KQ-bubble hand

[bobcorn]

PokerStars Game #3287684146: Tournament #16276292, Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2005/12/09 - 19:16:23 (ET)
Table '16276292 1' Seat #9 is the button
Seat 2: bobcorn (2400 in chips)
Seat 4: Patchizo (2400 in chips)
Seat 7: $u1t3d 4c3s (1385 in chips)
Seat 9: Boomer06 (7315 in chips)
bobcorn: posts small blind 100
Patchizo: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bobcorn [Qd Kd]
$u1t3d 4c3s: raises 400 to 600
Boomer06: folds
bobcorn: calls 500
Patchizo: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ks 3c 7s]
bobcorn: checks
$u1t3d 4c3s: checks
*** TURN *** [Ks 3c 7s] [4s]
bobcorn: bets 800
$u1t3d 4c3s: calls 785 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [Ks 3c 7s 4s] [Ts]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bobcorn: shows [Qd Kd] (a pair of Kings)
$u1t3d 4c3s: shows [6d As] (a flush, Ace high)
$u1t3d 4c3s collected 2970 from pot

The utg raiser had been very tight the whole game, but loosened up a lot since we got down to 4-handed. He was very tight postflop so i thought a stop-n-go might work. If the big blind got involved i would just play the hand for value. In hindsight it was a mistake to check the flop but i thought he would bet to try and represent the king. Should i not have even been involved in this hand in the first place?

[jp]

I play pre-flop the same, but I'm putting villian all in after the flop.

[jacedk]

I play pre-flop the same, but I'm putting villian all in after the flop.

Yes, with a flushdraw on the board, the last thing you want to do is give the Villain a free card. Put him to the decision for all his chips on the flop.

[easy_as_pie]

tight early agressive later
you read him perfect and he was raising wtih Ax
if you trust your red and move in over the top preflop, immedeatly he will fold.
he seems solid based on his play so he is not calling without pp higher than 77 or 1010 or AQ-AK
on the flop, WHY CHECK. i cant believe neither of you bet. KQ is a trappable hand. with so much money already in the pot relative to your stacks i would be really happy to take it down on the flop and not worry about extracting more

[Linuxrocks]

I either fold or push pre-flop. I am more accustomed to party structure so this strategy might be wrong on PS.

[miamipuck]

I either fold or push pre-flop. I am more accustomed to party structure so this strategy might be wrong on PS.

It is, Poker Stars allows for more wiggle room post flop. You would have to put him all in post flop and just deal with the consequences of opponent turning the flush.

Unfortunately there is a large majority that love nothing more then to put their tournament life on the line for a draw.

[jp]

Unfortunately there is a large majority that love nothing more then to put their tournament life on the line for a draw.

True, but I'm happy to push my chips and be called by a draw, then to give free cards and call off some/all of my chips.

[goofyballer]

I don't mind the flop check so much. It looks weak, he raised preflop so you're probably expecting a c-bet, he's shortstacked so that adds to his desperation, and there's really only one scare card (an ace) that you can give up if he checks behind. I think checking is the optimal play to get all his chips in the pot; and when you flop TP2K against a loose raiser, why would you not want that?

You guys did notice that he rivered the flush, not turned it, right? He got all-in on a flush draw on the turn and sucked out.

[jp]

I think checking is the optimal play to get all his chips in the pot; and when you flop TP2K against a loose raiser, why would you not want that?

I agree with your statement, but I look at it this way. Villian is left with 785 after the call by hero and the BB hits him next. I don't see villian folding this hand. Maybe he wants to check it down to be safe, but if you bet, you can almost guarantee he is going to call. If he folds, oh well. He is left with 3.5 BB, has to post next hand, and hero moves into 2nd in chips.

You guys did notice that he rivered the flush, not turned it, right? He got all-in on a flush draw on the turn and sucked out.

But why wait to get your money in when you are ahead. A free card does nothing but lessen you chances of winning this pot. A bet also works better if villian was by chance holding A6s instead of A6o.

I agree with you that hero made the right decision and got his money in when he was ahead, but I think betting the flop means our hero is not going to lose this hand as much as he would when he gives free cards.

[goofyballer]

I guess it's risk/reward. Obviously if you want to win the most often, you push the flop, but I think checking and trying to trap is a small risk (which happened to manifest itself the one out of a billion times in this hand) versus a big reward (800 more chips). If the blinds are higher I might just go ahead and push, expecting a call, but with 800 chips left and 100/200 blinds there's still enough room left for a thinking player to decide he's beat and lay it down.

I don't disagree with pushing outright, I just see some merit for the more daring player to trap.

[frogbs]

Either way, I really don't think he would have folded. He would be getting 22:8 odds to call, right? 2.75:1 to call, 2:1 to hit the flush, plus the ace...so really it didn't much matter what you did. Personally, I would have bet the flop, simply because I really wouldn't want an Ax to hit an ace, but heeeyyy...