Line check please

[JDLush]

Party $33 NLHE multi. Blinds are now 100/200, I have about $3500 (started with $3k). Villain #1 has about $3200 and just hit the table. Villain #2 has both of us covered.

I have KJo in MP. I have a VPIP of 6% so far, have not gone to showdown since the 3rd or 4th hand of the tourney and have had maybe 2 pfr's that got folded when I CBd. Not sure if they are paying attention, but if they are they must be calling me Gibraltar. I'm not normally this bad, but just have been card dead in a big way.

I limp, button minraises, sb calls, I call.

Flop KJ3 with 2 spades. SB checks, I check, button bets $200. SB flat calls. I checkraise all in. - Good? Bad? Overplayed?

[adiuvat]

Not overplayed, IMO. The pot is big. You want to take it down. You also want to force a flushdraw to make a mistake. That's really all there is to it. You'll get called so often even playing ultra-tight by pair+draw etc that this play is the best you're going to get.

If you raise big but not allin, are you really going to get away from the hand if a spade comes, and you have a tiny stack? No. So exert your leverage now and live with the results.

[JDLush]

[adiuvat]

[adiuvat]

[MTPaid]

[adiuvat]

[MTPaid]

[adiuvat]

The only alternative I can see to trying to manage the table's reaction to your play is to to try to catch lucky cards. That doesn't happen to me for long stretches. Sure, when it's raining aces I can revert to a trappy strategy, but when I have a steaming pile to work with hand after hand, and I still want to make the money, I have to cut some corners. I strongly prefer to start doing this before I need to double up three times to catch the average.. or as Harrington says, before my M drops below 6, or my Q below 0.5.

I get a fighting chance by stealing blinds. I steal blinds by making other players fear my raises. I accomplish that by being unpredictable, and sadly, sometimes by being lucky. At least, this approach seems to work more often than the "clench and pray" method.

[MTPaid]

Wait a minute. I think we are both arguing the same point now. I believe that being perceived as tight that I can steal more blinds and that was exactly what I was trying to say. Being percieved as tight doesn't necessarily mean that you play only 5-10% of your hands, but that when you do show hands, they are better than average starting hands. I think more people are more likely to call the crazy man's blind steal than someone they preceive as tight. I'll throw away Ace rag offsuit many times to a blind steal, but call anything 3xBB or less with lower suited or connecting cards.

[adiuvat]

[Xaston]

[MTPaid]

[Juskimo]

I am going to agree with Xas on this one.

I think setting out to play *A* style in tourney is a losing proposition.

Well, lets see

Ahead of AA, 65/35 or so.
Ahead of q10 68/32
dead even with qs10s.
dead to KK
dead to JJ
way behind 33.

I think the answer is: DONT PLAY KJo UTG. EVER!

-Jus

[adiuvat]