Dunno, dunno, OH YEAH!

Here's a moderately interesting spot.


Poker Stars $10+$1 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t50/t100 Blinds - 8 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



UTG+1: t1345

MP1: t1635

MP2: t3540

Hero (CO): t1320

BTN: t2040

SB: t820

BB: t1770

UTG: t1030



Pre Flop: (t150) Hero is CO with J J

1 fold, UTG+1 raises to t200,

This guy has played very tight and is in EP. But the minraise is ultra fishy. So I'm not really sure what to do. I'm not sure that I'm ahead here, given how tight he is, but obv. even a tight raiser has more unpaired cards in his range than paired. I figure I will call and if the flop doesn't seem to have hit him, get it in there.

2 folds, Hero calls t200

So I flatcall. I would only rarely do this. This kind of spot really is push/fold, but I just felt I would rather not give up the value of my hand by folding, but I'd be happier to get it in on a raggy board than preflop. This doesn't mean I'd fold on all boards with overcards. I'd definitely need to evaluate it on the flop.

1 fold, SB raises to t820 all in

But this changes things! I don't necessarily put the small blind on a particularly tight range, but now I will have my decision made for me by the first raiser. If he shoves, I pretty much have to fold imo, but if he folds, I call, and if he calls, I will then shove, figuring my hand is best and getting great overlay in a multiway pot.

1 fold, UTG+1 calls t620, Hero raises to t1320 all in


I think he has to be shoving with any hand that beats JJ, so I'm best here. I'm often going to end up losing the hand, but if I lose to SB, I can still stack UTG+1 and have 1K, and when I win, I win big.

UTG+1 calls t500


And they show 88 and KQs. I don't like UTG+1's raise with KQs. I mean, I don't like a minraise at any time, but KQs is a relatively weak hand, so you don't want to get shoved over, and you don't want to invite others to see the flop, even if your hand will start favourite against most. STTs are not about seeing flops at the high blinds, but about making people fold. So if you're playing it, and I don't think you should, you're shoving it.



Flop: (t3560) 5 A 4 (3 players - 2 are all in)



Turn: (t3560) 4 (3 players - 2 are all in)



River: (t3560) 6 (3 players - 2 are all in)




So all good for me. Not sure about my first call, but the second time around, I had no doubts about what to do.