Hi, this is my first post here. This were i think the 3 most important hands played in my last (and biggest" tournament victory for me ( a begginer ). I think i was very lucky in those (top two pair, gutshaw str8, backdoor flush) ... so I would like to know if i played good heads up ... or I was just lucky.
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-Table Atmosphere: Heads up play, I've been very tight in the final table, I got there with a medium stack but was the short stack since there were 6 players left.. the other guy has been loose & lucky , just won a huge pot going all in with A3 suited and flopping a flush against another maniac going all in QT off. He had a huge lead like 240k against my 20k but I just made a double up with a pocket pair that held up.

-Player Types: I think he is loose and I think I've played tight so far.
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PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is 2000/4000 (2 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

BB (231712)
Hero (38288)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 4, 3.
Hero calls 2000, BB checks.

Flop: (t6400) 2, 4, 3 (2 players)
BB bets 12000 Hero calls 12000.

Turn: (t30400) 2 (2 players)
BB bets 32000 Hero calls 21888 (All-In).

River: (t84288) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: 76576
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PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is 2000 (2 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

Button (200624)
Hero (151152)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , .
Button calls 2000, Hero checks.

Flop: (t6400) , , (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets 4000, Hero calls 4000.

Turn: (t14400) (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets 12000, Hero raises to 60976, Button calls 48976.

River: (136352) (2 players)

Final Pot: 136352

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PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is 4000 (2 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

saw flop|saw showdown

Button (118848)
mh2890 (151152)

Preflop: mh2890 is BB with , .
Button calls 2000, mh2890 checks.

Flop: (6400) , , (2 players)
mh2890 bets 6000, Button raises to 12000, mh2890 calls t6000.

Turn: (30400) (2 players)
mh2890 checks, Button bets 16000, mh2890 calls t16000.

River: (62400) (2 players)
mh2890 checks, Button bets 86448 (All-In), mh2890 calls t86448.

Final Pot: t235296
Main Pot: t235296 (t235296), between Button and mh2890. > Pot won by mh2890 (t235296).

Results in white below:
Button has 6s 7h (high card, queen).
mh2890 has 2h 8h (flush, queen high).
Outcome: mh2890 wins t235296.

1st hand - shove that flop, absolutely have to. the guy bet almost 2x the pot, he is not folding and you need to protect the hand from all the draws present. Scare cards for us that we might see on the turn are any heart, an ace, a five, or a two. That's NINETEEN cards we don't want to see, meaning we have a 40% chance of a shitty turn card. shooooooove

2nd hand - really bad call on the flop with a gutshot with 2.6:1 pot odds, you got very lucky

3rd hand - you seem to like to limp on the button heads up, stop it. Raise or fold, in this case, fold. As played, also fold to his minraise on the flop, but the call on the turn is okay since you have enough outs by that point. You're lucky that you caught a runner runner and that he had air, he was probably betting with nothing because he's on tilt after you sucked him out with your gutshot


man, this thread got me wanting to play some $4 180s, are they all like this?

edit: and I forgot, welcome to the site

...hadn't realized the hand converter didn't show what hand's he showed on the first 2: 1st. showed A4 (two pair 4-2) 2nd. showed 9-10 two pair again.

I have a question about the second hand, about impliedd odds. I tought he had hit , maybe top pair and that if i hit the 8 could double up. he actually had top 2 pair.... anyway the more I think about I ask myself why he didn't fold on the turn when I check-raised all in, I guess against a good player I can't make a call on "implied odds"

I've made 2 final tables in a row on this tournaments and usually they aren't this bad, I mean when we were 3 handed and I'm the short stack and the 2 big stacks go all in preflop with QT off and A3 suit. I guess all the good players were busted at the FT.

Thanks man, I really want improve my game before moving to higher buy-ins, I hope to learn a lot in this forum.

It doesn't really matter what he had because my analysis isn't based on what he had but what he could have. You obviously didn't know what he had until showdown so I wanted to demonstrate a thought process I would have used during the hand.

Taking into account what he had at showdown into whether or not your play was good is called being results oriented, and you'll learn more and more that it'll ruin your analysis of the hand after the fact. For instance, say you have 72 off suit and called a push all in. Opponent shows AA, but the flop comes 772 and you win, does the fact that you won make your preflop call correct? Of course not.

You can take implied odds into account but I doubt they're seriously enough to compensate for calling with a gutshot. Break-even pot odds with a gutshot straight are 10.5:1, your call was 2.6:1 (if I remember). I don't know how solid your opponent was (he looked pretty terrible), but most people wouldn't stack off when you hit that card. Keep in mind it was a limped pot and your straight was made using only one of your hole cards. To him, a four-straight is on the board and it only takes one seven to have that straight. He has no indication that you don't have a seven other than making that bad call on the flop.

Maybe I'm ranting, point is, I think you're seriously overvaluing your implied odds there

that doesn't tell me much really, I'd certainly have no trouble shoving A3s at a three handed table depending on the players and dynamic

You will. Hopefully I've helped, I'm certainly a far cry from the better tournament players here so you'll get plenty of better advice down the road as well. Post plenty of hands and once you get comfortable, post your analysis of other's hands frequently as well, hopefully it opens discussions between others and we can all learn something.