Line check - AA UTG first hand of tourney
Live $40 buy in at casino. $40K starting stacks with 100/100 blinds, but only 10 minute levels. Hero is UTG on literal first hand with AA (can’t remember suits but irrelevant). Ten handed table.
PF: Hero raised to 300, fold, villain UTG+2 three bets to $1K, folds back to hero, 4-bet to $3500, villain calls.
Flop: K93r - hero bets $5000, villain calls
Turn: 5, still rainbow. Hero bets $10k, villain calls
River 7 (don’t know suit, irrelevant) - hero?
Preflop seems obvious, maybe a bit large on the 4-bet, but villain called, so ok. No real reads but based on villain 3-betting a ITG open, I’m mostly discounting sets here other than KK, and even then, he might have shoved pre. AK, maybe AQ are possible, along with maybe TT+. Against that range I’m likely ahead and villain likely has something to continue with, hence my bet. Turn hasn’t changed much. I’m thinking villain probably raises my flop bet if he did play 99 this way, but still I think that’s unlikely. It’s a dry board so his flip call indicates some strength, so I again bet the turn. River again changes little, but now I’m less sure he isn’t trapping and I’m not as sure he’d call a shove here (don’t see much point betting smaller). He certainly isn’t folding better, so to shove not to shove - that’s the question. Also feel free to comment on flop and turn play, of course.
8 Replies
Jam
allin
Shove.
Seems the consensus is shove. Glad to hear since that’s what I did. Was just questioning because several of the other players at the table expressed some surprise that I took that line on the first hand with AA. As you’d expect, though, there are a lot of not so good players and a lot of OMCs in a $40 tourney.
For the record this was not the prelude to a bad beat story; I was legitimately questioning my line. Things couldn’t have gone any better results wise. Villain called and showed KQ.
You have 21,500 chips and the pot is a little above 37,000 on the river.
Shoving at a little more than half pot is generally a strong bet. But then so was your 4-bet preflop, your 5,000 flop bet (which was over half pot), your 10,000 turn bet (also above half pot). Villain called all of your bets and has to have Kx at worst. It could even be AK. And of course in position Villain can have 2 pair or better though really the only hand that could make sense would be 99 and a lot of people won't 3-bet against a UTG open with 99.
If you don't shove and then Villain jams you will have to call anyway. If you don't shove and Villain calls you will win less than if you shoved. And I doubt Villain is folding to a slightly more than half pot bet when he called that sizing on the flop and turn without any possible flush draw.
But the real benefit of the shove for Villain is that Villain gets to buy back in very early. Also the shove is the only bet that could look like a 3 barrel bluff.
I was going to say something like "shove if you think he calls with AK," because that's really what the hand comes down to: Will villain stack off with one pair here, or only with hands that beat AA?
And the problem with checking is, villain will generally check back the hands you beat and shove the hands you lose to. Might as well shove yourself and get the hands you lose to to call off.
I want to play in a game where this sh1t happens
