[Salvatore1]

I was in a tournament today when this hand came up. With blinds of 25 and 50 I am UTG with 3000 in chips I find AsQh. I make a raise to 200 and a player with 10,000 in chips calls in middle position, every one else folds. The pot is now 475 and the flop comes Ac Ks 4s. Its on me and I bet 350 and my opponent calls. the turn comes 5c, at this point I am putting my opponent on either a spade draw or a weak ace (posibly a spade draw and inside strait draw like Js10s). I also think that he is very likely to call any bet I make considering his stack size which is now 9450 and my stack size which is now 2450. Here is the question, if my read of this guy is correct what would be the better strategy? 1. Bet half the pot or about 600 and leave myself room to fold if the river is a spade or strait card. or 2. push all in and make him pay for the draw and try and double up. Thanks in advance for your comments.


Sal

[AceOnRiver]

in my opinion if you think that hes on a flush draw then you push all in and make him pay to hit the draw.if you go all in you are not giving him the correct odds to draw to the flush.if he calls anyway then you cant be mad. you got your money in good.thats all you can do.the cards will fall how they fall.

this is just my opinion.

good luck to you in the future sir.

[Poboy]

Assuming your read is right, easy shove.

[Bano]

If you are confident of your read (based on his previous plays) I would go for #2 and push to double up.

However, if you are not too confident in your read, I would opt for #1 and raise $600. The odds may look in your favor but it seems too early with just a pair (although high), you mentioned there are still others. Also you can be out immediately just because you made him paid for the draw, which you know he probably will bite.

That's just my conservative side talking, when it's still early.

So how did it turn out?

[JHickle]

If you are sure he will call any bet, option #3 would be a pot size bet. If he's truely on a draw, this gives him terrible pot odds and gives you the option to remain in tournament if he hits the draw, crippled but still alive..

[Salvatore1]

Thanks for the comments guys. Well the end of this thrilling tale came out this way. With a board of Ac Ks 4s 5c I opted to push all in for my remaining 2450 and my opponent called without hesitation. I was a little suprised when he turened over Qs 5s. I was good shape going into the river and ofcourse the river was the 3s. I am not unhappy with the way I played the hand but reguardless if I win or loose I always ask myself if there was anything I could have done differently to either get more money out of my opponent or to loose less of my own stack.

As to JHickle's option #3 I did think about a pot sized bet JH but this tourny was for play money and players in general on the play money tourny's are very loose and love to call with draws, especially if they have large stacks. In a real money tourny I think a pot sized bet is a deffinatly an option.

Incase any of you are wondering why I am playing in play money tourny's, well its because on line poker is illegal in the great state of washington, and although it would be very difficult for them to catch me, 1 year in prison and a $10,000 (which is the max for this offence I think) is a little more than I want to risk.

BTW another question. Would any of your oppinions change if this were a cash game insted of a tourny? Well thanks again for the comments all.

Sal

[smoore]

I likey the push.

[Bano]

Based on probability from his perspective, if he is just waiting on one more card to get the flush, he has a 34.8% probability of getting it on the next two cards combined. I could see why he would have called and taken his chances, and not have gotten intimidated with your push, especially since he had the bigger stack.

That was exciting. If it were a cash game, I definitely would have played it as your proposed option 1, and be more conservative.

[smoore]

Originally Posted by Bano

That was exciting. If it were a cash game, I definitely would have played it as your proposed option 1, and be more conservative.

big mistake, IMO. You're giving him odds to call.

If anything, you should be more conservative in a freezeout situation because of chip value.

He's got a lot of chips, therefore they aren't worth as much as your relatively few chips. He doesn't need the correct price to call down. I'm fuzzy on the math of this concept but this seems pretty clear cut to me.

raise, pot, push. Standard

[yeltzen]

Originally Posted by Salvatore1

I was in a tournament today when this hand came up. With blinds of 25 and 50 I am UTG with 3000 in chips I find AsQh. I make a raise to 200 and a player with 10,000 in chips calls in middle position, every one else folds. The pot is now 475 and the flop comes Ac Ks 4s. Its on me and I bet 350 and my opponent calls. the turn comes 5c, at this point I am putting my opponent on either a spade draw or a weak ace (posibly a spade draw and inside strait draw like Js10s). I also think that he is very likely to call any bet I make considering his stack size which is now 9450 and my stack size which is now 2450. Here is the question, if my read of this guy is correct what would be the better strategy? 1. Bet half the pot or about 600 and leave myself room to fold if the river is a spade or strait card. or 2. push all in and make him pay for the draw and try and double up. Thanks in advance for your comments.


Sal

Well, I hate making a bet like 600 and hoping a scare card doesn't come. The problem with this is that it lets someone bluff you off your hand on the river. If I'm betting here, and I think he's on a draw, I'm pushing. I don't want to have a tough decision on the river. On the other hand, if I think he has something like QQ-TT (lots of players will call a flop bet with these hands), I'm making the smaller bet. This has the bonus of saving your money if they have some junk like A4, A5, or 44. This would all depend on my read of them... that is, what they cold call raises preflop with.