$0 NL HE MTT: Defeated by a player who 3-bet with 84s

I entered a freeroll satellite at the last second. The starting stack was 10000 and the blinds were 350/700 (140).

I and got dealt Kc Tc at UTG+1, 9 players at the table. I opened to 2310, CO 3-bet to 4597, and I called.
The flop was Td 4h 6d. I shipped my remaining 5263 into the middle, having top pair K kicker. I got called and found myself an underdog with just 48.08% equity against 8d 4d (bottom pair + flush draw)! Eventually I lost the hand.

If I won the hand, I could fold all the way into the money, but if I didn't play the hand, I might not be able to fold into it.

Should I have played this hand in such a way?

No. With 14BB you should either min-raise or jam preflop. If you min-raise and get 3-bet, KTs is a fold, when you opened from early position.

fundiver199 said:

No. With 14BB you should either min-raise or jam preflop. If you min-raise and get 3-bet, KTs is a fold, when you opened from early position.

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Its simpler than that. 14 bb is jam or fold. Maybe once you get closer to 20bb you can consider minclicking if there are middling stacks left to act but you plan to call a jam from a shorty.

Seeing HHs with chips instead of BBs is usually a precursor to an a punt, esp an ICM one.

Lodestone said:

Its simpler than that. 14 bb is jam or fold.

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Most good players mainly min-raise with that stack size. But its situational. If there are several even shorter stacks behind and perhaps only one player covering you, then I would definitely prefer jamming.

Lodestone said:

Its simpler than that. 14 bb is jam or fold. Maybe once you get closer to 20bb you can consider minclicking if there are middling stacks left to act but you plan to call a jam from a shorty.

Seeing HHs with chips instead of BBs is usually a precursor to an a punt, esp an ICM one.

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Isn't the jam fold threshold closer to 10 BB instead?

fundiver199 said:

Most good players mainly min-raise with that stack size. But its situational. If there are several even shorter stacks behind and perhaps only one player covering you, then I would definitely prefer jamming.

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With such an ante, min-raising gives everyone the correct pot odds to call with most two cards.

miklcct said:

Isn't the jam fold threshold closer to 10 BB instead?

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Without an ante yes. But as you say yourself, this game has an ante, and then you can open jam for closer to 15BB.

miklcct said:

With such an ante, min-raising gives everyone the correct pot odds to call with most two cards.

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Only BB can correctly call with almost any two. All the other players still need to be selective about, which hands they play. Of course they can still call or - as happened this time - 3-bet you incorrectly. But this is not a reason to open to a larger sizing. The point is, that with 14BB, only two options are reasonable:

* A min-raise (or slightly more like 2,1BB, if you are into nitty gritty details)
* A jam

Everything else loses to much, when you open and then fold to a 3-bet. Which by the way you should have done with this hand. But honestly if someone gets it in with 84s, and you also dont care so much about busting yourself, since its a freeroll, then I would just jam KTs preflop and almost consider it a jam for value.

miklcct said:

Isn't the jam fold threshold closer to 10 BB instead?


With such an ante, min-raising gives everyone the correct pot odds to call with most two cards.

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Jamming ranges are dependant on antis, position, relative stack sizes and tournament stage. Close to the bubble the bubble BvB you can be jamming profitably with a bit over 20bb assuming villain has an ounce of understanding of ICM.

Of course you cant be doing this with standard 10bb shove charts and adjustments need to be made.

Lodestone said:

Close to the bubble the bubble BvB you can be jamming profitably with a bit over 20bb assuming villain has an ounce of understanding of ICM.

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Absolutely true. OP and others, who are interested in learning more about, when to min-raise vs. shove, should watch this video.