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10 handed, Level 6/12 Day 1-B, 100 Ante, Blinds 400/800

Hero has ~50,000; MP+1 has ~55,000 two biggest stacks at table

Pre: UTG+1 raises to 2,400; MP+1 calls, SB calls, BB (Hero) calls with 9 9
Flop: 5 J Q SB checks, Hero checks, UTG+1 checks, MP+1 bets 7k, SB folds, Hero raises to 22k...

What do you guys think of my raise? MP+1 was playing very tight and had only showed down big pocket pairs and AK, AQ a few times. I put him on a hand like AQ, AJ betting for protection hoping to get most draws out if he didn't have a spade. I also thought he could've been doing this with KK or AA because he was not 3 betting at all and had called a raise in position with QQ and KK earlier. I was repping a small flush that didn't want to be drawn out by a big spade. I didn't think he had a flush at all because he was not playing suited connectors and the only big suited hand I thought he could have was AK of spades, but he probably would not have bet that. He was playing very tight up to that point and had folded to a check raise and turn raise in earlier levels.

Please post your thoughts and after a few posts I'll post the rest of the hand.

I should also note that I was playing fairly loose as the competition was pretty soft. I had showed down hands like 4 5 and 7 3 earlier from the button so those hands were definitely in my range. By the way, those hands I had a straight and two pair respectively.

Also my plan was to shove any non spade turn.

Anybody?

If you say he is a tight player, his range here is probably very strong. Mostly AK or better. 99 is a very good hand, however this may be one spot to throw it away. What good is reading ranges if we just jump in to a bad situation. How many 50/50 (at best) situations do we want to create. Sure we could win a big pot or we could be dominated and lose a big pot.

If you think he will fold AQ or AJ then resteal preflop. If he shoves you have a tough decision.

I think your raise is aggressive, but almost suicidal. His range has lots of possible high spades. If he has AA or KK with a spade hes not going anywhere. If he has AKs we are smoked. I would check/fold the flop and look for a better spot. Actually I would fold preflop. If this were a loose opener then I resteal preflop.

Actually I would fold preflop.

Really? When we close the action 4 handed?

If he's as tight as you say LSGo - might he not be more likely to take a potcontrol line OTF w/his AQ/AJ hands than bet them? I'd just x/fold.
Should say - I'm not a tourney player though, nor do I play very high.

I'll mention too that he was making big folds and was playing fairly aggressive when he had a weaker hand and was slow playing his monsters ~80% of the time.

In this particular situation the callers only make the situation worse. They called an early position raise. What kind of ranges do they have? There is $8000 in the pot and we have to call 1600. 1600/8000= 20%. How much we get paid off determines if we can set mine. We need to win another 10000 if we hit the set. On average I think we come up short. I would look for a better spot. Like I said before how many marginal situations do we want to get into. Later in the tourney I would 3 bet, but we have a good stack. The set mining option isn't horrible, but its not a clear call and in the long run you probably break-even or it may be -ev. Remember 99's against three hands is not very strong. We need the set to continue.

Really? When we close the action 4 handed?

If he's as tight as you say LSGo - might he not be more likely to take a potcontrol line OTF w/his AQ/AJ hands than bet them? I'd just x/fold.
Should say - I'm not a tourney player though, nor do I play very high.

Normally I would call here as our pot odds are good. However the tight utg+1 raise leans me toward folding. Of course I'm going with the reads provided. In game I might assign his range differently and therefore act different.

I don't mind the call preflop as we're closing the action, it's only 1600 to call and we could potentially win a big pot. The stack sizes of the other players is important though and OP didn't mention them. If the original opener is really short and there's the same number of callers, I may just fold.

I don't like the flop raise. Villian is a tight player and is betting into 3 other players. Is he really going to fold AJ w/ the A? I'm folding the flop.

I didn't think he had the A of spades because he probably wouldn't have bet that.

you really think someone can fold AQ?

Your raise is horrible. You need to evaluate your thought process in these spots. It's really bad to just decide to randomly represent a super strong made hand like a flush on a 3-community card game like Texas-Hold'em versus three other players.

Also the tournament seems kind of soft. Why blow up your stack when you can just keep chipping up variance free?

Yes I did think he would fold AsQx, AsJx on a one tone flop considering his prior big folds and the hands I had shown. I also thought if he did have those hands he might shove which makes my bet sizing a little worse. I definitely think that betting 16-18k instead of 22k is better.

I still don't think the raise is "horrible". I'll take the criticism though and post the results. I'm not really used to people questioning my decisions as I don't post a lot of hands. I also think since I was chipping up fairly easy so I probably was a little too cocky, and probably shouldn't have introduced the variance that I did. He ended up folding and didn't show. I busted the tournament set over set.

Really? When we close the action 4 handed?

If he's as tight as you say LSGo - might he not be more likely to take a potcontrol line OTF w/his AQ/AJ hands than bet them? I'd just x/fold.
Should say - I'm not a tourney player though, nor do I play very high.

I'd say no because both SB and UTG+1 were totally disinterested in the hand and UTG+1 was CBetting every board he hit and C/F on every miss. I thought he might have been betting with the hands I described in the OP or with the slight chance of air trying to take down a decent pot.

If the guy is playing tight i think I would have preferred to lead out. than make a big check raise but this is a hand i might just check fold on the flop. I do think check raise is very dangerous but if you have a read on a guy then it might be different. I dont think I would be going anywhere if I am the villain with Ak with nut fluh draw.

I disaggree that calling is a complete set mine. I think you can potentially win enought pots with out sets to make the call profitable.