Live $600 EP vs blinds facing SB donk on turn

On the river, I was confused about the blocker properties of the Ac. I thought his flop continue range consists of 7x, 22, 33-99, Ax with bdfd + bdsd or strong Ax if he ever flats AQ/AJ pre, hands like 89s bdfd or 56s bdfd that wrap around the 7. OTT, he’s polarizing to 7x+ or air, and the club air that picks up equity is more likely to donk turn, but I thought at least some of the time club combos will donk for 1/3 to see a cheap river. OTR, I think of his turn bluffs Ax of clubs region should mainly be a give up because he doesn’t want to be blocking my folds, but it’s a pretty large portion of his turn air. Would love any insight anyone has about my hands blockers

Agree with you that he is polarized. Something like a 9 or small pair would probably go for the name your price sizing on the turn.

I don't like having the ace high club draw as many people bluff with these (although solver often prefers the lower ones). None of the straight draws really make sense, like you said. Any JT combo besides JTcc would be pretty insane for a middle aged guy. Having the Ac makes flush draws less likely and there are also not that many combos of them. Not sure if you ran through a solver but in practice I don't think a middle aged guy has enough bluffs here.

There's also the fact that you're unlikely to have a deuce here, and once you call turn your range seems weighted toward big pairs. Q is good for your range too. Is he really trying to push you off AQ+?

That last paragraph is kinda word salad but my point is, he has no reason to believe you're as weak as you are.

I think I default to a fold here, unless there is reason to believe our opponent is over bluffing. I think it's significant that we're up against a SB range. While they have less 7x combos compared to the BB, their overall range is much stronger too and they have less weak combos to spazz bluff with. I don't expect the SB to see this as a great spot to rep a 7 and bluff off either.

If the same player ran this line out of the BB I would be more likely to call, simply because it's easier to over bluff with a weak BB range that has many combos with at least some semblance of being good bluff candidates. BB is also going to see the paired board as a good spot to bluff, moreso than I would expect SB to. Even assuming BB has more value 7x combos to support those bluffs, they just have so many trashy hands that could get frisky and bluff. So I think it's more likely BB gets out of line overbluffing in this spot compared to SB.

Regarding blocker effects, it's an interesting spot as there are some contradictory factors at play. On the surface you would think you would want to unblock missed flush draws that could choose to bluff. However our opponent probably shouldn't be using the missed A high flush as a bluff here anyway. Blocking pocket two full houses also has some relevance.

Overall I'm not confident enough to gauge the blocker effects here, so I would mostly disregard and think of blockers as a relatively neutral factor. I think it's going to depend a lot how our opponent constructs their range, especially their bluffing range. However different players are going to approach this spot differently. I don't think you can assume they're going to construct their range the same way a solver would.

Anyway those are a few of my thoughts. It's an interesting spot facing the SB rather than the BB that we're more used to taking an aggressive line here.

Result: I did make the call, he announced K high and mucked

If it's Kxcc (air would be wild even for FL), I'd say well played by him and better played by you for finding the call.

The donk on the low paired flop looks suspicious that he could be making a play. You shouldn't have a 7. However, if he is decent, he shouldn't have a 7 even more. When you call the turn, it looks like you have a pp, so maybe hard for him to get a fold. It sounds like he called with K-high with the intent to make a play.

You are not opening enough if you are folding a suited A-2. Will be hard to win tournies if not opening proper ranges and wide enough.

River is an easy fold. How deep are you op? That is a big deal. Flop- I feel you can mix check and cbet. Checking is fine at a lower frequency and I like betting bc you got the 2x covered + you have all the overpairs they don’t have. For Cbet sizing- I need to know stack depth- I like something like 20%-33% pot if we are say 45bb or less. I always favor as small as possible with cbets to get folds. Aka don’t bet 10% but like 20-30% can be super effective

I like check bc what honestly continues? 7x and that is it or pairs. Even AA or KK I like to check back here on flop bc we just bloat pot when they have 7x and remove all bluff options for them. Aka allow them to play perfect. I like turn call. River is an easy fold. If it’s a bluff- say nh and move on. A little secret- most standard live players aren’t taking exotic bluff lines. This is rarily a bluff on river.

Hey Jk! It's been a minute, hope you're doing well.

I do think the above is a bit unfair. Yes playing aggro does increase your likelihood of getting first but A2s is a very marginally +EV open EP and even more marginal depending on the stage of the tournament. I like it more if registration has closed but early stages with no fold equity I don't think it's criminal to let it go.

The river may be a fold. A lot of times, once you call the turn, he would give up on the bluff, figuring you have an overpair. However, his line donking on the paired board does look like it might be a bluff.