DECISION POINT: You are in the mid-stages of a multi table Tournament where blinds are 500/1,000 with a 1,000 big blind ante. The action folds to a Middle Position player who raises to 2,500. The remaining players fold and you call from the Big Blind with Q♦J♣. The flop is 4♣K♥6♦ you check and MP2 checks behind. The turn comes the 9♦ and action is on you.

What do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: We are playing the mid-stages of a live multi table tournament with a big blind ante in play and we are dealt Q♦J♣ in the Big Blind. It folds around to MP2 who makes a standard open of 2,500 (2.5BBs). The remaining players fold and action is on us.

With an ante in play facing a 2,500 raise we are getting very good odds to continue here and a hand like QJo is very likely to have the equity necessary versus our opponent’s range. This is a great spot for us to defend our big blind and we call the additional 1,500 (1.5BBs).

The 4♣K♥6♦ flop is far better for MP2’s range as they will be raising first-in with a range that includes many broadway combos. We should expect a continuation bet a majority of the time in this spot and with queen high we likely have to fold even with the backdoor straight draw. We do check and MP2 also checks.

When our opponent checks here on a board where we would normally expect them to bet, this is often a signal that they have a hand that has some showdown value but doesn’t want to build a big pot. While opponents will sometimes slowplay a strong hand like KK, this is usually a spot where our opponent is capping their range by checking.

The turn is the 9♦ giving us a gut shot straight draw. When we observe opponents taking action that caps their range it should immediately be a signal that this is an opportunity to attack. In fact, when opponents have capped ranges it can often be correct to overbet the pot and really punish them.

In this particular spot where we have 4 outs to what is almost certainly the best hand AND our opponent has capped their range. This is a perfect spot for us to overbet the pot and put a lot of pressure on MP2. Betting 8,000 (8BBs) into this 6,500 (6.5BBs) pot is ideal.

Overbetting is the best play.