Yesterday I played in a no-limit holdem tourney.
$100 buyin 58 players.
I continue to replay the hand that booted me over and over. I had to come ask if i played correct, or if any of you would have played differently.
Here is the scenario.
Down to the final 2 tables.
12 players left, top 6 get paid. Im probably sitting in 9th or 10th in chips with approx 3k.
Im left of the big blind. 6 at the table
Blinds are 100/200 with $25 ante.
I look down and see ak offsuit.
I raise to 400 hoping to go head to head at best.
2 people to my left fold, next guy makes it 1000. BLinds both fold, I call.
Flop is 7-Q-5 rainbow.
I check to raiser, & he bets $500. Here is what went through my head.
1. he only bet 500 into a $2475 pot, he at best has pair of JJ, or maybe AK as well. Like I said i was sitting in 9th with now 2k after call. I Figure Im going to have to make a move sooner or later with blinds increasing, and if he has JJ im an underdog, but have 6 outs. Well I made my move and went all-in.
He quickly calls and turns A-A!
Thinking im a victim of slow play!
I Keep tossing the idea that i should have just called there instead of raising, but what happened on the turn made me feel a little better.
ON the turn comes an A.
At this point if I just called the $500 bet, Im sure I would have called his all in or big bet (he would have had a set) on the turn. Makes sense at that point to put him on A-K.
River is a 5. giving him full house, aces over 5s, and my self a's & 5's K kicker.
I want to say I played this correct, but always re-hashing these things in my head. Love to hear everyones comments.
his 500 bet made me think he had JJ because I Was thinking with the Q on the board he was worried about an overcard and catching a top pair.
I'm not sure what the average was at this point, or the texture of the game. However, I think that as low stacked as you were, you were going to have to lose all of your chips on that hand regardless...you just ran into a better hand at an inopportune time...nothing you can do about that. I personally would have pushed all-in preflop...granted, you'd have been called and lost in this particular situation (running into aces has a way of doing that, I suppose). However, if there is no better hand out there, you take down the blinds (which are probably pretty hefty at this late stage of the tourney, thus allowing you to see free cards for the next round of action) or get called by dominated hands (e.g., A-Q, A-J) or hands that are slight edges against you (e.g., pocket queens or lower)...at this stage of the tourney, I feel that you've got to take a gamble at some point. Since you were likely to have lost all of your chips anyway on the hand (that is, calling any reraise or bet on the flop by your opponent), why not put the person to a decision earlier in the hand?
Again, you ran up against the mother of all hands...tough break, particularly so close to finishing in the money. However, people will call with much less than pocket aces against you at that stage of the tourney, particularly since you were so short stacked. At that late stage of the tourney, with such a small stack, I like taking the risk to double up and solidify your chances of finishing higher in the money. Why not force someone with a borderline hand (e.g., pocket 10s or lower) to jeopardize a significant portion of their chips (particularly the other small or mid-sized stacks) by going all-in preflop?
When short-stacked, I like being VERY aggressive. If I catch a premium hand, I'm all-in...put others to the test, and let them make mistakes. Don't dabble in the pots, and allow others to catch a hand or blow you off of your hand. You're going to have to take a chance at some point, why not with big slick (bring your big guns to the big wars, and A-K certainly qualifies as big weaponry)?
Oh, and another piece of advice: stop running into pocket rockets just off the money!!!
i thought of all in preflop, but made the mistake of thinking i could get a call or 2 with a smaller raise. Where there were 3 or 4 people at my table with 8-10k, I was hoping to get them in and then unload.
I agree though that waiting around just opens you up to allowing someone to catch a flop on marginal hole cards.
i guess i was playing too conservative where i was close to the $
