$460 live mtt hands

H1: I will bet the river every time with this hand (like 1/3 pot) and call the c/r. Except once. Same thing happened to me in Prague I boated up on the river and didn't realize it because it was the 4th spade so I checked back and opponent had the A of spades... Extremely embarrassing moment.

H2: I like the jam partly because the sizing makes it a polarizing bet (either we have a monster or we are bluffing or we have like AT and don't want to see a river) . He can have a flush draw so he might call or better yet we don't lose on the river when he gets there. Making a small bet is OK too but depending on the river he may not call a river bet anyway. Also if he hits his flush its a tough spot not to call especially if he bets smallish. The one type of hand he can have here that would call smallish bets is JJ+. Since he called your 4x raise on the flop it is possible he has JJ+ so betting smallish (twice) will likely work. In this case if I don't jam I would bet 20k again because it seems like we could have a semi-bluff or Tx and want to block bet.

H3: Good call. We are going to have like 30% most of the time but with 15 blinds Villain can have 22-88 or hands like KQ/KJs/QJs/JTs/etc.

H1 - lucky one, in Villain's shoes I would probably just 3 bet the flop out of position. You've shown strength raising an EP open followed by c bet so there's no reason to pussyfoot around.

H2 and H3 look good to me. With an aggro image I like the shove in H2, and I usually play straights super fast because of how many bad cards can come. H3 easy call with the dead money.

Got a dirty final table hand for you guys I think is interesting and I goofed.

Ok 8 left, 19 mill chips in play and I might have 3mill?

Ok I open A7ss ep to min raise at 20/40k level. Button calls who is a mawg I’ve played against. Seems like a solid reg but maybe not my aggression level. Blinds fold. We see a flop of 782 and he leads 100k into 260k after I check with intention to call. I call. Turn 7. I x and he bets 100k again, I pop to 350k and he quickly calls. River is a blank 3 with no flush. I elect to jam. I had a lot being so over pot size. He had heaps also. He tank folds. I honestly thought with how long he tanked he had a really strong hand. Maybe even an overpair. Do you ever go lower with bet sizing on river. I wanna say he had 1-2 mill behind on river but don’t know. I feel my line is super strong on river with icm and he has to fold a lot to not commit icm suicide. Nah a half or 75% pot size bet gets a crying call. I wanna guess 1.1-1.2 mill in pot on river and I jammed for over pot. Maybe like 1.5-1.8 mill but idk exact stacks bc it was a final table.

Notes: I think this guy knows I’m capable of spewing and playing super aggro so I felt making it look bluffy was smart and ripping river for max value was good. However with icm, I think 1/2 to 3/4 pot sized bet gets a crying call looking back so is prolly better. I ended up chopping tourney with 3 left and sadly was short stack.

Idk if you guys care but the swings are wild. With 4 left and 4th paying 15k and 3rd paying 22k. Button is a young kid who is good and jams 10bb on button, I snap A-10o in bb with 18-20 bb and lose to Q-10. A few hands later I jam 8-10bb with AJss and the same kid calls with KK and we spike an Ace on the flop for a lucky double. I somehow outlasted him and got 3rd which was a major relief bc it was difference between 14k after the chop. 15 vs 29k. I ran insanely well.

Hand of the day was so the AA. At 25k level utg opens to 75k. I flat AA ep to induce some squeeze maybe and stacks were shallow. All folds and we see flip of Q45. He x calls cbet. Turn 8. He x i bet he jams I snap and he shows up with 77 and I hold. I was so happy I didn’t 3! AA and didn’t expect him to show up with worse than Qx in this spot. Idk stack sizes but was a key double up after chipping down due to a lot of folding.

Also have a lol hand. What seemed like a good internet young kid- he opens cu to 25k, sb flat and I make it 110k with A4cc (3! Gold spot by me).He calls and sb folds. At this point I didn’t know he was super aggro. Flop JQ5. I lead 1/4 pot he calls. Turn Q. I check and he bets chunky bet. I fold and he lol shows 36cc. I was stunned and wonder if I ever have to call turn in that spot. Idk chip stacks but wow I felt owned in the moment. Wasn’t a big deal but didn’t expect a huge bluff in that spot. No flush draw potential in the spot but felt I had to cbet flop and maybe sometimes i need to call the turn bet but idk? At this point- I didn’t see this villian get out of line so I played it straight forward.

I used to wonder how accurate your hand recaps were.

Nope.

Nope.

Nope, also suits might be important.

Nope, also suit might be important.

80k on the flop, 200k -> 705k on the turn.

It wasn’t you Billy bizzle? If it was sorry. Yea I quickly posted this hand. I didn’t remember the exact specifics bc it was a long day.

Btw why did you dust your chips to me there? Yikes what am I flatting on that stack size? Red flags should have been firing at full force bc I’m not flatting small pairs or broadways there lol. That was a massive punt.

Jk, what made you decide to chop rather than go for the win? What were the terms of the chop?

Congrats on a nice payday.

I had 2.3 mill out of 19 mill in chips. One guy had 10 and other prolly 6.7mill. The 10 and 6.7 are not 100% but I chopped bc it was 1AM and I didn’t feel like I had a great chance to win based on what was happening. I wanna say blinds were going to 100k level and I had 2.3. I felt taking the 29k vs 22 was a smart move as I didn’t think I had a real edge unless I ran super hot. I felt big stack was a solid player who would prolly cbet small every time I had to defend etc or just put me in annoying spots. Think I don’t chop at say 40+ bb but at 3 handed with 28 bb which would quickly turn to 23, I just didn’t see a big chance to win. I’m sure I win more than my chip stack reflects- I didn’t see playing it out as a smart move.

Honestly, I’m surprised the other 2 agreed to chop. I think I honestly would have said no if I was 2nd or 3rd in chips to wait for 3rd place bust to increase equity. It’s risky but def think they could have waited for me to bust- the big stack only had to cbet prolly 1 bb and make small turn bets and I’m basically in a stage where I have to decide if I committ to the hand or just fold- aka I have to fold a lot of cbets bc I’m fairly short.

Chop was just icm. I think I was clearly best player left but with the chip counts where they were at- I’m fine not playing it out and getting an extra 7k. At that stage- I had to sun run or get super lucky and watch someone punt a stack in a bad move icm spot/ brutal cooler moment to get to 2nd. In this scenario, if I’m chip leader, I prolly say no to chop and just play super aggro, cbetting almost all
Flops super small and chipping away as the 2nd place player has to worry about busting before me as the shorty. I understand why chop but I think in this scenario, if I have 50-60% of chips- I’m just playing hyper aggressive small ball where guy that was 2nd in chips prolly doesn’t have the experience playing shorthanded (just a guess).

I thought you were pretty anti chop the last time it was discussed but I like that you got an extra 50% by chopping. I think it is a good tool to have in the tool chest. One of the most important aspects of the Icm chop is knowing that the short stacks chips are relatively worth the most. In third place, a with a 1/3 and a1/5 of the other players and “splitting the baby” to obtain 50% more sounds like a successful negotiation to me.

I’m honestly surprised they agreed to a chop. I think I wouldn’t chop with say 40%+ of the chips bc I just believe I’m going to handle short handed play better than “most” live players. I think with 3 left- there are a lot of spots where you can exploit and overbluff/ fold more bc standard live mtt players that don’t have online/ numerous live ft experience.

If I was guy in 2nd, I prolly would have said no to chop to try and get a heads-ups chop. Also the chip leader had what 10mill in chips…. If I was in that scenario, I prolly would have said no also and tried to chip away at the 2nd and 3rd place players bc 2nd place in chips kinda has to play super passive to wait for me to bust. The bb distribution at next level was prolly like 100-67-23. Never wrong to do a icm chop but I do feel it’s bad if one feels they are the best player at the table. In this case, I just didn’t think I have enough play to really make a difference and was at a point where I needed to run godly with 23 bb left. I think with 40-50bb, I prolly don’t chop and wear the variance.

Btw when we got done to 3 handed, I asked if they wanted to chop. I honestly felt foolish bc I’m like these guys are never going to agree bc they can wait for me to bust then chop more when they get heads-up. I’m happy I asked bc they both were for it if the numbers looked solid which they liked. I’m anti chopping bc I feel the best/ most fun poker played is short handed and with 3 left and big money jumps. I’ll chop in scenarios though where I don’t think I’m most likely winner obvious for a better payout.

Again, congratulations. The fact that you offered the chop and it was agreed upon by people you didn’t think would chop is even better.