A couple interesting spots deep in the Merge 125k that are agonizing me atm bc I think I could've possibly taken the lower variance lines on hands 1 and moreso in hand 3.

Hand 1: Merge Network Sunday $125,000 Guaranteed Freezeout No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t6000.00/t12000.00 Blinds + t1200.00 - 7 players - View hand 1855007
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BB: t282731.00 M = 10.71
UTG: t612872.00 M = 23.21
UTG+1: t583299.00 M = 22.09
MP: t208865.00 M = 7.91
CO: t252850.00 M = 9.58
BTN: t1077967.00 M = 40.83
Hero (SB): t1160743.00 M = 43.97

Pre Flop: (t26400) Hero is SB with J J
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to t24000.00, 3 folds, Hero raises to t56775.00, 1 fold, UTG+1 raises to t133225.00, Hero raises to t245775.00, UTG+1 raises to t583299 all in, Hero calls t337524

Flop: (t1186998) 8 Q K (2 players - 1 is all in)

Turn: (t1186998) 4 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: (t1186998) 4 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: t1186998
UTG+1 shows K A (Two Pair Kings and Fours)
Hero shows J J
UTG+1 wins t1186998.00
In retrospect I obv like flatting here..but thats being a little results orientated I guess. Dynamic of the table is that it's 7 handed, Ive been here with this player for about 50 hands and 3bet them once. Whereisdonny got to the table about 25 hands ago and was playing very aggro. The villian with AK and whereisdonny have gotten into a few leveling wars prior to this point. I don't like my 5bet sizing, think I'd rather jam to induce worse. The problem with the spot is I think the villians 4bet fold range might exist, but it's very thin. Pretty sure this is a standard spot, and I might want to take this line with the chip lead at a 7 handed table. If I was shorter, in the 500-800k range, I think villians 4bet frequencies are more important in regards to 3betting pre, but with 1.1 mill I believe if we 3bet we have to 5bet get it in vs villain. If you don't think this is standard or there's flawed logic, explain. I haven't put in a ton of volume this year.


Hand 2: This is the very next hand and I have JJ again. At this point, this will be my 4th 3bet in the last 10 hands, and I just dont think we can fold here:

Merge Network Sunday $125,000 Guaranteed Freezeout No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t6000.00/t12000.00 Blinds + t1200.00 - 7 players - View hand 1855010
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

SB: t275531.00 M = 10.44
BB: t599672.00 M = 22.71
UTG: t1185798.00 M = 44.92
UTG+1: t207665.00 M = 7.87
MP: t251650.00 M = 9.53
CO: t1076767.00 M = 40.79
Hero (BTN): t582244.00 M = 22.05

Pre Flop: (t26400) Hero is BTN with J J
2 folds, MP raises to t31200.00, 1 fold, Hero raises to t66775.00, SB raises to t281531 all in, 2 folds, Hero calls t214756

Flop: (t614662) T 8 9 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Turn: (t614662) 6 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: (t614662) 8 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: t614662
SB shows A A (Two Pair Aces and Eights)
Hero shows J J
SB wins t614662.00

We need to call 214k to win 614,662 so we need about 35% equity. Dont think we can fold ever with dynamics and math.


Hand 3: Merge Network Sunday $125,000 Guaranteed Freezeout No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t7500.00/t15000.00 Blinds + t1500.00 - 6 players - View hand 1855004
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

UTG: t637184.00 M = 20.23
MP: t641972.00 M = 20.38
CO: t146465.00 M = 4.65
BTN: t385281.00 M = 12.23
SB: t2054812.00 M = 65.23
Hero (BB): t308513.00 M = 9.79

Pre Flop: (t31500) Hero is BB with A 8
3 folds, BTN raises to t385281 all in, 1 fold, Hero calls t308513 all in

Flop: (t663526) 3 2 7 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Turn: (t663526) 8 (2 players - 2 are all in)

River: (t663526) 7 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: t663526
BTN shows J J (Flush Jack High)
Hero shows A 8
BTN wins t601758
BTN wins t61768.00

This was still 7 handed and given the dynamic I think this is a weird spot and villian played his JJ very inversely in my opinion. I had 3bet the button raiser twice over the last 50 hands or so. WhereisDonny has a huge chip lead and he has been raising or 3betting just about every hand or every other hand. I was shocked to see button raiser wouldnt induce with JJ vs the dynamic of the players in the sb and bb. I was sitting 13/18 at this point. My logic behind calling was I believed he would r/c almost all of his value hands and jam alot of hands he didn't not want to see a 3bet shove with (KJ, KQ, A-X SUITED, small/mid pairs pairs) VS that range A-8 has enough equity, but I think the mistake I make is calling to see if a taggish player, who is not a reg but does play(314 tournies since 2012) will include that many light hands in his 25 bb button open jam range. The open jam is such an unorthodox play that it makes it hard to range so idk. I might be able to find better spots, but I only have 20 bb's.

1: It's generally fine. Obviously depends a little on the villain, but as long as he has a 4b/f range, your line is fine. With your stack, I'm comfortable getting in half my stack with a flip. Lose and you still have 50bbs. Win and you have heaps. With respect to sizing, it's pretty clear you're never folding. I didnt look super close, but either size it such that you're not priced to call his shove (giving him room to shove worse) or just shove yourself.

2: Cooler. Even against QQ+, AK it's a call. And with as active as you had been, that range should definitely be wider, so snap call.

3: I wouldn't expect him to jam the top of his range either. I would often call in that spot in most MTTs. However, this deep in a major, without solid reads, I'm taking lower variance lines and would be shoving than calling off in marginal spots. So easy fold with A8o. Close with A8s. But that deep, I'm passing up calling off in close spots and would be folding this.

PS. don't post results, skews people's opinions

i think on hand 1 you say u wanted to flat because in hindsight the flop was ace and king ,i say oh well wht can u do he won the race and move on

2nd hand i feel that u just got fucked with b2b jj losses and chalk it up as variance is a beatch

3rd hand i dont like the call here for all my marbles in this spot damn its a trip cuz i have called a8 so many times here myself and i feel like i'm being my own hypocrite .but no matter how i look at this situation i just can't stand it and i hate this call