Hand of the day XXIV: every hand revealed?

Question

this time, we are playing in place of jimmy fricke against gus heads-up...blinds are still 60k-120k, and we limp in on the button with 9-7 of clubs...gus raises another 330k, and we make the call...the flop comes Qc-8d-6d, and gus leads out for 500k...we have about 3.8 million left, what is the play?

Answer 1

because of the fact that you have straight draw and also a runner runner flush draw, i'd call or raise all in, most likely i'd raise it at least 3 times his bet.

Answer 2

bet the draw see where you are at in the hand

Answer 3

I wouldn't call because you can have in the turn the straight, but with that same card someone can make flush. I'd fold!

Answer 4

raise all in. this is a famous situation that is the "perfect strategy" according to game theory. in the long run, if you raise every time in straight draw situation against a single opponent, you can't lose. also, there's just enough chips to win the pot here outright.

or, another move would be to raise to 1.5 mil or 1.0 mil, to see what gus does. if gus reraises, he's probably just got top pair and we should call. if he calls, he's on the flush draw and we should fold.

Answer 5

Gus could have caught a top pair, or could be just going with a continuation bet.  Either way, we're behind at this point and should act as though he has top pair.  My next step would depend on where I am in relation to Gus.  If I have him covered to the extent that I can get back, I'd go all in and make him put his tourney on the line.  If not, I'd lay down the cards.

A call basically reduces our odds to the turn as you know that Gus is going to raise almost no matter what and if we miss, we're going to need to fold.  To me, long run and pot odds are out the window towards the end of a tourney as your ability to read players becomes much more important and nothing like thinking "Gee, I could have lasted longer, but got good pot odds, but was behind, so now I'm watching from the gallery."

Answer 6

I would just call. Hope for the straight or another club. If it's another club then we got a butt load of outs. He's got us dominated in chips. And just calling doesn't change our stack that drasticaly at this point. 3.8 million is almost the same as 3.3 million when we are well covered in chips.

By just calling, this also might shut down any betting by Gus on the turn given certain cards. If a diamond falls and he doesn't have one he might try to shut it down thinking we might have the diamonds and he lets us back in the game. Or if an Ace or King falls on turn he might slow it down. Or a 7, 9, 10 or Jack falls then the straight possibility is out there as well. Since our call says "draw". We could get a free river card.

So if we just call, if the straight or another club falls its obviously an all in. If not and he continues to bet, we can shut it down and wait for a better situation to push it pre flop. Blinds are very high, but we can see a hand full and hope for a better situation then 9 high. Gus is crazy. He just might feel pot commited enough to call our all in bet if we pushed it,if he had  high cards or even a lower pocket pair with a chance to win the tourny. He has enough left in chips to trust his instincts and make a fairly loose call to win it all.

Answer 7

You can not fold once you have call the pre-flop raise.  Raise the  pot to 1,900,000.  You may be able to win the pot if your opponent has no pair or a pair lower than the board.  You may get a free card on the turn.