Winning Poker Tournaments – Hand Number 20

Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Volume III by Jon “PearlJammer” Turner, Eric “Rizen” Lynch, Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet, and yours truly, analyzes 50 online poker hands. In Volume III, PearlJammer, Rizen, and Apestyles analyze the same hands and then I give a summary of lessons learned at the end of the hand. This article looks at hand No. 20.

Seat 1 Small blind: 57,962
Seat 2 Big blind: 38,570
Seat 3 Hero: 31,238
Seat 4 UTG+1: 113,857
Seat 5 MP1: 62,583
Seat 6 MP2: 40,254
Seat 7 CO: 48,117
Seat 8 Button: 59,279

800-1,600 Blinds, 150 ante

Setup: You are in the money in a $109 freezeout with 25 players remaining. First place pays $10,000.

Pre-flop A Q (3,600): You raise to 4,000. Seat 2 three-bets to 8,600.

What do you do?

PearlJammer

With a stack of 15-20 big blinds, I will open raise strong hands in lieu of shoving, but I plan to go all the way with them if any opponent three-bets or shoves. There are a few exceptions to this rule: If there is a three-bet and a four-bet behind me, folding is an option. Also, if I raise under the gun and a tight opponent right behind me three-bets, I will consider folding a hand such as A-Q offsuit.

Here, the big blind, with only 24 big blinds, put in a very small three-bet to 8,600. My decision is whether to four-bet all-in or fold, as calling is out of the question. Even though I would have position, the pot would be big enough from making a call that I’m much better off getting the money in preflop to avoid awkward postflop situations. Even though I don’t like to raise/fold with this stack size, I have a very close decision. A-Q offsuit is the bottom of my opening range, as I would fold A-J, K-Q, and low pocket pairs with this stack size under the gun precisely to avoid awkward situations like this. Given that I have the bottom of my range, and the big blind has made a very small three-bet that looks like he’s begging for action, folding seems reasonable. On the other hand, being in the big blind, he has no one else to act after him, so he should feel more confident (than he would if he were in early position) three-betting a hand like sevens through tens, A-Q, or even possibly A-J or A-T if he thinks I may fold. Because he is last to act in this hand, and I do not have any read on him as a tight player, I shove all in, choosing to stick to my strategy of not raise/folding with a 20 big blind stack.

Rizen

I raised from under-the-gun, indicating I have a strong hand (unless I had been extremely active). The big blind has reraised me, indicating he is stronger. Not only that, but he has raised a very small amount, indicating that he probably wants action for his strong hand. I’m getting really good pot odds, but I’m giving very poor reverse implied odds. The big blind’s hand range is likely to be so strong that if I call and hit the flop, I will be dominated much of the time and will have to commit my entire stack before finding out. It’s just not worth the risk when you can fold and preserve a stack with some resteal fold equity. For me to make any play other than tossing my A-Q into the muck, I would need a really strong read that the big blind is capable of three-betting that small for 25 percent of effective stacks and then folding. I choose to fold.

Apestyles

For a long time, I operated with absolutes such as “never” raise/folding a hand as strong as A-Q with 20 big blinds, but I’ve learned through trial and error that I prefer adjusting to the specifics of the situation. I play a lot tighter with 15-20 big blinds than when deep-stacked, but I’ll occasionally raise with the intention of folding since most people think (correctly) I’m not raise/folding that stack size very often.

As to the actual hand, I lean toward folding this deep in a tournament, but it’s close either way. The villain’s choice to make a small three-bet, rather than shoving over an under-the-gun raise, looks very strong. I’ve seen many players make these tiny reraises with their big pairs because they don’t want to scare their opponent(s) out. But there’s also a small chance he has a weaker hand he’s trying to look strong with or that he might be planning to three-bet and fold. It’s more likely that he has Q-Q+ and wants to induce action since I raised under the gun. The only players I wouldn’t fold to would be creative, aggressive regulars capable of making this size bet with weaker holdings. Since I am almost always behind a random player’s three-bet/call range (even though he is last to act preflop), I would reluctantly fold.

Ironically, when players make these tiny reraises to induce action with their big pairs, they often give away the strength of their hand and allow their opponents to make big folds. For instance, I’d be more likely to call an all-in jam than I’d be to shove over this tiny raise, so the villain’s plan to induce with a small raise is the opposite of what he should do with a big pair. As a side note, if I plan on reraising with 20 big blinds in the future and want to look strong against a thinking opponent, I’ll consider a small raise like this, rather than going all in.

Matthew

A general rule that all three authors have discussed in the Winning Poker Tournaments series is that you should only raise with a stack of less than 20 big blinds when you are committed to going all in with your hand. So if you raise and someone three-bets, you are willing to put in the rest of your stack. One of the main reasons behind this rule is that it is disastrous to raise and fold, as you lose your three-bet folding equity, one of your biggest weapons with a stack between 15 and 20 big blinds. With stacks less than 15 big blinds, your opponents will usually call your three-bet shoves, given their pot odds.

Of course, with every rule comes exceptions. As PearlJammer says, if he raises, and then there is a three-bet and four-bet behind him, he will fold his weaker hands. In this hand, we have a borderline decision. The result is that Rizen and Apestyles recommend a fold, while PearlJammer would reluctantly go all in. As Apestyles says, it is good to have guidelines while playing, but at the same time have a little flexibility depending on the specific situation.

In the actual hand, the player folded. ♠

Matthew is the owner of Dimat Enterprises, which just released Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Volume III available at pokerbooks.InternetTexasHoldem.com in both print and e-book format.