A Hand

[Unusual Pete]

here's a hand from the most recent live game played.  hadn't competed in a long while, but had monday and tuesday off so i regged  a local $150 tournament as my third game of the year.  100ish runners, $3300 for 1st.


starting stack is 10k. i kept accumulating, but would get bad beat to knock me below chip average. kept on like that. build-bad beat-build again.



5 hours in and we're at 1500/3000/400a.  we'd just combined for the final table.  me and bb both have about 120k. there's 9 left. we're easily into the money and are co chip leaders. it folds to me on the button. holding ace 8 off i open to 7k. bb defends. 19,100 to the flop.



flop comes 4AJ all hearts of which i have none. bb leads 6k.  likely a blocking bet.  probably has a worse pair and a flush draw. i can raise, but i'm only getting called by either better or hands with a ton of equity that can easily pass. i call.  31,100 to the turn.



turn is my gin card. an offsuit 8.(4AJ8, three hearts). bb leads with another blocking bet of 10k. I call. 51,100 to the river.



river is 9 of hearts. (4AJ89, four hearts). bb checks. i check.  



i'm purposefully leaving out information.  results of the hand, results of the game.  how do you feel about this hand?  every street?  felt like a critical point in the game, as it determined the chip lead with 9 left.  the loser of the hand, as played, was still 2/9.  not insurmountable.  will give time before revealing spoilers.

[eye123]

10k starting stacks…..100 players…..1 million in chips final table. If you and bb are chip leaders, chips pretty evenly spread, and your both barely leading other players. So the hand. You lead for 7k...bb calls 4k(protect blind….wide range) On the flop bb bets 6k. He has wide range(may be small heart) and the wager garners information from you. He checks, (weak play or trap) Turn gives you two pair...he leads again for 10k…..three hearts still on board...what could he be repping…..pocket 4’s...pocket J’s…...you have A 8 blocker on pocket A’s or 8’s…..does he have AJ…...if me here, I think I raise ($26,000)....I think I’m good and don’t want to give a free draw to the fourth heart.(or queen 10 hand)

River comes the fourth heart. My guess…..he has small heart in his hand(see where you are) checks…..and you lose. (or sitting with queen 10 and hits straight)

PS...hope I’m wrong...he gives up ….you win, and take the top spot for $3,300

[tc]

sounds to me like the hand was played fine...a tad conservative but probably how I would have played it.

[Unusual Pete]

hand reveal.  he held 77 with the 7 of hearts to win the pot.

immediately i thought, 'i did nothing wrong.'  i thought about it for a while while i was folding the next several hands and concluded, 'i should've shoved the turn.'  to just raise gives local fish the idea they're getting the right price to chase their draw and makes it so i can't get away if they get there.  in real time what stopped me from doing it was some very limited information about the villain.  i'd labeled him a sticky fish/calling station.  at the previous table he'd opened under the gun and was called by the cutoff.  the flop came out AQx and he'd c-bet/called off an all in for 90% of his stack with kings.  he was behind to top two but got lucky to spike a king on the river.  regardless, vs the lion's share of his range on my hand, shoving the turn is the optimal play.  maybe he calls, gets there and i'm out.  maybe he folds.  i had only committed 13k to the pot. i still had 107k.  yes it's pretty obvious i'm protecting my hand, but at least i'd be prompting a mistake if i induce a call. 


tournament reveal.  i finished first!!!  i got six of the remaining eight knockouts.  i ran like jesus on stilts!  got a triple ko waking up with AA in the bb vs ak, ak and 88 shoves.  got a fourth ko when i was just being abusive on the button to a short stacked bb.  opened with K5 suited, bb shoved with TT, but had no fold equity so i called and spiked a king.  got another one when i called an all in pre with KK.  the heads up match was one of the easiest i can remember.  stole a lot from my button which is standard.  villain tried to trap me a few times limping his button with premium hands. i only continued those with hands i could legitimately go with.  he got the minimum twice and lost a lot of his chips when i outflopped him once.  with that loss plus the stealing, he was down 4 to 1.  the winning hand was my AQ off vs his KQ off.  

results oriented thinking has me loving the way i played the hand.  process oriented thinking has me hating it.  still smiling a day later though.

[eye123]

Pete, congrats on the win! Glad you ran well after the “hand”. On the turn you had to realize you were ahead and he was drawing to a hand. (knowing the cards you were a 3-1 fav) I think there a raise or shove was the way to go. Over time need to get it in when ahead.


PS….am I a genius or what lol! called the low heart and figured you did well after the hand (the fact you brought it here for discussion )

Nice win Pete !

[Unusual Pete]

thanks eye.  "running well" is the understatement of my playing life.  i've never run so good.  i don't recall ever seeing anyone else run so good either.  any monkey wins it with the final table run of cards i had.  i mean who sits in the bb with three all ins before him holding aces?  answer: this fish.

yes you're a genius.  i'm not mature enough to withhold the win from an audience.  i'll admit that while the hand itself was worthy of analysis, the entire thread is probably just a roundabout way of me getting to brag. 

the irony of it is i'm not focused on the game anymore.  it's august and it's my 3rd game of the year, period.  in 2016 i played in 50 live games and over 1200 online games that year too.  i had a personal coach and spent off days working on things from a training site called runitonce.  i had some online heaters, but no live wins.  late that year i got ripped off by my coach when i went through him via a player to player transfer in order to get an online payout.  it prompted an instant loss of interest.  play more now occasionally just for entertainment.  also i felt like he built some skill in me and i like to test to see if it's perishable sometimes.  needed this win then.  enjoying this win now.
  

[shoes]

Great stuff Pete. I like to watch and listen, don't think I have the nerve to do it live at any serious level.