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July 21, 2015
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Hi,
There are two hands from yesterday’s final table that I’m thinking about, maybe you could help me out. The guy on the big blind on the first hand, and who we are HU with on the second, is Adrian Mateos (amadi) 2013 WSOPE ME and 2015 EPT Montercarlo Grand Final winner, reg at all high stakes MTT. The other two players seemed kind of weak and pretty much looking to stay alive for the payjumps.
First hand, the only question here is, call, 3bet or overpush? Im going to have to fold pretty much eveything when bb pushes due to ICM.
No Limit Holdem Tournament PokerStars
4 Players
$232.24+$17.76
Blinds 7k/14k 4
CO djtortu 202k
D Saqorz 389k
SB Hero 1,112k
BB Amadi_17 877k
4 28k Hero is SB Q A
djtortu goes all-in 200k, 1 fold, Hero calls 193k, Amadi_17 goes all-in 875k, Hero folds
2 1,282k, 2 all-in J 9 T
2 1,282k, 2 all-in 3
2 1,282k, 2 all-in K
Amadi_17 shows a straight, Ten to Ace Q A
djtortu shows a pair of Nines A 9
Amadi_17 wins 1,282k (net +405k)
djtortu lost 202k
Hero lost 202k
Second hand I think is a bit more complicated. I really don’t see him having any bluffs there, but on the other hand he has so few value combos, I can only think of 22, A3, 33 and maybe J3s (10 combos there), with a 2.14:1 on the call we only need him to have 3,2 bluff combos, only with busted FD it would be enough, but I really doubt he would push them there after my strong bets in turn and river. I’m really puzzled with this one, is it possible to find a fold here? Hard to fold the top of your range, it’s an obvious GTO call but maybe it could be an exploitative fold?
No Limit Holdem Tournament PokerStars
2 Players
$232.24+$17.76
Blinds 8k/16k 2
SB Hero 1,559k
BB Amadi_17 1,021k
2 28k Hero is SB J A
Hero raises to 32k, Amadi_17 calls 16k
2 68k 3 2 J
Amadi_17 checks, Hero bets 34k, Amadi_17 calls 34k
2 136k A
Amadi_17 checks, Hero bets 91k, Amadi_17 calls 91k
2 317k 3
Amadi_17 checks, Hero bets 213k, Amadi_17 goes all-in 863k
???
TPE Pro
December 6, 2012
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I’m not the king of ICM, but it seems to me you’re better off shoving in Hand 1 in order to prevent V from doing what he did here. I think this would be more complicated if you were deeper or he dominated you, but here I think you can shove and give him tough decisions even with hands that have a lot of equity against you.
Hand 2 is indeed trickier and I have a lot to say about it but playing now so I’ll return later.
July 21, 2015
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Thanks! Really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it 🙂
TPE Pro
August 4, 2015
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I think the first hand is really close. I don’t like 3betting small as even minraise iso-ing prices us in vs the bb, so it’s either flatting or shoving. I think we should be flatting here with QQ+ to induce, so we should also be flatting the bottom end of our range to balance that. Our call-off range vs a typical c/o shove here should probably be something like 66+, AT+, A9s+, KQ, so I think we should probably be shoving 88-JJ and AQ, AK and flat with the rest of those hands. This is just off the top of my head, so I could be off in my ranges slightly. If the big blinds stack to pot ratio were a bit less I’d be jamming 100% of our hands, and if the ratio was a bit higher i’d be flatting our entire range. So kind of a particularly tricky spot with these stacks.
The 2nd hand is tricky for sure. I’d expect it’s reasonable to assume the villian could also have 34s, 45s and 35s in his range. Given that our range is uncapped and polarized and we’re not betting small to induce a bluff, I don’t think the villain is bluffing very often at all. So given that, I think it’s a fold as I don’t think he has any value hands in his range that you beat.
TPE Pro
December 6, 2012
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OK, I think there are a lot of problems before the river in Hand 2. Against a tough opponent who is probably more comfortable than you playing heads up, you should be raising more than min on your button. I’d also like to see bigger bets on all three streets. This is a board on which you should both semi-bluff and value bet aggressively and put a lot of pressure on the primarily one-pair hands your opponent will hold. With proper sizing, you should be setting yourself up to bet-bet-shove even on this runout.
As played, I agree it feels a lot like a fold, but I’m also reluctant to make an exploitable fold against a tough opponent. Hero may be “uncapped”, but I doubt calling only with boats or better will be sufficient to make V indifferent to shoving busted draws, especially because Hero may not take this line with all of his boats. Blocking A3 is not insignificant and even J3o may be in V’s range because of Hero’s min raise.
July 21, 2015
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Thanks a lot guys, this was very insightful!
Specially in the second hand, the exploitative vs GTO play is very interesting. I also loved how you break-up your range for calling/shoving the first hand SSSM, AQo definetily should go in the shoving range. Good first series by the way, I’m enjoying it a lot!
Also I have to agree with you Foucault I made a mistake by playing a “smallball” style when I don’t have any postflop edge over this player. I was minraising my buttons, and not 3betting enough on the big blind. I actually felt I played pretty well postflop anyways, but that obviously is not enough and not the point. The guy had 100/70/40 stats on the HU, and I really didn’t adapt to it. I think putting in some extra variance on the game would obviously benefit me in this case. It was a 80-100bb deep HU as you can see, not easy to outplay him with these stacks.
I watched the FT replay with holecards on stars and it’s crazy how he was owning me preflop by 3betting all his junk and openning 100% of hands.
Well thanks again, it was a very interesing FT to play and a lot to learn about, also my second biggest score so happy how it all worked out 
TPE Pro
December 6, 2012
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Great! At some point in your career, this will be a small stakes tournament for you, and the learning experience will be worth far more than the difference between 2nd/1st place money. Go practice heads up, it’s so important for tournament players (and not just for actual heads up matches, lots of spots like button vs bb are very similar). I’ve got videos on here.
July 21, 2015
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By the way, I never said the result of the hand, which may not be important but maybe someone is curious. I ended up calling and he showed A3o 
I’ll check up you heads up videos Foucault, I already seen some of the rest. I really enjoy studying game theory spots, all your videos have been really interesting for me as you put in a lot of theory in them!
September 1, 2012
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First hand really close because BB and you both have a lot of chips like 60bb effective. That said AQ is a monster 5 handed. I do not mind your flat and then fold to shove because of ICM. but when you flat, it is more likely that you are intending to fold rather than inducing with a monster, so he can shove even hands that you have dominated like AJ and feel confident you will fold. I would probably shove because I think mathematically he never has a better hand to call with and you can avoid letting him shove 88, AJ etc and having to lay down. If he has a better hand it is a super unlucky cooler IMO.
Second hand definitely feels like a fold, I mean he knows you probably don’t have a 3 but a 3 is not a scarecard lol it is a blank so I don’t think he’s trying to represent anything, especially when you bet bet bet.
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