Tournament Review

Replay Poker Hand Review
1

I played a freeroll yesterday and kept track of key hands for analysis. The list includes winners and losers. The field was 78 and the top 30 paid out.

I know that it’s a lot so please don’t feel obligated to check them all, or even any of them if you all you want is an entertaining read. I’m super happy if anyone just skims through the descriptions and comments on a hand here or there that piques their interest. If you do I suggest quoting the hand # to avoid confusion.

Special note: I am not replying to anyone at all in any way here. This is an utterly and completely new topic.

Hand 1

QT hearts in the +1. I open 4x and get 2 callers. Good so far. I flop rainbow open ended and out of position I protect it with half-pot. 1 villain calls and we’re heads-up. Turn is an A. Smelling danger due to his flop call, I check to test him out. Sure enough, he half-pots. I think it’s a very good hero fold.

Hand 2

2 limpers and I close the action in BB with T4o. Flop 876 rainbow for a gut. Middle villain bets min and we both call. Turn is K, it checks around. I river a T for 2nd pair no kick, but unafraid of the checked K I bet pot. It folds to me.

Pretty simple but how much do you think the K turn scared the villains? One or both of them must have had low pair or maybe a gut like me. Did I bet too much here? It was early in the tournament and I just wanted the pot. Without a tank I was erring on the side of protection but looking at it now, what was I protecting? Nothing beats me here except J9 and J9 calls 100%. I want A8-A6 etc to call. Thin bet may have gotten me a little extra but I don’t think that I lost much.

Hand 3

A8o, an overvalued hi-lo but it’s good for a button open. I raise 4x to 2 limpers and with the blinds I get 4(!) calls. Whiff the flop but I have an A and position, I just have to be careful with a couple of big stacks. Middle villain bets min, everyone calls, making for a nice pot. I turn an 8 for a pair. Everyone checks. Even if I had a bigger stack here I still think I check it back. I river an A for 2-pair. It checks to me. I bet 2bb (less that 10% pot), get 2 calls and crush their pocket pairs. I think I played it about perfectly, certainly maxed out at my skill level. Button powahh! (fist pump)

Question: How is my river bet size here?

Hand 4

You don’t have to open the link if you don’t want. Not much to see. Horrible embarrassing error. I folded a broadway on the turn with Q8s (which I opened UtG for 3.5x no less, a loose moment!), just sleeping on it. As far as I know, I’ve never done that before. I’m trying to remember if that was the hand when I checked a text that came on my phone or not, was distracted. As soon as the hand finished I thought, “s***, did I just … ?” and quickly loaded the hand. Sure enough. Concentrate, stay focused. A text can be answered on the next hand when I fold 93o or something.

Hand 5

Textbook example for all the fish out there who think that the game is rigged. It just doesn’t get any easier than this. I overlimp 73o(!!) from the small and we’re 4-way. The flop is K-rag-rag and I whiff hard. It checks around. I turn a pair of 7s. It checks around. River puts a pair of deuces on the board. We all check and I beat QT and A9! Srsly OMG?!?! The game is not rigged, you bums just hate money. : P A min bet on any street would have pushed me off of this, even 2x pre! Holy cow, stop limping!

Hand 6

ATs and open 3x. I get 1 caller behind. 966 board and I bet 1/3-pot. What was I doing here? I was bluffing the scary board obviously. In retrospect, not sure if it was a great move but he folds and I take a decent pot.

Lots of questions here. I almost never bluff these spots out of position. Even in position I usually leave it to a later street. Maybe it’s good to do it here once in a while to vary up and not be so predictable. Other than that, maybe it wasn’t such a great play, especially against a big stack. I think I got away with one. I better run before someone calls the cops.

Hand 7

This one isn’t much to see but I like it. Pocket 9s and I open 3.75x on the button to 1 limper. Blinds snap fold and the last villain tanks and folds. I just like it. Powah of tha button! Muhahahah!!

Hand 8

JT0 in HJ, villain leads into me for 2x. I come over top for 1050 (5x and a little bit - the little bit I stick on once in a while to make it look odd and distract their tank). Blinds fold and I’m heads-up in position with villain. Villain bets 1/6-pot. If I had a K or a 9 to go with that Q on the board I would have called open-ended, but I didn’t want to chase the draw for 2 more streets. Q is an overcard to me so I just lay it down. I think it’s a good fold whether villain shows me A2 or not.

Thoughts?

Hand 9

Prepare for drama. Dealt pocket 7s in the CO. The blinds are coming up so I have 9bbs in my stack but if I remember I was middle sized around this time. Also, crucial information, tourney pays out to 30th and there are 31 left - no felting allowed! I flat because of the stacks and flop a set, but there’s a spade draw. It checks around to me and I bet 1/3-pot. I want to size up but again, the stacks and the bubble. I get 1 caller. Book on villain is that I’ve played him a few times and he seems quite competent, at least in these low stakes waters. Turn is T-spades. Flush comes in. he checks. Now I’m quite afraid of those spades. I decide to jam for two reasons. First, I have him covered and won’t felt. I can still get paid if I lose. Second, if he has only 1 spade then I want him the @#$% outta here! He calls and shows flush. Before I can cry, the chips come my way. T on the river pairs the board and boats me. Whew! I rocket up into the top 5 chips stacks. I even feel sorry for villain to felt right on the button. I know the feeling.

So do you like my turn shove? If so, how much?

Hand 10

53s on the button. The BB is all in blind. I limp in and the SB calls. I flop low pair on 8Q5 rainbow. We check the next 2 streets. Stacks are about even. I bet half-pot and he folds. I guess I want to push him off a 7 or a 5, or even a Q with bad kicker. With all the checking he doesn’t have an 8. In hindsight, he might be check-raising the straight but that jive doesn’t happen very often down here.

What do you think of my river bet size? Is heavy protection good here or am I nuts?

Hand 11

Not much to analyze here but I include it because it was a nice stack-padding win. Most significantly, position helped me here. A9o in the CO. I would have folded this any earlier. I get 1 caller from a massive stack. I believe he was chip leader with the field around 20 at this point. We check all streets and I take it with an A-high. Was tempted to bluff the deuce river but I just didn’t want to stack off with him. It was safer to close the action - again position.

If I have a question, am I paying attention to the stacks well enough?

Hand 12

AJo and end up heads-up in position. We check it down and I take it with A-high again.

Why am I not bluffing this mojave dry board (okay 54 and 87 are there but srsly)? Pocket pair? I must have been thinking about the payout list and not unnecessarily risking a good cash. I guess it was a good move. Against a pro here I would think that you close the action rather than risk a backraise bluff, but in a low stakes freeroll she either has it or she doesn’t and acts accordingly.

Would a bluff have gotten me anything here? If so, would it be worth it?

Hand 13

Fairly crucial hand. A9o in the small. Stacks are pretty short so not much open raising going on in these hands. We’re 4-handed and 39Q gives me mid pair with A kicker. I don’t really care about the kicker, my A is more for equity. I check. Villain 1 checks. Villain 2 bets min. Villain 3 folds. I raise. Villain 1 goes all-in. Villain 2 calls. I have him covered 3x over but I’m going to have to hit my A (in retro, he might be shoving JT draw but I don’t have enough tank time to see that in the moment, my skills aren’t there yet). Villain 2 calling is the clincher and I’m out. The runout justifies the fold.

I probably shouldn’t have raised?

Hand 14

JJ in the CO. Again I flat because I have 10bb. We’re 3-handed and the flop is 749 all hearts. I love my hooks here but I hate the hearts on the board. Villain 1 shoves and Villain 2 calls. This smells gross. Happy to have position here but it changes nothing as I would not have bet that board anyways. Good fold. As an aside, could you imagine a (non-heart) 6 on the river? ; )

Hand 15

Big drama. T3o on the big. 2 callers and I check it closed to flop a pair of Ts. I jam it and get called by pocket AA. Lucky me, I river trip Ts but you wouldn’t know it by the state of my armpits. : P I guess you can’t suck anyone out unless you try. My justification was just that everyone was getting so short with the blinds any raise could be a shove, although I should have been more careful as Villain 2 (who folded) had me covered easily.

Was I crazy?

Hand 16

K8s button. (I luvz me some button) I raise to 3x because after my big win I have the stack to do it. I get called by the CO. I flop a K and Villain shoves. I call because I have Ks and have her covered. The runout gives her a straight. It happens.

My question is, (forget the runout) is K8 too wide to open here (considering button)? Obviously K9 can straight but being suited does make up for that I think. Just opinions.

Hand 17

T6o in the big. 1 call from the button and I check to close it off. We check 3 streets as I pray for a straight. I whiff all the way and lose.

Should I have bluffed those 7s on the river? I don’t remember considering it, but if I did I was probably intimidated by his big stack.

Hand 18

No analysis here. Shallow stack desperation. I’m 98o in the small. It folds around and I shove the big. He calls. I flop an 8 and miraculously neither of us straight. I stay alive.

Hand 19

Aww, man. The one that got away.

Hand 20

All in micro with 54o and this is how it ends. I cash 6th from a field of 78 for 22k. It’s a good day. : )

Cha-ching! (dances)

2

Hand #1:

You should check this flop. You actually have one of the very few hands where a bet is not completely unreasonable, but you really don’t want to get raised here and have to fold out this much equity. QJ with just a gutshot is a better bluff - and you’re definitely bluffing - you only have Q high, so you aren’t protecting anything.

If you check and it checks around, the A is a very good card to start bluffing on with QT. If you check and someone bets, the flop is a call. On the turn A, easy check/fold.

I’d give you a 7/10 for this one. I think the open is too large, leaving way less playability post, I prefer check on the flop, but the critical part of the hand you get correct. A lot of people (ie me, far too often) will call on the turn with outs to the nuts, but this is definitely a fold.

I haven’t looked at any of the other hands yet, but will do.

3

Hand 2

You checked flop and turn which are the only streets you actually get to bet, though check is also surely fine a lot of the time. Turn you could try to steal with some sneaky equity maybe.

River is check/call or check/evaluate whatever you wanna call it. As you say, what does a bet here accomplish?

4

Hand 3

I think this is a bit too wide but whatever, your opponents aren’t great, I won’t tell you not to get after it. Ofc we have so many better combos to 3bet with like A2s-A5s, AJo+, 89s+ but who cares, as long as we’re not blasting off with A8o too often I think it’s fine against this field.

No reason to do anything but check along on flop and turn. River sizing is not bad at all IMO; you got two very weak hands to call. You could maybe ask for a bit more without losing many nonbelievers, as anything less than 1/2 pot here probably reads pretty sus/stabby to many villains, whether or not that’s always the case.

5

Hand 6

Yes, definitely cbet this board texture a lot! No face cards, paired, two-tone board should generally favor PFR’s range I should think, with more pocket pairs and more nut hearts.

In general, exploitatively, paired boards are quite profitable to cbet in my experience. Opponents talk themselves into feeling way ahead/way behind more than they actually are, and just tend to overfold (or make it clear when they have trips).

Might go a bit more like 1/2 pot to reflect this more fit/fold dynamic, and because we want to extract more value with our made hands vs. the available draws, but 1/3 got the job done (and villain didn’t seem to think twice) so who am I to complain?

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6

Hand #2

This is the perfect board to lead from the big blind. You don’t need to have a leading range, but if you’re not going to lead, I really like check raising here against the small size. (You have a double gutter BTW. I’m not sure how happy you’d be to see a 5 roll off, but it’s still added equity).

Check/call is fine though. Pot river bet is definitely too large. There’s actually plenty of hands that beat you. Not all Kx is betting the turn, and there’s plenty of better Tx in range. Out of position you generally want to be going smaller on the river, so I’d think 1/3 here is optimal. You’ll get called by worse hands, and won’t get raised by anything that’s not at least 2 pair.

5/10 for this one. Nothing is a blunder, but the river bet sizing is getting close.

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7

Hand 8

I’m curious your thought process behind some of these wide 3bets. Is it just that you aren’t using an overlimp range in your strategy? A8o and JTo aren’t the most natural 3bet candidates, so I wonder how you’re choosing these hands. Not to say it’s a mistake; more interested in your thought process/what you’re trying to accomplish.

Anyway these spots are tricky in tournaments—Villain has so little behind that it’s going to be pretty easy for him to play postflop, and pretty annoying for you. Sometimes I will play these configurations in a nonstandard way just to avoid sizing awkwardness. Like, I might either just call behind here with an inflated range (including more hands I would normally raise with as a limp behind, then just calling down a ton post flop) or I might just put him in pre if I want to go with the hand.

You ended up barely folding correctly but I think it’s very close, and your line (bet 3-4bb pre, fold to minbet on flop with 3bb effective behind) is extremely exploitable.

Generally, if I’ve already invested 50% or more of your stack and it’s not a board that screams “the other guy got there,” I’m just shrug-calling you off for the rest with most of my range. I’m too scared of getting bluffed off my equity, and it’s pretty hard to be so far behind that a call is a big mistake. Basically, folding CAN be correct, but it’s a lot more likely to be a huge oopsie than calling, which can really never be too bad given stack sizes here.

8

Hand 9

I imagine my position here will be maybe a bit controversial :wink:

I think this is probably just a fold pre. You don’t want to bust on the bubble, you have a healthy enough stack to almost surely cash if you fold, and there are several stacks left to act behind that are big enough to kill you. 1bb is like 10% of our stack! Put it in the muck and start playing more aggressive/speculative poker again after the bubble bursts.

Alternatively, shove it and pray your fold EQ holds up.

Not sure there’s an in between here on 10bb in MP.

As played, just shove flop. Plenty of draws and weaker hands can call you, and you really don’t want to end up in the position you did (having bet flop relatively small, the flush coming in, and facing a check that doesn’t actually mean much in terms of Villain not having it).

9

Hand #3

1/10

If you’re going to play this pre, do it properly and jam.
There’s no way A8 is a profitable call on the flop after a bet and a call (you’ve had to go runner, runner to make a winning hand). The turn is also a pure fold with just bottom pair and your A out’s also bringing in KT, the only obvious draw

We usually want to avoid big bets out of position, we always want to avoid small bets in position. What do you do if someone jams over the top on the river here after you’ve re-opened for 1/10th pot?

I’m pretty sure that if you lost this hand you wouldn’t look back and think you played it well. It’s important to recognized you’ve been helped out a lot here by an amazing run out and other players making pretty big mistakes as well.

1 Like
10

Hand #4

I like the check on the flop, rather than just mindlessly betting a triple broadway board as the PFR.

At least no-one showed down with a set of aces - console yourself with the fact you weren’t getting that much out of this pot anyway.

1 Like
11

Hand #5

So, what’s your plan for winning this hand when you complete in the SB?
You’ve put in 1/2bb to win 4bb. 8:1 sounds great, but there’s no way you’re winning that often against 3 other opponents with 73o. Just fold.

3/10, just because I like your analysis.

Hand #6

Paired boards are normally range bets for the PFR, usually using a small size. For the size you used (just over 1/4), I’d consider AT to be a value bet.

Sure, on a paired board it’s possible for you opponent to have some monster hands, but most of their range whiffs completely. Sounds like you are blocking one of the 2 remaining combo’s of A6s (and also one combo of 3 combos of T9s), so you’re overwhelmingly up against trash here.

8/10 - minus some points for opening too large from EP, but otherwise this is textbook

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12

@lihiue @Younguru : I just want to tell you how much I appreciate all of this free advice. I’ll reply to some of these tomorrow after I let a few more replies come in so that the thread doesn’t clutter up.

1 Like
13

Hand 10

Whew, ok. Limp here is SO not a thing!

-we are near bottom of range
-there’s a dead BB
-only remaining villain is SB who will be OOP the rest of the way

All of this means OPEN if you want to play at all here with something as junky as 53s. Even IP you will have very little playability post flop; why limp? Attack the dead money, enjoy probably more fold equity than your actual range deserves, and at least give yourself some leverage to play with on favorable boards if SB chooses to continue.

As played, you could start betting on the turn perhaps. Not sure how much the river bet actually accomplishes.

14

Hand #8

Here’s what I think happened in this hand - you looked down at JTo and though: this is an open if it folds to me. Problem is, it doesn’t fold to you, there’s a limp first. Against the limp, you want to be opening fairly large, which you do, but that also necessitates tightening your range, which you don’t do.

6/10 - It’s a pretty big pre-flop mistake, but at least you don’t compound it just because your opponent bets small on the flop.

Hand #9

I’ve already learnt my lesson trying to argue with @Younguru about tournament specific spots, but luckily for me I agree again anyway. Mid-low pocket pairs just aren’t great hands, and you’re not required to play them (though if people are going to limp behind pre with K5, they go up quite a bit in value I guess).

7/10 - Fold might be better pre-flop in this exact spot, but calling can’t be that bad. After that, it probably really doesn’t matter much what you do - people are going with their hand or not, and you obviously have to go with yours.

Hand #10

I don’t have many notes on the hand, but there is no such thing as protection on the river. You are either value betting or bluffing - if you’re not sure which, that’s a pretty good indicator you should just check instead.

4/10 - aggression at any point is going to win you the hand, but pre-flop is the best place for it, and the river the worst.

15

Hand 11

:confused:

Let’s talk about stack depth. I think you’re in danger of developing some bad habits based on your opponents’ weak-passive play.

We start this hand on 8bb. EIGHT! I am playing shove/fold at this depth with 99% of my range. I might limp or make a small raise like you did with AA, as a trap, and that’s about it.

There comes a point in tournaments where you are exposing your stack to LESS risk by just going all-in, because of the extreme jump in fold equity vs. any other size.

Just because your opponents are going to check down dry runouts like this doesn’t mean you’ll always get away with it.

What are you going to do when Villain jams the turn, which they totally should do with Q9? Call and hope they’re bluffing with air? Call and lose to a random holding that made any pair, which has you in very bad shape? Fold and put 1/2 of your stack in just to not even get to showdown?

There are no really awesome outcomes unless you make a strong hand on the flop, and that doesn’t happen often enough to justify putting 40% of your stack in the middle preflop.

Often as early as 15bb, but certainly anywhere below 10bb, just play shove or fold! If you must take a middle ground approach, just limp behind and see a flop where you’re still not so exposed that you have to go with the hand no matter what.

16

Hand 1

Okay, first I will say that it’s my bad for not quite getting the terminology quite right. Sorry for that. By protection I meant protecting the draw equity, which I believe is properly referred to as a semi-bluff? The term protection really only refers to protecting marginal made hands, correct?

As for the advice itself, you are saying that the check/bet small early, bet larger late rule definitely applies here. If I understand you correctly then I get it, thanks.

Bluff a turn A out of position? So you are saying that there is little to no A in his range here?

4x open is too big? It got 3 callers (actually that I check the replay again, 1 of them folded the flop bet for 2 villains). 3x isn’t going to get any less. Yes I was +1 and UtG folded, but calling is very common down here in the freerolls. I usually do bet 3x from early, but sometimes if the game feels extra limpy I’ll size up. However, I think I get what you mean about pot control. Pot control is something that I am quite aware of pre-flop. All betting on the later streets will be sized to the pot and it can grow exponentially which is fab if you have nuts but is a ugly hairy problem if you’re drawing or marginal. I get that.

17

I’ll probably start a new thread to go on a mini rant about protecting betting, but yes, mostly it’s only a significant factor when we have a marginal made hand (but a bunch of other stuff has to be true as well for it to make sense).
If you think the cheapest way to get to the flop is to bet here because you’ll likely never get raised but someone might bet larger if you check, then I guess you are protecting your equity with the bet. This is a pretty scary board for good hands though, so I don’t think you’ll see much betting from hands that wouldn’t also raise.

Some, sure, it’s just not that relevant. You shouldn’t be betting anything less than a set of 8’s for value, and you only really have QT and QJ as bluffs. Even A9 is just bluff catching. I doubt anyone at a freeroll is thinking like that, but I still think you will get folds sometimes when you follow through on the river.
Look, you can probably fold your way into the money in most freerolls, so I don’t think results is how you should be judging your play. If you can get a bluff through in these fields though, especially one you’ve thought out and run over multiple streets, that’s going to have been a great play at any level.

You nailed it re: preflop sizing and pot control. Your opponents are inelastic up to any reasonable size, and these hands are all going multi way, which just further multiplies the size of the pot, giving you no playability post. If you want to go large, you need to do it with a very strong range. If you want to play a lot of hands because you think you have a big edge post, then do a lot of min open raising, especially from EP.
You’re still going to see a lot of limping and multi-way pots even at the highest stakes, so you really want to nail this (and you will need to adjust your strategy for different stack depths)

1 Like
18

Example Standard Hand:

playing nicely with the other kids in the sandbox

Is J9o a good hand to limp with from pretty early position? Nope.
But if these guys are gonna limp all the time with a super wide range, sometimes I’m just gonna mix it up and get in the pool with everyone else.

I don’t feel obligated to take a weak hand like J9o and open 3-4x here every time; I’m going to sometimes limp behind with a hand like 55 or A7s as well, and even (rarely) with a hand like QQ or AKs, so it’s not like my overlimp range is just face-up and super exploitable.

But this way I can see more high-SPR pots where there’s plenty of room to leverage my opponents’ mistakes. And if someone 3bets big from the action behind me, I can easily fold—it’s just 1bb invested. Things go wrong quickly when we start being too aggressive from EP with hands like JT/J9 because now if we get called, we’re usually behind, and if we get 3bet, we’re usually way behind.

Post flop, I like that I both
-didn’t overplay my hand on earlier streets, taking a passive line and waiting for my opponents to clarify “where I’m at”
-still found a good thin value bet on the river, justifying my involvement in the pot with this crappy hand in the first place ( or so I’ll tell myself :wink: )

19

Oh totally, that’s why I want/need this feedback. However, when I play freerolls I make less money if I don’t max the exploits. The real gains here are by having you guys coach me up, I can make my adjustments much easier when I move up stakes.

btw ~ I already just finished a 5k cashing 4th for 37k in a field of 86. I’m putting some of this to work already, bet sizing and rivers especially. We’ll see if I can keep it up. However, I still have another 30+ days eligibility on rookie freerolls and I can’t pass up the bankroll there. The fields are small and I can almost sleepwalk top 5. 2 of my last 3 I finished 1st and 2nd.

1 Like
20

Hand 2

I’m definitely not a good bluffer. I’ve known that, so I’m very careful doing it, which I think is a smart way of playing within my skillset. I really only bluff scare cards in position on checked streets. Reading what you both have been telling me in all of these reviews I think that I’m figuring out that my issue with bluffing is that I have a hard time distinguishing between actual bluffing and smei-bluffing and protection, so these spots become a blur when I only have 10-15 seconds to act. It’s still quite foggy but I’m starting to see some shapes, so thanks to both of you.

Yeah, I messed up the river. I mean already was not afraid of the checked K on the turn (because absolutely nobody down here slow plays - srsly I’ve been check-raised once all week). Why would I be pushing anybody off when I hit the river? Pretty dumb.

D’oh! (facepalm), can’t believe I missed that.

Actually the only hands that beat me are better Tx. I understand what you’re saying, and normally yes, but this is a freeroll, the lowest of the low. Anything that doesn’t need a T would definitely have been betting that turn. You can tell what they have by what they bet. At higher stakes, I’m sure that I’m playing with fire but here not really. I’m not sure how long it’s been since you wasted your time on a freeroll (honestly, not sarcastically) but trust me on this one. AT, QT, JT, T5, sure but I suppose that I do block. Quite honestly T8, T7, T6 villain still likely bets turn. He bet flop min and didn’t barrel. He’s got air. T9 is the nuts so no way. TT has 1 combo. Even if he’s sitting on T6, 8 or 9 times out of 10 he’s not and I’m ahead here. Yes, it’s that weak.

Still, pointless river bet. You’re totally right. Why would I try to push someone that I was convinced was behind off? It’s a fish mindset that I need to eliminate - like right now.