Sunday shots, and a hand to review

Today I started my day by giving two one hour lessons. I think both lessons went very well and I see good things in both players future. I truly enjoy the coaching and feel I have a lot to give. There is a real satisfaction that comes from helping someone and all the hand history reviews and poker talk helps me as well.

Today I cashed in 5 out of 30 MTTs and 3 out of 9 satellites. I was able to make two final tables but did not crack the top three in either. I was able to win another 215 ticket so there will be another shot taken soon. Overall the day went pretty well but if I was to be completely honest I would say I gave a small bit less than 100% today. There is truly no excuse to feel as if you could have given more. Tomorrow I will do what it takes to feel as if I am giving 100% and keep it going there after.

I would like to post a hand that caused a little controversy in the chat. This is a $3 to $5 MTT at the 10/20 level and our Hero has JJ in the BB with 71bb. The Hero is facing a 2x open from the 90bb HJ of 60, and a 2.3x raise of the open from the 212bb CO to 140. He is new to the table and has no reads.
I think this is a 4 bet / call  to 400 and if flatted I would be getting it in on the flop. I think our hand is to strong to fold as we will be ahead of a lot of players range at this stakes and I don't think we can ever flat here for 10% of our stack and play the hand OOP in what could be a 3-way pot. I ran JJ vs a few ranges I thought would 3bet to 140 in this spot with the tightest being, TT+, AJs+, AQo+. Verse this range we are 47.5%. I personally think it could easily be more like, 99+, ATs+, KQs, AJo+ which we have 53.1% equity against. And as you can see these ranges are without adding any random hands for "the spazz" factor so our equity could even be a little better.
The argument came with one guy saying he thinks it's a flat. I think we would only flat if we thought we were behind and we were trying to hit the flop. I don't think we should be calling OOP for 10% of our stack to try and hit a flop very often, if ever. I think we will have a harder time ranging the villains if we flat, and we will be forced to fold on bad flops and be gifting away 10% of our stack. One of his arguments was the fact that we have 70bb. And to be honest, we do have 70bb, but it is the 10/20 level and we won't be here for long. I think it can be a mistake to over think the amount of BB sometimes at the first stage of the MTT. His argument was that we shouldn't be 4b getting it in with 70bb this early. But to that I say we have 1400 in chips and I think it's a plus EV play.

If anyone has comments on this hand I would enjoy hearing them as I know I am still improving and I eagerly accept good advice.

Blinds 10/20

> HJ+1: 2,160.00
> HJ: 1,805.00
> CO: 4,240.00
> BTN: 2,170.00
> SB: 1,980.00
> Hero (BB): 1,430.00
> HJ+2: 4,060.00
> SB posts SB 10.00, Hero posts BB 20.00
> Pre Flop: (30.00) Hero has Js, Jd

> fold, fold, HJ raises to 60.00, CO raises to 140.00, fold, fold, hero?




Good luck to all the grinders tomorrow, get your focus up and your emotion out of the picture.

If you are interested in taking poker lessons or would like any information, contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/# and http://variance101.blogspot.com.