In this post we look at some tougher hands that involve ICM pressure on Final tables, we will want to nit it up a little when we can outlast our shorter stacked opponents, but not too much! We look at the fine art of knowing when we need to gamble in these example hands.
Hitting a Good Flop Against the Chip Leader
2000/4000 with antes
HERO (button) – 180,000
Player 2 (small blind) – 42,000
Player 3 (big blind) – 240,000
Player 4 (cutoff) – 100,000
Player 5 (hijack) – 75,000
Action Folds to us on the button and we have K♥ T♦
We raise to 8,800 and the Big Blind, who is the chip leader calls.
We see a flop of K♠ 7♣ Q♣
The Big Blind checks to us…What action is best for us to take in this spot?
Well the awkward thing about this pot for us is that we are second in chips by a good distance, so whilst we would normally want to be betting a fairly large size on this board which is fairly wet but favouring our range and giving us top pair, we also have the dilemma of not wanting to get forced off the pot with the pressure of a check-raise from the chip leader.
For those reasons I like to check this board back, we aren’t looking to pick a fight with the only player on the table that can knock us out of the tournament when there are 5 left and we are firmly in second place.
This isn’t to say that there aren’t hands we won’t be looking to bet, I think AK+ two pairs and sets on this board will be a slam dunk bet for value and protection, but with our middling holdings that can’t stand the pressure of check-raises and won’t be able to get 3 streets of value, I like to check this kind of flop most of the time in this kind of scenario.
Strong hands in Small Blind
2000/4000 with antes
Player 2 (big blind) – 81,000
HERO (small blind) – 168,000
Player 3 (button) – 67,000
Player 4 (cutoff) – 155,000
Player 5 (hijack) – 90,000
We get dealt A♥ T♣ in the small blind
Action is folded to us in the Small Blind, how do we play it…
This hand works very well as a limp, the reason is our opponents on final tables will usually be aggressive enough that they will be looking to raise our limps from the small blind at least a good portion of the time.
So we have enough good hands in our range where we can look to limp in, see a raise and then move all in over the top of the Big Blinds raise we will need to limp hands even as good as this one.
The only exception to this general balanced play is if we know the Big Blind is very passive and won’t look to raise us, in this case, we could choose a large sizing like 3.5x or simply move all-in pre-flop.
Suited Ace in the Big Blind
2000/4000 with antes
Player 1 (big blind) – 204,000
Player 2 (small blind) – 40,000
Player 3 (button) – 100,000
HERO (cutoff) – 84,000
Player 5 (hijack) – 90,000
We get dealt Q♥ T♥ in the Cutoff
Action is folded to us in the Cutoff position and we raise to 8,800 and get called by the Button
We see a flop of A♠ 7♦ 3♦
Do we fire the C-Bet here?
Whilst I hate to just check and give up, there are so many Ace high hands in our opponents flat calling on the Button range here. This coupled with the fact we have one of our worst hands for this board, with no backdoors other than making a runner, runner straight, means that I don’t mind just checking and giving up against a bet here.
We can just look for better spots than this.
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