Texas Holdem Strategy Video Source & Information:
The last #HeloAlec for this week is coming from my reader Maxim. He played this hand recently and he would like to know more about his tournament poker strategy here. Is his hero call on the river too ambitious for his tournament life? What would you do in his shoes? Same as hero or not? What do What do you think about his poker hand reading? What would be your tournament poker strategy and tips?
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Source: YouTube
you went with a read but i think it is a pretty ambitious call with how many chips you have you basically have a hand that you have too go with cause you have so much in the pot already i think i wouldve just shoved on the flop and you could have got chips with minimal risk seeing how no one raised preflop so all pocketpairs are out and ace rag hands so you dont have much to be scared of. but good call on the river seeing how this ace is a scare card and the button is more likely to bluff at it should he have put so much in the pot no but good call.
Sometimes hands play out in the strangest ways. If Alec posts the hand i submitted, you'll see what i mean. To answer your question, the Hero Call does seem a bit too ambitious. It was awesome how you kept your cool And deduced that Button was trying to steal the pot. If button wanted a Call, button would most likely bet for value to induce a Call. That was a great observation. Like they say, all-in is either a bluff or they have It.
Preflop: Marginal call, but I think it's ok. You're getting a sick price to complete (13.9%) given the presence of antes. If the big blind squeezes, you have an easy fold.
Flop: You have very little equity here, so check-fold is the correct play.
Turn: You could consider betting here for protection. There are a ton of terrible rivers, so getting opponents to fold out their equity is a good result. Nobody seemed interested on the flop, so there's a good chance you'll get at least one of them to fold. Checking, as played, is also fine. Facing a bet and a caller, I would find the fold button. You're calling 2860 to win 14340 so you need to be winning this pot 19.9% of the time. Given that you have second pair with little improvement potential AND being first to act, I think you'll find it hard to win this often, let alone offset the reverse implied odds.
River: Yikes. If you're really confident villain has two different ranges preflop then I guess it's ok? A5, A4, T9 for value. You're beating almost all his bluffs for sure. I think you're right in thinking big blind won't call without exactly A9 (95s would be a hard call for tournament life), and you block that nicely. I'd still be way happier calling this when closing the action, but I like your chutzpah!
I just worry that villain is limping preflop with his entire range because he doesn't want to raise-fold to your perfect shoving stack. In which case he could have 99, sneaky AT, and maybe even stuff like AsKs, AsQs, AsJs. Overbet shoving is definitely the optimal play – he could check behind but instead reopens action against two other people, therefore he's mega polarized, therefore bet huge and make you play for your tournament lives.
I think you've made three pretty marginal calls: preflop, turn and river, but the overall result is frickin awesome, so kudos to you man! Shows that playing 100% passive can be the optimal line 😀
However, if you'd bet the turn I expect BB would fold, BN would call. On the ace river, it goes check-check and you win much more conventionally. I don't know which option you'd prefer tbh; your reads seem pretty sick!
I dont think it is too ambitious, is he really gonna limp any ace on the button preflop? Check back any pair on the flop? The only thing he is going to check back on the flop is sets of 4 and 5s that he would limp with, however he may have raised the turn if those were his hand to charge the 9s and draws. This late in the tourni you have to make calls like this. I am surprised he made this move, it seems very desparate.
Preflop: Good. Antes are in there, the price is decent, and I really don't feel like ripping it w/ this hand against an open limp.
Flop: Nothing to say here.
Turn: I think you have to drop it here. The parlay isn't very good for your hand, and you may face a big bet on the end.
River: This call is…ambitious. I can't say it's bad because villain clearly polarizes his range (like he's not making this bet w/ A3 unless he's insane), so do the math and count the bluffs.
Depending on how strong villain is will dictate whether you should call or fold. For example: you and the SB start the hand with good 3 bet shoving stacks, so I'd definitely have an open limping range on the button. Hands like QTs, 55, A3s would definitely be in my range planning to call off. I don't dislike his play preflop w/ 97s given stacks, so nothing yet leads me to believe he's a fish.
What I'm getting at is that a strong villain could easily have a hand like 54s, AT, and occasionally AXss as well. Maybe even 44/55. Against a weak opponent, I agree that he likely only has two pair. So the stronger player will have way more value, meaning he'd need way more bluffs to make this a call. A fish, it's much more justifiable to call; however, do you really need to risk your tournament life on a thin call when you have position on a fish?
I don't know how you can narrow down the button range this tightly on a limp here. I'd be suspicious that it's almost wider than the BB's check range when the button has two short stacked players behind.
I think the villain expected to use the ace as a scare card with position, but that shove is so weird, it's almost a Phil Ivey TV value betting spot. Seems like a good call except against somebody who you'd probably be wary of already.
I put this somewhere between goofy and crappy. Fold mufuka.
only hands he would do this for value is 32 or some weird line he took with a flopped set. honestly i have no idea if the villain is trying some weird merge or is just trying to blow out one pair hands, its a pretty bad shove
wp bro, but i wont say villain totally bad play , maybe he is trying to bluff off T pair , in a standard way pair of 9 have showdown value , but there are players like to turn marginal make hand to bluff or to thin value, when he make this move some one with a small pair might call his all in , like you say it looks bluffy , or effective nuts hands, A 4 , A 5 is possible, imo you do make a ambitious call in the tourney , if this a cash game i would like this call more. if you are unlucky enough he have 9 J and your tourney life is gone
Easy fold on the turn imo. I don't mind the river call though, unless it's really late into the tournament