximise value with a hand especially if it dominates his range like it will if he flat calls.

I 3 bet to 300 and true to form he doesn't release and we see a flop. I expect him to have a wide range of hands here as he enjoys using position and he himself probably thinks I would resteal wide having seen Player 4's absence from the game also. The flop comes down Kd 2h Kc. This is a great flop for my hand. It is unlikely to have helped him and may also encourage a player that likes to use position to steal pots to stick around a little longer with weaker holdings gaining yet more value for my Ace high. I bet a little under half the pot for protection and value. I will still get called by small, medium and possibly even slow played big pairs, three of a kind (which realistically will be KT, KJ and KQ) as well as a tonne of floats with the intention of bluffing me later in the hand.

The turn is the 7 of diamonds changing very little improving 77 to a full house. I check with the intention of calling one street realistically to see what he'll do on the river. He quickly bets well under half the pot which conceivably he could do with all his range (a big/medium/small pair trying to reach cheap showdown, a King and all his bluffs) but I feel he's more likely to check back the pairs in his range hoping to get to showdown...and so the polarizing of his range begins. Given that three of a kind and full houses form such a small part of his range I elect to call and see what the river brings.

The river is the 8 of spades which is a bit of a brick improving 88 to a full house. I check and he instantly bets around 2/3 pot which was almost all my stack. Given the magnitude of this hand (in terms of how dominant the winner of this pot would be for the remainder of the tournament), the strength of the hand he is trying to represent and the size of the pot, the speed of this large bet didn't make any sense to me whatsoever. I expected most small/medium pairs to check back instantly (as the function his turn bet in this case was to get to showdown cheaply) and for a AA/QQ/KK/KT/KJ/KQ/77/88 hand have a little more time working out a good bet size for value. I tend to be careful regarding time-tells as good players will use them against you but on this particular occasion it made a lot of sense to take it into consideration. With pot odds of 2.6:1 I needed to be right around 30% of the time. With the texture of the flop, bet sizing and bet speed, I expected his polarized range to be heavily weighted towards bluffs. Subsequently, I took very little time in making the call. I was relieved and pleased to see he had JTos.

bigstealer

Heads Up Madness?

PokerStars Hand #78488992786: Tournament #543713965, $92.60+$7.40 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2012/04/07 19:48:53 WET [2012/04/07 14:48:53 ET]
Table '543713965 1' 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Hero (3371 in chips)
Seat 3: Villain (5629 in chips)
Villain: posts small blind 75
Hero: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to  Hero  [4s Kc]
Villain: calls 75
Hero: checks
*** FLOP *** [3h Ac Ah]
Hero: bets 150
Villain: raises 300 to 450
Hero: calls 300
*** TURN *** [3h Ac Ah] [9h]
Hero: checks
Villain: checks
*** RIVER *** [3h Ac Ah 9h] [9s]
Hero: bets 450
Villain: raises 4579 to 5029 and is all-in
Hero: calls 2321 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (2258) returned to Villain
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Villain: shows [5c 7c] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
Hero: shows [4s Kc] (two pair, Aces and Nines - King kicker)
Hero collected 6742 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 6742 | Rake 0
Board [3h Ac Ah 9h 9s]
Seat 1: Hero  (big blind) showed [4s Kc] and won (6742) with two pair, Aces and Nines
Seat 3: Villain (button) (small blind) showed [5c 7c] and lost with two pair, Aces and Nines

This hand was played in the closing stages of a $100 6 max tournament versus a very aggressive regular who likes to mix it up both in and out of position usually balancing his bluffs and made hands very well. To say that we know each other's game well is an understatement but don't let yourself be fooled into thinking that this particular hand was a case of psychological warfare.

So, first up the villain limps in on the button which, whilst it could be a trap, is most likely a sign of a weaker hand that he is not willing to raise especially as it is early in the Heads Up situation. I have K4 off suit and, whilst well ahead of his range in this spot, choose to check as I do not want to bloat the pot preflop out of position with a hand that does not flop well.

The flop is A A 3 with a two hearts. It is a very good one for my King high as very few hands have been improved by the Ace paired board and the lowly 3. Subsequently, I bet half the pot both for value from flush draws (not to mention I can expect a lot of floats in his range) and for protection as my hand is very vulnerable and checking would give the villain the opportunity to check behind leaving me guessing on the turn. My bet is instantly raised by the villain and with his aggressive reputation in mind I call as I am so often ahead in this spot. The turn is a nasty card, the 9 of hearts, completing a flush so I check to the aggressor most likely with the intention of folding to a turn bet. The villain checks behind instantly signalling to me that he does not have a flush. However, he is tricky enough to play the flush passively (and stacks are shallow enough for it to be conceivable) so when the board double pairs on the river when the 9 of spades peels, I put out a small bet which has 3 functions. The 1st of which is to get value from any queen high or jack high bluff that he might have thought was no good on the flop but now that my pair of 3s (which I could easily have with the line I've taken) has been counterfeited by the second 9, it may well be the best hand. The 2nd function is to provide a blocker bet for the unlikely event of him having a flush in which case I'd expect a flat call as he really cannot expect much long term value from raising with a flush here and could get levelled into losing his stack if raised again. The 3rd of which is to induce a bluff from a counterfeited 3 that HE may have had or any random unconnected hand with which he may try to bluff with. After I bet the villain takes a couple of seconds before raising all in and with pot odds of 2 to 1 it's a fairly easy snap call (as I only need to be right 33% of the time to show profit and I'd expect him to be bluffing well over half the time here). The villain mucks his hand and after inspecting the hand replayer is found to have a poultry 75 of spades.

bigstealer