https://www.replaypoker.com/hand/replay/453299406
Do I raise here or was just calling the better choice? I called because that 6 on the river made a straight possible, and I didn’t want to get too much in. It actually made a set of 6s for my villain, and he bet them. I successfully hid my KK which flopped into a set for the whole hand, and got OK value from the villain hitting and betting his set. Was I too cautious?
And as a bonus, here’s me finally making a good pot with AA:
https://www.replaypoker.com/hand/replay/453300872
So I can finally quit whining now 
And then I get creamed by quad 5s, A5 over AQ:
https://www.replaypoker.com/hand/replay/453301818
And again, KKKT destroyed by KKK55. I really hate 5s right now.
https://www.replaypoker.com/hand/replay/453302075
Trips improve to Flush:
https://www.replaypoker.com/hand/replay/453303645 ← this was very easy to play let me tell you.‘’
Sigh. AQ over TT, but TT makes a straight.
https://www.replaypoker.com/hand/replay/453306977
2 Likes
I think you left some meat on this bone my friend. Preflop raise was on the small side. Checking the flop is ok to give him a chance to catch up but the turn bet was way too small. He’s going to have something or not so why not bet at least 1/3 pot and try to build it up a little? On the river I think you left a lot out there and I would have re-raised. I can’t be all that worried about 9/8s which is only 4 possible combinations and he may have raised at least the diamonds on the turn. This is coming from a donkey so take it for what its worth - you need to take the risk of value-owning yourself sometimes. If you aren’t, then you probably aren’t getting as much value as you could be. Nice hand though - so nice to have KK and not see an A anywhere out there for a change. I usually wind up getting beat by something insulting like A6o
3 Likes
I ended up taking 1st place in the tournament, so it didn’t really matter, but I think you’re probably right. I figured if I tried betting the set, I’d end up getting nothing for it at all, so just dangling the bait on the hook for longer was really the right thing to do in this case with only 1 player to beat. I think betting the turn makes him fold. I think calling his bet on the River was definitely OK, because if he did suck out hitting a straight, I need to see it with KKK, but I didn’t want to raise and get beat for even more chips, so I think it was reasonable to play more cautious this early in the tournament, but probably I could have gotten better value by raising that river bet.
You never know though! The other hands I posted from the same tournament show how that happens to me, lol. This influences my psychology, you might say. Murphy’s law and all that.
I got really hot cards toward the end and started taking nearly every pot I was in. That felt good. Despite some of the bad beats I took, none of them hurt my psychologically, and I was able to avoid going on tilt, and just played my A-game.
2 Likes
Interesting hand, friend. I can see where your apprehension of 89 set in on the turn.
To begin with, I like your preflop raise and check on the flop, and I agree with @Comicguy that a slightly larger sizing would have been better on the turn.
Unfortunately the river play comes down to scared vs aggressive play, in my opinion. If this tournament represented a small/manageable portion of your total bankroll I feel that you should re-raise his raise, since all things being equal, statistically speaking, that is the right play. But I can see why you may choose to just call if this tournament was worth a large portion of your total bankroll so as to not risk the whole bank on one hand when there will be other surer opportunities coming.
I say “unfortunately” here because you know the old adage, Scared Money Don’t Make No Money. So it’s better to play tournament sizings where you are comfortable going aggressive for the crown and biting the statistical bullet should it take you down that way. No problem; Reload, refocus, & re-raise top set. Good luck.
1 Like