$5,5 NL HE MTT: FT

[Geo90]

Game

Hold'em

Game Format

No Limit

Table Format

MTT

Buy-in

5,5

Game Options

1. Bounty

Currency

$

Yesterday, this was a sore point. I felt like I was playing well and running well, and this was at the final table.



My opponent was very aggressive, raising almost everything, 3.3BB with everything, 4BB when he had a premium hand. His vpip was 59%


Preflop on the final table, this would have been a fold due to the ICM effect, but he was so aggressive that I called, I wasn't patient enough.


Flop I called about 1/2 pot Cbet on every flop, but here I could have folded, I had a weak draw, he could have had a lot of Kx, maybe 66.


T My set came again, he raised quite a lot, but if I got this far, I couldn't fold here


R In hindsight, I could have folded on the river because he could have anything, 34 89

66 77 or maybe a flush, but there was Bounty a lot of money in it What do you think?

 

[fundiver199]

Preflop
Yeah I think, this is just a fold even to a maniac. There are 3 big stacks and 3 much shorter stacks, and then you really dont want to play a big pot with the other two big stacks. You are also to shallow to setmine against a big open, and to deep to rejam. And finally even if he is opening very wide, there are few hands in his range, that 44 dominate. Even if he has junk like J8o, he still have almost 50% equity. The hand, he had, is one of the very few, you are ahead of preflop.

Flop
Even here I think, you should still have folded. You are basically bluff catching, and while he might have bluffs, if he always C-bet, your hands is just really bad. You have a bad pair and a bad draw, and even his bluffs have equity, plus you cant really take much more heat with this hand, unless you turn a set. So often you just end up calling now and folding later.

Turn
Obviously the gin card, and at this point I think, I would just jam. Even maniacs dont always bluff the river for all their chips, and there are many hands that he can pay with now, that might not pay on the river. Or if he fold a hand with a random heart higher than 5 or some sort of straightdraw, you get protection, which is especially valuable given the ICM-pressure.

River
I dont think, I can fold here against a maniac. Yes he could have a flush or straight, but he could also have two pair or some random bluff, and you are getting almost 3:1.

Results
The hand is an example of the snowball effect, where a small mistake on the early streets snowball into a big ugly pile of snow at the foot of the hill. Just fold preflop, and you only lose the ante and have a chance, that he bust someone else, so you lock up another payjump. An important part of the mental game is to not let maniacs tilt you. Yes its annoying, that he take away many of your raise first in spots. But just let him do that, and soon enough he will either have busted the short stacks or lost most of his chips.

 

[Geo90]

Preflop
Yeah I think, this is just a fold even to a maniac. There are 3 big stacks and 3 much shorter stacks, and then you really dont want to play a big pot with the other two big stacks. You are also to shallow to setmine against a big open, and to deep to rejam. And finally even if he is opening very wide, there are few hands in his range, that 44 dominate. Even if he has junk like J8o, he still have almost 50% equity. The hand, he had, is one of the very few, you are ahead of preflop.

Flop
Even here I think, you should still have folded. You are basically bluff catching, and while he might have bluffs, if he always C-bet, your hands is just really bad. You have a bad pair and a bad draw, and even his bluffs have equity, plus you cant really take much more heat with this hand, unless you turn a set. So often you just end up calling now and folding later.

Turn
Obviously the gin card, and at this point I think, I would just jam. Even maniacs dont always bluff the river for all their chips, and there are many hands that he can pay with now, that might not pay on the river. Or if he fold a hand with a random heart higher than 5 or some sort of straightdraw, you get protection, which is especially valuable given the ICM-pressure.

River
I dont think, I can fold here against a maniac. Yes he could have a flush or straight, but he could also have two pair or some random bluff, and you are getting almost 3:1.

Results
The hand is an example of the snowball effect, where a small mistake on the early streets snowball into a big ugly pile of snow at the foot of the hill. Just fold preflop, and you only lose the ante and have a chance, that he bust someone else, so you lock up another payjump. An important part of the mental game is to not let maniacs tilt you. Yes its annoying, that he take away many of your raise first in spots. But just let him do that, and soon enough he will either have busted the short stacks or lost most of his chips.

Yes, I should have taken into account that we had almost equal chips, this preflop mistake cost me the tournament, and the ICM effect was also significant. I'm learning, but I'm not disciplined enough.



Turnon Yes, going all-in would have been the best move at that point, because I couldn't fold on the river anyway.



If I'm patient, I'm sure I'll finish higher up.



Thank you for your analysis.

 

[fundiver199]

Turnon Yes, going all-in would have been the best move at that point, because I couldn't fold on the river anyway.

Obviously it would not have changed the outcome this particular time. From the turn the hand is just a cooler, so the real lesson is to avoid getting involved with the other big stacks on the final table without a strong hand. And especially so if the other big stack is a maniac, who will rarely let you see a cheap showdown. If this was a regular player, who opened to say 2,2BB and also had a check button postflop, then its much more ok to make this call and try to flop a set or outplay him in position.

 

[Geo90]

Obviously it would not have changed the outcome this particular time. From the turn the hand is just a cooler, so the real lesson is to avoid getting involved with the other big stacks on the final table without a strong hand. And especially so if the other big stack is a maniac, who will rarely let you see a cheap showdown. If this was a regular player, who opened to say 2,2BB and also had a check button postflop, then its much more ok to make this call and try to flop a set or outplay him in position.

Yes, that was the biggest problem, that we had almost identical chip stacks, even though I've been working more with ICM ranges lately, and a standard raise would have been possible.


But when we cover someone, we should push the all-in quite widely, if the opponent is also ICM-conscious. In this situation, we should jam 57%, which was surprising to m
e.

 

[fundiver199]

I would not count on a maniac folding as often, as he is supposed to, after opening to 3,3BB. And therefore I would need a significantly stronger hand than 97s and also shorter effective stacks to make that play.

 

[Geo90]

I would not count on a maniac folding as often, as he is supposed to, after opening to 3,3BB. And therefore I would need a significantly stronger hand than 97s and also shorter effective stacks to make that play.

I didn't mean this situation, I was just surprised that, due to the ICM effect, if we cover the others, how wide we would have to go.