$ NL HE MTT: Hand of the Week: J/10 Suited on The Button, UTG Min-Raise Preflop - How would you play this?

[Tammy]

Game

Hold'em

Game Format

No Limit

Table Format

MTT

Freeroll

1. Freeroll

Currency

$

Thanks to @maronza1 for his submission for our 1st Tournament Hand of the Week!

Click here to watch the replay, and comment your advice!

Here are some comments from Maronza:
"This hand gave me a challenge on the river...my concern was about a possible full house on the board. What should i have done differently, and was my raise on the turn appropriate?

At the showdown i laughed at this hand since its @Martin favourite hand he told us about 🙂"

 

[najisami]

Hey Ron,

I think the hand has been played correctly by both of you. The "Value" raise on the turn was perfect IMO. Martin had to call having hit a decent pair to go with his flush draw. As to the river, I don't see how you could've raised there. He took a chance and made a smart bet with his showdown value just in case, but folding that straight, to that amount was out of question. If he shows you the boat, you say "nh" and you move on.

PS: There was no question about the pre-flop play, and I kind of like it because I prefer not to go there anyway.

 

[ratbat615]

Wow what a scary river. I would have played it the same. Because what hands call a 3 bet on the turn.flush draws straight draws and sets depends on the player. Some players will shove a set. And I think a full house would bet more on river. But if the villain shoved the river I would be sick.

 

[eetenor]

preflop fine flop fine turn take a look at your sizing and consider what hand types continue-- if you do that you may decide to raise larger as the hand types do not change very much your V hand a perfect example.

As to the river your not getting called by worse in these game types as your V will probably fold an 8---just be glad that the other player bet what you would have bet anyway. Not the right sizing by them at all with the hand they held.

If ever you are playing in games where both players are skilled and you both can be bluffing river we would want to be thinking about what full houses play like this multiway- why would a set on the flop not raise? why would two pair not lead on turn vs the very weak flop bet and your flat. Why when you showed soo much strength on turn would a full house not lead more on river knowing you had to call your straights as they could be bluffing straight blockers and full house blockers with a hand like J9cc

That is when we can think about raising river when they have to call worse than a straight because we are bluffing J9

 

[Suns of Beaches]

I would raise more on the turn, basically a bit less than pot and u can also consider raising the river to 1k+. Given that this was a freeroll where u can expect all kinds of plays and against this specific kind of action, i would raise there almost everytime. U can still fold if he 3-bets since it's expected that he will only do that with Full Houses or Quads.

 

[fundiver199]

A bit late to this party, but I still like to give my thoughts on the hand.

Preflop
I like calling behind here having the best seat and a decent suited connector.

Flop
Hero flopped a gutshot with two overs and a BDFD, so a pretty decent flop for him. The bet is very small and looks weak, so Hero could start a bluff here by raising. However in a multiway pot its somewhat unlikely to get everyone to fold, so its also fine to just call and see the next card for cheap.

Turn
Obviously the gin card, since Hero now has the nuts, and Hero definitely need to raise for value against another very small bet. Sizing looks good.

River
Now the board pairs, and there is a lead AKA "donk bet", since Hero took the initiative on the turn. Folding would be insanely tight, so I think, its only a discussion about calling or raising for value again. And I do actually like a raise for value here. The flop and turn bets were really small, so this is still not a bloated pot. Including Villains lead its almost like, only two bets have gone in.

I think, Villain could be leading with trips, and I also think, its very unlikely, a full house would be played with this. A full house would have been a set or two pair earlier in the hand, and I dont think, it would have been played this passively. Or if Villain did slowplay, I think, he would be more likely to go for a check-raise on the river than this donk lead.

So I think, just calling is a little to cautious here, although to be fair I dont know, if Villain would have called a raise with just a 9. I am also not quite sure, if Villains donk lead was for value or a bluff. He had a busted flushdraw, but he also had top pair, so his hand was kind of in between, and in his spot I would clearly have checked and made a decision. Most likely folding to any substantial river bet.

 

[eetenor]

A bit late to this party, but I still like to give my thoughts on the hand.

Preflop
I like calling behind here having the best seat and a decent suited connector.

Flop
Hero flopped a gutshot with two overs and a BDFD, so a pretty decent flop for him. The bet is very small and looks weak, so Hero could start a bluff here by raising. However in a multiway pot its somewhat unlikely to get everyone to fold, so its also fine to just call and see the next card for cheap.

Turn
Obviously the gin card, since Hero now has the nuts, and Hero definitely need to raise for value against another very small bet. Sizing looks good.

River
Now the board pairs, and there is a lead AKA "donk bet", since Hero took the initiative on the turn. Folding would be insanely tight, so I think, its only a discussion about calling or raising for value again. And I do actually like a raise for value here. The flop and turn bets were really small, so this is still not a bloated pot. Including Villains lead its almost like, only two bets have gone in.

I think, Villain could be leading with trips, and I also think, its very unlikely, a full house would be played with this. A full house would have been a set or two pair earlier in the hand, and I dont think, it would have been played this passively. Or if Villain did slowplay, I think, he would be more likely to go for a check-raise on the river than this donk lead.

So I think, just calling is a little to cautious here, although to be fair I dont know, if Villain would have called a raise with just a 9. I am also not quite sure, if Villains donk lead was for value or a bluff. He had a busted flushdraw, but he also had top pair, so his hand was kind of in between, and in his spot I would clearly have checked and made a decision. Most likely folding to any substantial river bet.

Always great points by you:
If we are seldom getting value from worse and do not hold the nuts and our V can -as in this spot- we do not raise---Why can the V have the nuts? A set of 99 or 98 is not the nuts on the turn and we bet turn like we had the nuts, which by the way is 3 different straights, all live because of the small flop bet. The flopped straight the least likely but in these freerolls many players trap in spots they should not therefore OOP player could assume they are second best on turn call the large bet and lead the nuts at some frequency on river. -- It is very uncommon for the V to have any of the straights and play this way which would be our value targets. In games where players are often weak passive on rivers and check back on paired boards with strong hands, leading rivers with the nuts vs check raising is far more profitable-- As this Villain would also fold, at a very high frequency on this river to a raise -based on player pool type- and they could be leading the nuts these two factors makes our river raise -EV in an MTT setting.