Chamonyx

Then you don't understand the math. You don't have to have the best possible hand, just a better hand than him.

It may look like the same decision, however you will have more information. The button should raise with ANY hand he is going to play to try to get rid of you as you have shown weakness by checking. If he makes it 3 bets then that is much stronger.

....folds, wishing he had led out

Actually the problem is that you are OOP, which I missed.

I want to play this heads up but would prefer to keep the pot small. I normally prefer big bets/raises but here a min raise will force BB to decide to commit half his stack or fold without maxing the pot, even if Vilain re-pots. If Villain does repot then it is a trickier decision - and I can get comfortable with either folding or all-in.

The first para above is actually a good reason for pushing the flop - you want to get rid of UTG and you want to see 2 cards against probable aces, who will almost certainly never lay it down at this level.With deeper stacks (especially) and against thinking players then calling the flop has more merit and I agree with your second paragraph:On the flop against AAxy it is 60/40: if x or y are 2 or 3 then you are behind, if x and y are 5 or higher then you are ahead.On the turn, the flush draw means one of 2 things: you are either way behind if he has one too (bit worse than 80:20) or you are at

Cap the flop to put maximum pressure on CO - who probably only raised to try to get rid of UTG. Most likely is 234x or A24x type hands, with slight chance of a broadway wrap. Try to carve up the lows and hope that your top 2 doesn't get counterfeit.

In a tournament setting like this, I prefer to lead the turn when I hit the flush to get a better chance to scoop.......after he has put another BB in, it is very unlikely he is going to fold and his bad low is probably better than yours.I don't think it matters what you do on the river - you are almost certainly splitting. If a potential c-f-ing low came on the end then it is definitely worth leading the river, as again, he might fold.

Pay better attention to stack sizes: do you really expect him to fold for is last $0.55, getting huge odds?If you want him to fold, GIVEN HIS STACK, you need to lead at this.

You played the hand perfectly imo; In this sort of tourney situation you need to be playing to win - go big or go home, so if you hit your str8 or your flush you will be in a great position, if you don't it won't make much difference.The only thing worth considering doing differently is raising the flop to try to get a free card on the turn.On the end, you know your pair of 2's is not going to take it down, so you need to save your last chips and hope to double up a few times.

Dealers Choice and Mixed Game are 2 different things.In DC, the dealer chooses which game will be played for the next n hands (where n typically = 1 or the number of players). In casinos, there is generally an approved list of games, in a home game it may be more open. I have never seen a DC game in a casino in the US, but most all European casinos have it at one if not more levels, often as the premium game.In a Mixed Game, the selection and sequence of Games is set (unless all players choose to change it) and each game is played for a set amount of time or number of hands - e.g. 1 table ro

Normally I would agree with this: as long as there are not 3 or more of you with nut low, you make money. Problem here is that there could easily be 5 lows, and almost certainly you are against Aws and A35, so you are most likely losing money with each new bet.

pot continuation bet on the flop would have made this a lot easier.

Standard: if you don't want to get stacked with an underfull, this is the way to play it and hope that the nut flush is donking off to you. The problem, as you are aware, is that he could well have JJ. Actually, given the flop check, he could well have the REAL under full and you could be good here!If you know the player and you want to build a bigger pot, then you should have either led the flop or c/r the turn.

Jam the turn to (a)get rid off the buton with his draw and (bee) to commit yourself to the pot if a scare card comes on the river.

Sort of, but more importantly you want to get anyone with A4 or A5 to fold so that if a 2 comes on the turn you still have a chance to scoop.I will sometimes float this sort of flop action and wait till the turn to wake up, but it is very table dependent.

That's why you open raise to thin the field.Especially in a tourney at this stage, what hands do you think are going to call 2 cold? Given that you have 2 of the Aces, it is less likely thta you are going to find an A2w out there....you are most likely to get called by the BB if he decides to defend. The fact that you have even a 7 gives you emergency cf protection AGAINST A LIMITED NUMBER OF OPPONENTS.Nevertheless, even if you do get a several oppo nents, you don't really mind and you should play it strong until you meet resistance and the board is ugly.Actually, at this stage in a tourney

Pre-flop: Just horrible. Either open raise to isolate or limp, pray someone else raises and then jam. The benefit of isolating is that you significantly increase your scoop chances, which is very important at this stage of the tournament.flop: fine, make the flush draws pay.turn: keep jamming.....you want to get the BB to fold his draw, just in case your low gets c-f on the end, to increase your defensive/scoop equity.river: fine.

When posting SNG hands it is useful to include stack sizes and levels as sometimes tournament strategy will trump game strategy. From a cash game perspective, there is nothing wrong with folding this hand preflop - especially as you start out. This is a hand that looks pretty but can get you into trouble after the flop oop. As it turns out, you hit a perfect flop and so pushing hard makes sense. On the end, bet/folding makes sense for the reasons Checky outlined.As you start out, try to be more disciplined pre-flop so you ease yourself into post-flop play with straightforward hands - and t

Stack sizes could be relevant here as it is a tournament, however I lead the turn like you as any one with a 2 and a brain must raise to try to get rid of the low draws.In general I re-raise the river, but if calling 4 bets would put me all-in, then I might flat call.

The issue with position here is not that he is OOP (he has position on the raiser) but that there may be action after him so he may need to play the hand OOP to another player.Remember, this is PL, so the game is about capturing stacks and this is a hand that can certainly do that - although more likely when HU rather than multi-way. Just for set value alone, you are 8-1 to hit on the flop and if you can leverage the action you should be confident of getting a better return than that. You also have a flush draw that may work. That just covers what you need to hit your hand. If you have a g

pre-flop: read dependent in this position, easy call in a later seat.flop: you MUST raise to get rid of the flush draws and to define your hand. If a later player who you have respect for re-pops, then you can probably lay down middle set, otherwise you really want to get this HU to maximize your chance of scooping.

As played, easy fold to his raise.This is one of those situations where I prefer to cc oop - with no low there yet you can't really take any heat, so see if the low gets there and then try to chop up a naked low. Alternatively, if its bet on the flop, cc when the low hits on the turn and bet out if the board pairs on the end.

Pokerstars and UltimateBet (lat time I looked which was a while ago) have plenty of 2-7 (but not KCLB)

Fold preflop. In later stages of a tournament then I might think about open raising if I can get a lot of my chips committed, but at this stage you have no fold equity. Flop: Check Fold ....but if you must bet then bet the pot - anything less screams weakness. Any 2 low cards not on the board are (almost) freerolling you here, any 3 are absolutely. You are in horrible shape against 234 or A23/4B where B>8