Poker Stars, $4 Buy-in (20/40 blinds) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 8 Players

Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager – The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

SB: 2,195 (54.9 bb)

Hero (BB): 3,354 (83.9 bb)

UTG+2: 2,048 (51.2 bb)

MP1: 2,925 (73.1 bb)

MP2: 5,476 (136.9 bb)

MP3: 2,678 (67 bb)

CO: 3,427 (85.7 bb)

BTN: 1,610 (40.3 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Qh 7h

6 folds, SB raises to 80, Hero calls 40

Flop: (160) 3s As 7d (2 players)

SB bets 120, Hero calls 120

Turn: (400) 3h (2 players)

SB bets 300, Hero calls 300

River: (1,000) Tc (2 players)

SB bets 1,695 and is all-in, Hero ???

$4.40 PSKO on Pokerstars. 57 hands in and I’ve been playing classic TAG, not got out of line. Still very deep. Only played 7 hands with villain who is in the small blind, and not seen anything unusual. Pre-flop he minraises from the small blind and I call with Q7s. His range is obviously wide but we are pre-ante so I don’t think he’ll be ridiculously loose here. Pocket pairs, suited gappers and one gappers, high cards etc.

Flop is A73, two spades, and villain bets 75% pot. None of my suit came up so I have no backdoor draws, just my 7. He is repping an ace so he either has one or he doesn’t. So I call to see what we do on the turn. Raising is overplaying my hand and I want to keep the pot small. Folding to one bet with middle pair blind vs blind seems weak.

Turn is another 3 and again villain bets ¾ pot. I felt like this was my decision point. I think an ace with a weak kicker is probably either betting smaller or checking, rather than building a big pot as my call on the flop means I likely have some showdown value, or a flush draw. He could be betting big to price out a flush draw, but the sizing makes me think he is probably on a draw himself and wants me to fold. It feels a bit polarising.  Again I think I am good enough to call again and see a river card. If he has an ace he will probably slow down a bit on the river? I think betting big twice rules out pocket pairs. A set may take this line if he thinks I have an ace. But other than that it is ace or flush draw probably. He should be aware though that if I called the flop I have no reason not to call turn so he has a piece.

River was a Tc which looks a blank, but if he is barrelling a flush draw he may have caught it. This time he shoves 1695 into 1000. He doesn’t have me covered so he’s not going for the bounty. At this point I am wondering, what does he think I have? I have called two big bets so I obviously have something. Maybe my hand is face up as a middle pair because I did not raise. But what hands does he have that are strong enough to bet twice and then shove?

Most aces are out I think. AK/A7/A3 and maybe AT do this but I think other aces slow down at some point. And if he does have an ace, he should know it is hard for me to have one and I think he bets smaller on the river to go for value from them as I’m unlikely to call a shove with A8 for example.

He could definitely have played full houses this way, and shoved thinking I have an ace I can’t fold.

All weaker hands with showdown value probably check or bet smaller, unless he is a smart villain trying to get me to fold a weak ace and turning his hand into a bluff, but I don’t think I can give a villain at this level that much credit without reads.

And then the other hand he plays this way are missed flush draws. If he has a flush draw I think we can rule out him having the 7s or Ts as he might just try and get those to showdown. Something like KQ/KJ spades could be played this way as it did feel like he wanted me to fold throughout the hand.

So I think it is missed spades or a full house?