This is the 7th hand of the match. We have either folded buttons or folded to button raises thus far.When Villain 3Bs so small, I hate to fold this hand, but what am I hoping to hit? Postflop when he checks, I don't feel that betting is good against an unknown, as he is likely to either be making a play on me with a c/r or calling and I don't know where I'm at. Once I check the turn, I feel he will call because I don't represent anything with a bet. And the same on the river.How do I change my thinking about these types of hands when I don't know anything yet about the Villain? I thought there was little chance my King high is good, but also that Villain is likely not folding. I have little to base this on, however, just my general feeling.When he did this later in the match a couple times, I was then confident about betting flop with a missed hand and I took down the pot. After I did that, he started cbetting his 3B. I had a feeling he didn't have much, but certainly wasn't going to make a play because again I had no basis for my feelings.The first time Villain does, should I be stabbing at the pot at some point? Or should I wait to get a read? Is the preflop call OK, or should I just ditch the hand. The best is very small, but big enough that I don't know what is correct, especially this being the first 3B of the match. What hands would you be calling this smallish 3B with? No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players$22+$1Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converterSBHero1510 BBSULZBACHMM1490 Effective Stacks: 75bbBlinds 10/20
- Pre-Flop (30, 2 players) Hero is SB
Hero raises to 60, SULZBACHMM raises to 140, Hero calls 80
- Flop (280, 2 players)
SULZBACHMM checks, Hero checks
- Turn (280, 2 players)
SULZBACHMM checks, Hero checks
- River (280, 2 players)
SULZBACHMM checks, Hero checks
- Final Pot: 280
- Hero shows
- SULZBACHMM shows a pair of Sevens
- SULZBACHMM wins 280 ( won +140 )
- Hero lost -140
1 - If his range is on the stronger side (think 10-15% strongest hands) you won't match up particularly well, and you'll actually be close to a fold based on putting 80 more into a 200 chip pot here (my quick take was you have about 32% equity vs a stronger range).This doesn't mean you fold, but it's a strong indicator that your pot odds and times you win the hand are pretty close, so it's not as much of a "I'd call this in my sleep with 43o" type decision (as a min 3bet would be).2 - That can be another problem, pushing people off of high cards is not always realistic. Without reads, you're in a tougher spot, it often doesn't make sense to barrel away in these spots, they just call too much with weaker PPs and that damn AK they can't seem to ever fold postflop.3 - If there's a spot to bet, I would say it is the turn. Small PPs and ace high look more likely to fold on this potentially scary card (the other end of it is that if he's 3betting a lot of broadway hands this turn helps his range a bit more often).In the end I think you played this hand a bit cautiously, but I'm OK with it. It's not like you didn't get anything out of it. You learned that he's 3betting A3s, it's much more likely his 3betting range is just a loose value range (including a lot of broadways, PPs and any ace potentially). You learned he plays pretty passively, even on a paired board (FD/SD there of course) with a high card showdown value type hand. These are things you can absolutely start taking advantage of and applying into your decisions starting with the next hand.In the end, you only need to win this pot a third of the time, probably less than that since you hitting a hand has more of a chance for value than him (due to value betting and pot control skills you're superior with). You're playing a bit cautiously here, but it's OK to do that early in the game, as long as you're really looking out for reads you can apply to future hands that will more than make up for a few minutes of lower edge, cautious poker.