Tonychanman;357990 wrotePlayed in an $80 tournament today at the casino, I was a little reluctant to play as it's a bit over my BR, but a few friends were playing so I figured why not.

$5k starting stacks, 25/50 to start, 20 minute blinds.

Hand 1:

About 30 minutes in, 50/100, I'm in MP with 99, raise to 400, one caller behind. Villain has been in a few hands already, he's a little all over the place. First hand of the night he ends up all in with a full house, flopped trips and checked it all the way to the river before shoving. Anyways, for this hand, flop comes 2 5 8 all spades, I don't have a spade. I c-bet 400, he raises to 800. I call. Turn comes Qc, I check it and he bets 1500. I fold.

Hand 2: A few hours in now, 400/800/50 antes. My table broke up, been at this new one for less than 20 minutes. Villain to my right. I only have one hand to go by on his play. A few hands ago @ 300/600/25, we were in a pot together when we were both blinds, he called from the SB and I checked with Q2. Flop was garbage, he checks, I c-bet 600 he calls. We both check the turn and river and my Q high is good.

Back to the hand. I have 6700, he has just over 10k and he's BB, I make it 2200 with KK. Folds all around, he calls. Flop is QQ8. He checks, I check behind. Turn is a 6, he bets 1100. I ask myself why such a small bet, not even 1/4 of the pot. I think to myself, he's either inticing me to raise, or he's just testing the waters. I don't put him on AA or AQ although I know he could very well have JQ, KQ, or possibly a lower pocket pair. I call with the intention of calling anything on the river. 2 comes on the river, he shoves. I tank for about 30 seconds regretting my decision and call. His hand in white text: He flips JQ.

On the turn, I think about it for about 10 seconds, thinking he was either betting weak or luring me in. I probably should have thought about it a little longer which may have led me to either shove or fold.

Hand 1: I raise 250 preflop. I don't care if the standard raise is 400 at the table, I still go to 250. I'm a big fan of keeping pots a bit smaller as I think it gives me more plays on later streets. I think I sometimes cbet 350 and I sometimes check behind the flop...depends a a few things that I'd have to be there for...actually, I am more likely to check behind to induce a bluff on the turn and then to reevlauate on the river. I don't want a huge pot with this holding on the flop...if the money goes in you are either barely ahead, a bit behind or way behind.

Hand 2: I shove preflop assuming you have about 10BB. Also, I don't think it's a cbet if you checked preflop, I think it's just a bet:)

Hand 3: Your M is <5 (actually, it's just over 4...I'm tired), I open shove a wide range here and KK and AA are in it.

Overall, it's a low BI tourney with what seems to be a crappy structure, so you have to take some chances and realize that a shove without callers increases your stack a fair percentage.

I'll let Wetts or T8 answer since they actually play tournaments;)