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Key Hands from WPT Montreal Winterfest PT. 1

peggyhill37

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February 13, 2017 - 4:09 pm

Hello TPE,

Been lurking around this site for awhile, but haven’t really been using the forums for strategy input. This past week I was lucky enough to qualify for the WPT Winterfest $3500 (CAD) at playground, and managed to bag chips and make day 2. Didn’t end up cashing, but that’s ok. I wanted to share some key hands with you guys, to see how you would’ve played certain spots, and perhaps made similar mistakes or played some spots differently than I.

Early Day 1:

Qualifier’s stacks are put into play at the very beginning of the day, to my chagrin, as I felt (and still feel) generally uncomfortable playing a super deep 30k stack (300bb deep). Play began 6handed, with two other qualifiers on my right, WPT final tablist Sylvain Siebert, Upeshka De Silva on my left, and a tough quebecois on my immediate right.

Hand #1: 31k stack, 50/100 blinds, pre-ante
UTG raises to 250, Hero calls with 77 UTG +1, Sylvain Siebert calls the button, and the blinds fold. Siebert had been very active out the gate, winning several pots without showdown, 3betting my button opens, and generally fostering a LAG image. Flop is 5 3 3, two clubs, one diamond. UTG checks, I bet a 500 chip for value with my overpair, Sylvain calls, UTG folds. 9 of diamonds on the turn, I bet 700 for value again, assuming that Sylvain will call all draws on this board, and call again with most 5x hands, and overcard floats, if not win the pot right there. Siebert raises to 2400. I deliberate and call, planning on calling again on brick rivers, and checkfolding club turns. River is an offsuit 5, Hero checks, Sylvain bets 1600 and holds his hand out to muck once again. Hero calls.

Hand #2: 26k stack, 75/150, pre-ante
Hero raises AQss to 400 UTG, Mike Dentale is moved to my immediate left (what a character, btw), folds to Sylvain who 3bets to 1500 off of 44k approx. Spoilers, he won that last hand against me. I deliberate and decide to call, though the decision felt close between flatting or 4betting (somewhere in the range of 4200). I decided calling kept his bluffs in, and potentially would get more bets out of him on ace or queen high boards, as well as control the pot size against the table wildcard. Flop is 2 4 5, two clubs. I check, and Siebert checks behind. 10 of clubs on the turn, I check, he bets 1500, stares me down and holds his hand out to muck. I make the suspect/sticky decision of calling here, believing my AQ high to be good some of the time in this spot, not to mention the gutshot and overcards that would likely give me the best hand if i’m not already. River is an offsuit 9, hero checks and Sylvain bets 1500. Hero calls.

Hand #3: 20k stack, 75/150, 25 ante
Hero is in BB with JThh, newish player on the button opens to 400 after sitting down an orbit ago. SB folds and I call. Flop is J T 6, two clubs. I check, and villain checks behind. Villain had recently overbet-jammed river against pesh de silva, and claimed to hold a set of 33s (though I held a 3 in said hand) and gotten Pesh to openfold KK otr. Villain seemed capable/agro. Turn is an offsuit 2, I lead 650 for value, thinking that he wouldn’t check back without showdown value (ie a hand that can call me pleeeease). Villain calls. River is the seven of clubs, completing the the flush draw. I bet 1300, believing that villain would bet flop with a flush draw. Villain calls, mucks. As played, I felt I missed a checkraise perhaps on the turn here. But after losing a third of my stack in as many hours, I was happy to win the pot.

Hand #4: 22k, 150/300, 50 ante
Table is now ten-handed, 15 minutes before dinner break. I pick up the black kings utg +2, open to 750. Folds to BB, another qualifier, who tanks, hides his mouth with his hoodie, furrows his brow and calls off of 50k. Flop is Q J 5, two clubs. Hero bets 1100, villain deliberates for a few seconds and string-calls. Turn is the 10 of clubs, villain thinks for about 15 seconds, and leads for 2500. Villain had been solid up to this point, and had won a big pot with aces vs kings. We hadn’t tangled at all up until this point, except for the occasional blind-steal getting through. I did hold the king of clubs, and would’ve certainly bet with an open-ender, flush draw and the overpair, but was confused by the lead. I call. River is the nine of spades, giving me the straight. Villain tanks for 20 seconds and bets 6500. Hero calls.

I’d be happy to post the results of these hands after some feedback, these hands are all from before the dinner break. I feel very uncomfortable deepstacked so please, feel free to rip apart my play! More than happy to post some more hands from later in the tourney as well.

Foucault

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February 14, 2017 - 9:38 am

1. Your hand is too weak for this much action. Not all overpairs are created equal, and just because you have one doesn’t mean you should be consistently betting and calling raises. I think the flop bet is fine, but after that I would shut it down (it’s OK to get bluffed – the alternative, sometimes, is paying off too many of V’s value hands). I can tell that with your small bet size on the turn, you’re trying to split the difference: get the protection value of betting without actually putting too much money into the pot. The problem is that it’s transparent that that’s what you’re doing, and you invite V to raise you with both bluffs and value hands. In other words, you’re in the same spot you were in if you had checked, only the pot is larger and you’ve effectively lost another 700 no matter how you respond.

2. I think you’ve overestimating how many “bluffs” this player is going to have when he 3-bets your UTG open. Honestly even the pre-flop call is a little borderline against such a large raise. I think fold > bet > call on turn, and you certainly should fold the river. Seems like you’re just trying to guess whether or not your opponent is bluffing in any given situation, which is really not a good strategy especially against a player who is more skilled than you. By definition, he’s going to play that guessing game better than you are. Again, just because he could be bluffing doesn’t mean you should call with any hand that can beat a bluff.

3. Three-betting pre is an option (I’m guessing you don’t three-bet much at all from the blinds, and at this stack depth, a premium suited connector is a nice way to add some balance to your three-betting range). Donking flop is an option. As played, you’re right to target your opponent’s hands with showdown value (even if those aren’t the only hands he could have, they’re still the best ones to target – even though you made the right play in this case, it still seems like you’re just trying to guess your opponent’s hand rather than play a balanced strategy). I like the turn and river bets. Last caveat is that you don’t need to be sure your opponent doesn’t have a flush to make betting river correct. Even if he could play some flush draws this way, I still think bet-folding is better than either check-calling or check-folding.

4. Your line is fine. FWIW I don’t agree with “would’ve certainly bet with an open-ender, flush draw and the overpair”. Just because you like your hand doesn’t mean that betting is the way to get max value from it. You have a hand that would hate to face a check-raise on the turn, that will have trouble getting called by worse (though you’re unlikely to be a big dog to calling range, I don’t think you’ll be a big favorite either), and that probably won’t get three streets of value anyway. So I’d check turn with intention of calling most rivers.

peggyhill37

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February 14, 2017 - 12:28 pm

Foucault,

1. Thank you for the analysis! Wow, in the first hand you’re absolutely right, the transparency of a 700 turn bet is pretty much the same as an expensive check… I am too used to microstakes bums who will not exploit me in spots like this, and underprepared for tough villains. Villain had A9o and i felt owned.

2. Hero call fail with AQ high. It’s a major leak I have to pay off marginally OTR against perceived lags, and this was a textbook example. I wanted to share it because I felt I misplayed every street, unsure at every stage. Villain had ATdd.

3.”it seems like you’re trying to guess your opponents hands rather than play a balanced strategy.” Boom, nail on the head. You have videos I can check out on here?? 🙂 Honestly, I almost never 3bet suited connectors at this stack depth out of the blinds, which probably stems back to the root of the problem, an imbalanced strategy. Surely closing the action with JThh in the bb facing a button open isn’t a huge mistake though? Is this a preflop spot where both options have merit?

4. Interesting, checking back turn is probably the wiser play in this spot generally (IF he had checked, that is)… villain had AKdd for the nut straight. I was super surprised to see this hand.

I head into dinner break with around 11k, will post some more hands from the end of the night and Day 2.

Thanks again for the analysis.

peggyhill37

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February 14, 2017 - 1:17 pm

AFTER DINNER BREAK, WPT Montreal Winterfest.

Hand #5: 10.5k stack, 250/500 100 ante
I open KK UTG to 1100, folds to Darren Elias (WPT Jacksonville winner) who 3bets to 3200. I think for a few seconds, announce all-in and he calls.

Hand #6: 21k stack, 250/500 100 ante
Older woman 3x opens my BB from the hi-jack. She had been playing relatively tight, but playing her big hands VERY strong (she 3bet jammed 30k vs a minraise and showed the table AA after getting the fold). Player on the button 3bets a single 5k chip off an approximately 60k stack (same villain as hand#3). I look at QQ, deliberate and move all-in. My thinking was that a 12k 4bet would be too obvious as to the strength of my hand, leaving half my stack behind, and that cold-calling a 3bet would narrow my range considerably as well. The older woman tank/folds and the button calls.

Hand #7: 45k, 250/500 100 ante
Older woman opens 3x UTG, folds to me in the cutoff with KK. I 3bet to 5000, folds back to her and she snap-shoves for 35k. She had done this earlier with AA (and shown) as well as with AKss (also shown). I have never folded KK preflop in my entire life, and wasn’t about to start now, but this seemed like the gross, gross spot for it. I nitroll this poor woman and call.

(the previous three hands are within the same orbit)

Hand #8: 88k, 300/600 100 ante
Folds to me in the cutoff with A3hh, I open to 1400. BB calls off of 50k approx. (same villain as hand #4). Flop is A J 4 with two spades. Villain leads for 1600. This player had been playing tight, relative to the rest of the table, and had lead into me two streets before with the turned nut straight. I thought it was very possible for him to lead with any Jx combo, as well as any flush/broadway draw. I call. turn is the 8 of spades and he quickly bets a 5k chip announcing ’48’. Hero folds.

The final few levels of the night go by uneventfully, picking up the the blinds and antes with my newfound stack, raise/folding to 3bets from Darren Elias two to my left. I wound up bagging 78k for my first day 2!

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