tournament hand

[jayboogie 0]

OK, I just got busted out 67th out of 544 players. Top 54 paid, but anyways, I really didn't care much about trying to get in the money. I wanted to either win or make the final table or I wasn't going to bother.This was the Hand. I had about 15, 000 chips, the blinds were 300, 600. I get K9 suited hearts, raised 2400 to try and steal the blinds. I get called by the small blind. The small blind was a jerk, he was being annoying, and I got into it a bit with him, who knows maybe that's why he made the call. The flop comes out 8 10 J, with 2 hearts, giving me a flush and open ended straight draw. He came out betting 1200, I read that he probably had hit 1 of the pairs, but probably not a J, or he would have bet more. Reading this, I re-raised and pushed all-in to try and take the pot right there. I end up getting called and he holds A 10 offsuit. Now, personally I think he made a bad call, because there were many hands he could have been beaten with. Too call an all-in raise with 2nd pair is questionable to me. Personally I felt I played it right. I could have just called on the flop, but I was the pre-flop raiser, so I wanted to remain aggressive. Also, I have to mention he only had about 2000 more chips than me, so he barely had me covered. In hindsight, had I folded, I still would have been in decent shape, but I play to win these tournaments and I still felt I made the right play and he made a questionable call. If I had won this hand, I would have been the chip leader, so I still think it was worth the risk. I think I was probably the favorite after the flop with a straight/flush draw and 1 over card. Now, I'd just like some opinions please on how I played it. Thanks.

[jayboogie 0]

I just tried calculating the hand on The Odds Calculator and I was a 61.5% favorite over his A 10 after the flop, so I felt I made the right play and was actually the favorite as well. Just got a bit unlucky I guess. It's just worst, because it was that guy, he was a jerk and he was just lucky to even survive at all. He survived on 1 card straights several times. His A2 beating AK, when the board read A 3 4 5 6. Overall, I played pretty well so I'm happy with that.

[tech_mage 0]

Aright, First I want to say that I am not a superb poker player yet. I have tendencies to be creative, but am still only 17 years of age, and still am learning a bit more about poker before I give this statment. Please do not butcher my style of play as much :wink: Aright, with K 9 hearted and two hearts on the board with a possible flush/straight draw, you opponent was most likely unwanting a raise. In my opinion, a raise was the correct decision. However, an all-in raise at that period of time was an incorrect thing to do.I would consider the senario like this. Your opponent is a bigmouth whom is probably aggressive like you. Overagressing on a draw situation, no matter how strong the draw is, can be a disasterous thing. I would have suggested just raising him a bit more then double what the bet was. Possibly enough chips to make a statement that says 'I will call you if you go all in'. In this style of play, it would be a shift from your normal aggression, as you said you play, to a more controlled bet. The bet looks more enticing to call. However, it would strike in his mind that you would most likely have the J. In my poker experiences, all-in bets are more suspicious to me then threatening. Now I know the difference is that the hand is played online, but an all-in bet is still suspicious to me compared to a raise of a certain amount. A raise still gives you reason to stay in, while an all in bet is just saying to your opponent 'now or never'. Now giving this guy the benefit of the doubt that he had a few brain cells left in his head, he was probably putting you on a draw situation when you went all in. The way I feel that is read is that going all in shows more that you don't want him to call. On the other hand, if the pot size was about 9000 and you went all in with 5000-6000, I would say the action of going all in would scare me more, since I am not pot committed, but the bet wouldn't even be the pot size. It would make me think more.I don't know, maybe I am completly wrong in this theory, but I feel you should have raised him a bit to show strength, and also to stray away from your normal style of play. The worst way to deal with an aggressive, bad mouthing player is to go all in over him with a draw when you know he has mid to high pair. However, that is not true if you have high pair with a kicker to two pair or better. Hope someone feeds back to me. I would love to hear some positive criticism, and maybe explain my faults on how I would move in against someone on this.

[jayboogie 0]

i think perhaps your right, but also at the same time, the way I viewed it was that I wouldn't have minded a call too much, because I had lots of outs had I been called. I just felt it was a risk worth taking even tho it didn't work out. Honestly, I don't think he would have laid down his hand anyways, had I raised him. He probably wasn't going to lay that down, knowing the type of player he is. The turn was a 4, and the river another 8, he would have likely bet out again and I just wouldn't see him folding, even if I had raised him. Also, remember I raised pre-flop 4 times the big blind, which represents strength in early position. The way I saw it was that it was an opportunity to put myself in a great position to win the tournament and I took it. Had I folded, I would have still been in decent shape, but to me, there's no point just getting in the money, because the tournament was top heavy.

[Randy Reed 0]

Tough call and tough hand to deal with after the flop. Personaly I rarely play K9 even suited but just trying to steal the blinds is probably OK, Those hands can always lead to alot of trouble. One thng you said stuck with me though, he called all in with A2 and busted someone. I always keep that in the back of my mind for later use. So when he called, you could could have correctly assemed that his A paired something on the board, giving him a pair and an overcard to your K, and while you still might play it to draw out on him and be a slight favorite to catch, you still had to catch he didn't. Another thought is throwing 2400 or a major porting of you stack with a K9? A smaller raise he probably woulda called and who knows, the out come might have beent the same, but probably not. You you could have called the 1200 bet and seen the river where you didn't catch and gotten away to live to see another hand. Hey, overall great job though!

[jayboogie 0]

well actually he re-raised going all-in with A2 and beat somebody else's AK. This was earlier in the tournament though and it was just a bad play that happened to work out for him. The 2400 pre-flop was to steal the blinds more than anything. I also felt I could outplay my opponents even if called, so that's why I raised it that amount. I play these tournaments to win, so I gave myself a good chance to do that. If your 60/40 favorite on the flop, that's a very good situation to put yourself in. I would have called the an all-in on that flop anyways, so I don't see how pushing it all-in on the flop is much different from that. I could have just called the bet, but if I had just called, I'm pretty sure he would have pushed all-in on the turn, at least that's what I would do, because it'd be obvious I didn't hit the flop at all. Again, I wanted to get some chips behind me, not just survive. I still feel it was a bad call he made given the conditions, there would just be so many hands I could beat him with that to call with middle pair is just a plain bad play. I think the play was either make a strong raise that would make him lay down his hand or all-in like I did. Perhaps a slight chance, he may have folded to an all-in on the turn, but still I think he would have called me down.

[Deebo 0]

I like it, b/c you've got 15 (minimum) pretty solid outs to be chip leader, and your mentality at this point is win/high finish, not limp into a cash. Plus the added mental bonus of pumping you up by sucking out on the a-hole at the table. I know a lot of guys who would not have pushed this hand this hard, but I like it.

[tolbert 0]

You played it right. K-9 suited is more than enough to steal blinds with. Its amazing, the aggressive idiot that this guy is, that he just called u preflop. All in was the move on the flop for sure. Against an astute professional opponnent, a raise of less than all in might have worked better. But still, u are the favorite at that point so why not get the money in the pot when u still have him beat? Also, u are basically at the money cutoff point in this tournament, so even more positive reasons to go all in and force him into a decision for his tournament. You said u wanted to gamble and get a stack to bring to the final table. So, preflop fold is out of the question. u played it right and got unlucky, what can u do. Hope it goes your way next time.

[redfish 0]

I would tend to agree with Tech. I just don't like putting your whole stack at risk in that situation. I think I would have reraised, just not all in, which probably would have allowed you to see the next two cards for free.

[Guest]

Aright, First I want to say that I am not a superb poker player yet. I have tendencies to be creative, but am still only 17 years of age, and still am learning a bit more about poker before I give this statment. Please do not butcher my style of play as much  :wink:  Aright, with K 9 hearted and two hearts on the board with a possible flush/straight draw, you opponent was most likely unwanting a raise. In my opinion,  a raise was the correct decision. However, an all-in raise at that period of time was an incorrect thing to do.I would consider the senario like this. Your opponent is a bigmouth whom is probably aggressive like you. Overagressing on a draw situation, no matter how strong the draw is, can be a disasterous thing. I would have suggested just raising him a bit more then double what the bet was. Possibly enough chips to make a statement that says 'I will call you if you go all in'. In this style of play, it would be a shift from your normal aggression, as you said you play, to a more controlled bet. The bet looks more enticing to call. However, it would strike in his mind that you would most likely have the J.  In my poker experiences, all-in bets are more suspicious to me then threatening. Now I know the difference is that the hand is played online, but an all-in bet is still suspicious to me compared to a raise of a certain amount. A raise still gives you reason to stay in, while an all in bet is just saying to your opponent 'now or never'.  Now giving this guy the benefit of the doubt that he had a few brain cells left in his head, he was probably putting you on a draw situation when you went all in. The way I feel that is read is that going all in shows more that you don't want him to call. On the other hand, if the pot size was about 9000 and you went all in with 5000-6000, I would say the action of going all in would scare me more, since I am not pot committed, but the bet wouldn't even be the pot size. It would make me think more.I don't know, maybe I am completly wrong in this theory, but I feel you should have raised him a bit to show strength, and also to stray away from your normal style of play. The worst way to deal with an aggressive, bad mouthing player is to go all in over him with a draw when you know he has mid to high pair. However, that is not true if you have high pair with a kicker to two pair or better.  Hope someone feeds back to me. I would love to hear some positive criticism, and maybe explain my faults on how I would move in against someone on this.

nice job saying you gamble underage... why dont you give out the site you gamble on so that someone can report you and the site can take away all your money too? :roll: :wink: just kidding. seriously tho, i like the way you think and i play very similar and am successfull that way.

[jayboogie 0]

I would tend to agree with Tech.  I just don't like putting your whole stack at risk in that situation.  I think I would have reraised, just not all in,  which probably would have allowed you to see the next two cards for free.

I'm a firm believer in that if you don't take risks, you won't reap any rewards in a poker tournament. 34th-54th paid out $38, compared to $2700 for 1st. Now, you can finish in the money 20 times around that range and you still wouldn't make as close to what you would winning won of these. If you don't take risks, you can't win and I felt this was a spot where a risk was warranted. I played it hard and aggressive, against most players, I would have probably picked up the pot with an all-in raise when I raised pre-flop. The option of calling or just raising just wasn't in my mind much. I would have done that if I had a weaker draw such as just a up and down straight draw or a flush draw with under cards. The point is I wasn't interested in getting free cards for my draw, I wanted to either pick up the pot right there or get my money in there as the favorite and make him make a decision. Sometimes, you play a hand the right way and lose, sometimes you play a hand the wrong way and you win, I think this was 1 of those cases.

[Guest]

I would tend to agree with Tech.  I just don't like putting your whole stack at risk in that situation.  I think I would have reraised, just not all in,  which probably would have allowed you to see the next two cards for free.

I'm a firm believer in that if you don't take risks, you won't reap any rewards in a poker tournament. 34th-54th paid out $38, compared to $2700 for 1st. Now, you can finish in the money 20 times around that range and you still wouldn't make as close to what you would winning won of these. If you don't take risks, you can't win and I felt this was a spot where a risk was warranted. I played it hard and aggressive, against most players, I would have probably picked up the pot with an all-in raise when I raised pre-flop. The option of calling or just raising just wasn't in my mind much. I would have done that if I had a weaker draw such as just a up and down straight draw or a flush draw with under cards. The point is I wasn't interested in getting free cards for my draw, I wanted to either pick up the pot right there or get my money in there as the favorite and make him make a decision. Sometimes, you play a hand the right way and lose, sometimes you play a hand the wrong way and you win, I think this was 1 of those cases.

stop making excuses, you played it poorly. you should have tripled his bet with a raise and make him decide what to do. if you were willing to go all in and he reraised your all in, you could have called. if he called your bet, you would get to see another card and not risk all your chips. plus if he was bluffing he would have folded to your reraise. if he called you would get a better feel for what his hand was and play it smarter. you're just a gambler and was willing to risk everything on luck. congrats...look how far it got you. i personally would never play for hours and then put my whole tournament at risk with absolutely nothing and rely on luck - not skill. i hope you learned your lesson.

[jayboogie 0]

I would tend to agree with Tech.  I just don't like putting your whole stack at risk in that situation.  I think I would have reraised, just not all in,  which probably would have allowed you to see the next two cards for free.

I'm a firm believer in that if you don't take risks, you won't reap any rewards in a poker tournament. 34th-54th paid out $38, compared to $2700 for 1st. Now, you can finish in the money 20 times around that range and you still wouldn't make as close to what you would winning won of these. If you don't take risks, you can't win and I felt this was a spot where a risk was warranted. I played it hard and aggressive, against most players, I would have probably picked up the pot with an all-in raise when I raised pre-flop. The option of calling or just raising just wasn't in my mind much. I would have done that if I had a weaker draw such as just a up and down straight draw or a flush draw with under cards. The point is I wasn't interested in getting free cards for my draw, I wanted to either pick up the pot right there or get my money in there as the favorite and make him make a decision. Sometimes, you play a hand the right way and lose, sometimes you play a hand the wrong way and you win, I think this was 1 of those cases.

stop making excuses, you played it poorly. you should have tripled his bet with a raise and make him decide what to do. if you were willing to go all in and he reraised your all in, you could have called. if he called your bet, you would get to see another card and not risk all your chips. plus if he was bluffing he would have folded to your reraise. if he called you would get a better feel for what his hand was and play it smarter. you're just a gambler and was willing to risk everything on luck. congrats...look how far it got you. i personally would never play for hours and then put my whole tournament at risk with absolutely nothing and rely on luck - not skill. i hope you learned your lesson.

I don't see how I'm making excuses anywhere. I played it how I felt I should play it and I'd probably do the same thing again. I was more or less trying to pick up the pot right there. I wasn't trying to get free cards to draw at my hand. Do you think he made a good call with middle pair? That's what I put him on, which is why I made that move, thinking he couldn' t call with that. I would say that I'm anything but a gambler, but I felt I needed to take a risk here, sometimes they work out sometimes they don't.

[Guest]

I would tend to agree with Tech.  I just don't like putting your whole stack at risk in that situation.  I think I would have reraised, just not all in,  which probably would have allowed you to see the next two cards for free.

I'm a firm believer in that if you don't take risks, you won't reap any rewards in a poker tournament. 34th-54th paid out $38, compared to $2700 for 1st. Now, you can finish in the money 20 times around that range and you still wouldn't make as close to what you would winning won of these. If you don't take risks, you can't win and I felt this was a spot where a risk was warranted. I played it hard and aggressive, against most players, I would have probably picked up the pot with an all-in raise when I raised pre-flop. The option of calling or just raising just wasn't in my mind much. I would have done that if I had a weaker draw such as just a up and down straight draw or a flush draw with under cards. The point is I wasn't interested in getting free cards for my draw, I wanted to either pick up the pot right there or get my money in there as the favorite and make him make a decision. Sometimes, you play a hand the right way and lose, sometimes you play a hand the wrong way and you win, I think this was 1 of those cases.

stop making excuses, you played it poorly. you should have tripled his bet with a raise and make him decide what to do. if you were willing to go all in and he reraised your all in, you could have called. if he called your bet, you would get to see another card and not risk all your chips. plus if he was bluffing he would have folded to your reraise. if he called you would get a better feel for what his hand was and play it smarter. you're just a gambler and was willing to risk everything on luck. congrats...look how far it got you. i personally would never play for hours and then put my whole tournament at risk with absolutely nothing and rely on luck - not skill. i hope you learned your lesson.

I don't see how I'm making excuses anywhere. I played it how I felt I should play it and I'd probably do the same thing again. I was more or less trying to pick up the pot right there. I wasn't trying to get free cards to draw at my hand. Do you think he made a good call with middle pair? That's what I put him on, which is why I made that move, thinking he couldn' t call with that. I would say that I'm anything but a gambler, but I felt I needed to take a risk here, sometimes they work out sometimes they don't.

i just dont think it was smart to put your whole tournament on the line where you had a hunch that he had the middle pair. he couldve had JJ and flopped 3 of a kind. it wouldve been much better for you to just raise him and get a feel for what he had. again, if he raised you then you would know he had a strong hand and had the option to gamble or fold and still be in the tourney. he played the hand horribly, but you yourself couldve played it much better by simply raising him

[Scott31 0]

Do you think he made a good call with middle pair? That's what I put him on, which is why I made that move, thinking he couldn' t call with that.

In a grudge match with another player, that call is a no-brainer for me. The reason is not for spite or anger, but because it's usually pretty obvious what my upset opponent has. After his 1200 bet, there was 6600 in the pot if I'm adding right. You came over the top for about 12000. That's a massive blasting of the pot and screams DRAW, at best. For me, I would've thought you were just making a move on me and called. Having the two hearts and a straight draw is a strong draw, but nothing to double the pot over. If I follow you right, you were in late position. If that is the case, just raise his bet to about 4K and let him make a real decision. If he calls, you more than likely just bought yourself a free card. When the turn comes, he'll most likely check and if you miss, check behind or think about representing the turn. If you do check behind, which is what I would do, you get to see the river card for free. If you miss everything, you still have chips to do damage with, especially against an opponent who is willing to call you down with less than premium holdings.

[jayboogie 0]

Do you think he made a good call with middle pair? That's what I put him on, which is why I made that move, thinking he couldn' t call with that.

In a grudge match with another player, that call is a no-brainer for me. The reason is not for spite or anger, but because it's usually pretty obvious what my upset opponent has. After his 1200 bet, there was 6600 in the pot if I'm adding right. You came over the top for about 12000. That's a massive blasting of the pot and screams DRAW, at best. For me, I would've thought you were just making a move on me and called. Having the two hearts and a straight draw is a strong draw, but nothing to double the pot over. If I follow you right, you were in late position. If that is the case, just raise his bet to about 4K and let him make a real decision. If he calls, you more than likely just bought yourself a free card. When the turn comes, he'll most likely check and if you miss, check behind or think about representing the turn. If you do check behind, which is what I would do, you get to see the river card for free. If you miss everything, you still have chips to do damage with, especially against an opponent who is willing to call you down with less than premium holdings.

I made the 2400 raise in early position, so the blind steal attempt should not have been all that obvious. I can see the reasoning for the raise, but I wanted to pick up the pot right there, which was why I went all-in. It was a strong draw that I had, but I didn't want to rely on it hitting to get paid off. I didnt believe he had AJ, JJ, TT, 88, Q9, so that's why i put him all-in and if he did have one of those hands, I'd still have a good draw to beat him. It is still a bad call given the circumstances, there are many hands I could go over the top with. If I were to hold a higher pocket pair than the board, I would go over the top all-in as well seeing the board have a potential straight draw and flush draw, I would have moved all-in and made him make a decision. Calling my all-in for this situation is just wrong. If I had improved, he has no outs, unless I hit a K on the turn, then he has a few outs. In this situation, if I were him, I would have laid down any hand except JJ. You need to have a good hand to call an all-in. He only have me covered barely, so he was practically all-in as well. Too put his tournament life at stake on middle pair is a probably a much worst play than I made. Also, remember I'm a 61.5% favorite after the flop, would you take those odds? I certainly would for a chance to double up and become chip leader.

[Scott31 0]

Also, remember I'm a 61.5% favorite after the flop, would you take those odds?

I love a strong draw too, but keep in mind that ANY pair has you beat right now. I know this may seem a bit backwards, but when you raised him all in, it became an easier decision than if you had just raised it 4X his bet. Because you went all in doesn't mean you necessarily have a hand. Keep in mind you over-blasted this pot which can be a pretty easy tell to pick up on by any good player. That doesn't mean your opponent was a good player (he could have just called out of anger). But with you pushing in (a massive raise) and the fact that you two were mouthing back and forth makes your play look like a decision based on emotion and thus not too hard of a call for the other guy. I know what you mean about having such a strong draw that you're actually favored. It makes things tricky and you almost feel entitled to win the pot, but it looks like you got a little excited on this one.

[VegasDreams 0]

Jay,You played it exactly right actually, if you were shooting for the win and not just making the money list. If you put him on second pair, and your all in puts him essentially all in as well, with the draw you had, it was an excellent play. You're correct as well, he NEVER should have made the call, with second pair. Your all in says draw, but it also says, I have QQ, and now that a A has not hit to bail out the ace rag caller that you are. I see the draws on the board and I have the over pair, it's time to shut you down, so either way, he is a small dog to your draw, or a huge dog to your over pair, both should have shut him down. Another example of bad players making bad calls, and getting bailed out. SUUUUUUUUUUUCKS, lol.

Do you think he made a good call with middle pair? That's what I put him on, which is why I made that move, thinking he couldn' t call with that.

In a grudge match with another player, that call is a no-brainer for me. The reason is not for spite or anger, but because it's usually pretty obvious what my upset opponent has. After his 1200 bet, there was 6600 in the pot if I'm adding right. You came over the top for about 12000. That's a massive blasting of the pot and screams DRAW, at best. For me, I would've thought you were just making a move on me and called. Having the two hearts and a straight draw is a strong draw, but nothing to double the pot over. If I follow you right, you were in late position. If that is the case, just raise his bet to about 4K and let him make a real decision. If he calls, you more than likely just bought yourself a free card. When the turn comes, he'll most likely check and if you miss, check behind or think about representing the turn. If you do check behind, which is what I would do, you get to see the river card for free. If you miss everything, you still have chips to do damage with, especially against an opponent who is willing to call you down with less than premium holdings.

I made the 2400 raise in early position, so the blind steal attempt should not have been all that obvious. I can see the reasoning for the raise, but I wanted to pick up the pot right there, which was why I went all-in. It was a strong draw that I had, but I didn't want to rely on it hitting to get paid off. I didnt believe he had AJ, JJ, TT, 88, Q9, so that's why i put him all-in and if he did have one of those hands, I'd still have a good draw to beat him. It is still a bad call given the circumstances, there are many hands I could go over the top with. If I were to hold a higher pocket pair than the board, I would go over the top all-in as well seeing the board have a potential straight draw and flush draw, I would have moved all-in and made him make a decision. Calling my all-in for this situation is just wrong. If I had improved, he has no outs, unless I hit a K on the turn, then he has a few outs. In this situation, if I were him, I would have laid down any hand except JJ. You need to have a good hand to call an all-in. He only have me covered barely, so he was practically all-in as well. Too put his tournament life at stake on middle pair is a probably a much worst play than I made. Also, remember I'm a 61.5% favorite after the flop, would you take those odds? I certainly would for a chance to double up and become chip leader.

[FromTheRail 0]

I will assume by describing his style as "aggressive" and saying he played an A-2 to beat A-K you are subconsciencly saying you tried to steal the blind with a weak hand against someone who was not going to give up their blind without a fight. After that I have to agree that a large bet after the flop would have been correct, not an all in bet. An all in bet at that flop with that small amount of money in the pot compared to your stacks and the blinds screams 2 unpaired high cards. If his thinking was similar then he knew his pair of 10's was the best hand and I'd be willing to put my money in against your flush draw with a pair of 10's and a live ace, especially if I'm going to have 2000 left if you hit your 5-1 against draw.

[jayboogie 0]

I will assume by describing his style as "aggressive" and saying he played an A-2 to beat A-K you are subconsciencly saying you tried to steal the blind with a weak hand against someone who was not going to give up their blind without a fight.  After that I have to agree that a large bet after the flop would have been correct, not an all in bet.  An all in bet at that flop with that small amount of money in the pot compared to your stacks and the blinds screams 2 unpaired high cards.  If his thinking was similar then he knew his pair of 10's was the best hand and I'd be willing to put my money in against your flush draw with a pair of 10's and a live ace, especially if I'm going to have 2000 left if you hit your 5-1 against draw.

I would say hes not too bright more than anything. He raised with an A2, got re-raised and pushed all-in with the A2. 2000 chips left with the blinds at 300/600 is basically nothing and he's going to have to push every hand he plays. I'm not sure how many people would call with middle pair given the circumstances. If I know players that would, I would on purposely overbet the pot and push all-in getting called by middle pair all day long. When he called my all-in, he called it as an underdog. I will make that draw more than 3 times out of 5 and essentially leave him busted while becoming the tournament chip leader. If the cards were faceup, would you make that call as an underdog?

[jayboogie 0]

Jay,You played it exactly right actually, if you were shooting for the win and not just making the money list. If you put him on second pair, and your all in puts him essentially all in as well, with the draw you had, it was an excellent play. You're correct as well, he NEVER should have made the call, with second pair. Your all in says draw, but it also says, I have QQ, and now that a A has not hit to bail out the ace rag caller that you are. I see the draws on the board and I have the over pair, it's time to shut you down, so either way, he is a small dog to your draw, or a huge dog to your over pair, both should have shut him down. Another example of bad players making bad calls, and getting bailed out. SUUUUUUUUUUUCKS, lol.

Do you think he made a good call with middle pair? That's what I put him on, which is why I made that move, thinking he couldn' t call with that.

In a grudge match with another player, that call is a no-brainer for me. The reason is not for spite or anger, but because it's usually pretty obvious what my upset opponent has. After his 1200 bet, there was 6600 in the pot if I'm adding right. You came over the top for about 12000. That's a massive blasting of the pot and screams DRAW, at best. For me, I would've thought you were just making a move on me and called. Having the two hearts and a straight draw is a strong draw, but nothing to double the pot over. If I follow you right, you were in late position. If that is the case, just raise his bet to about 4K and let him make a real decision. If he calls, you more than likely just bought yourself a free card. When the turn comes, he'll most likely check and if you miss, check behind or think about representing the turn. If you do check behind, which is what I would do, you get to see the river card for free. If you miss everything, you still have chips to do damage with, especially against an opponent who is willing to call you down with less than premium holdings.

I made the 2400 raise in early position, so the blind steal attempt should not have been all that obvious. I can see the reasoning for the raise, but I wanted to pick up the pot right there, which was why I went all-in. It was a strong draw that I had, but I didn't want to rely on it hitting to get paid off. I didnt believe he had AJ, JJ, TT, 88, Q9, so that's why i put him all-in and if he did have one of those hands, I'd still have a good draw to beat him. It is still a bad call given the circumstances, there are many hands I could go over the top with. If I were to hold a higher pocket pair than the board, I would go over the top all-in as well seeing the board have a potential straight draw and flush draw, I would have moved all-in and made him make a decision. Calling my all-in for this situation is just wrong. If I had improved, he has no outs, unless I hit a K on the turn, then he has a few outs. In this situation, if I were him, I would have laid down any hand except JJ. You need to have a good hand to call an all-in. He only have me covered barely, so he was practically all-in as well. Too put his tournament life at stake on middle pair is a probably a much worst play than I made. Also, remember I'm a 61.5% favorite after the flop, would you take those odds? I certainly would for a chance to double up and become chip leader.

Thanks, I felt I made the right play as well. I'm not sure why nobody else sees making this same play if they had a higher pocket pair than the board or even KJ, AJ, because I certainly would be doing this with a board like that. Also, I don't see how he can possibly put me on a flush draw when I raised pre-flop. It'd be a lot more easier to win these tournaments and get a huge chip stack when you have players willing to call all-ins with middle pair. It would be a good play to overbet against players willing to call with marginal hands.

[tenesmus 0]

If I follow you right' date=' you were in late position. If that is the case, just raise his bet to about 4K and let him make a real decision. If he calls, you more than likely just bought yourself a free card. When the turn comes, he'll most likely check and if you miss, check behind or think about representing the turn. If you do check behind, which is what I would do, you get to see the river card for free. If you miss everything, you still have chips to do damage with, especially against an opponent who is willing to call you down with less than premium holdings.[/quote']getting all your money behind the best hand is not wrong, but following the above would have kept you in the tournament while not preventing you from doubling up had you hit your draw based on the way you describe your opponent. i think you played correctly but not optimally.

[jayboogie 0]

of course I could have stayed alive in the tournament, I could have just folded pre-flop and not lost a dime off my stack, the point is whether I played the hand right or not. I think next time I post a hand like this, I'm going to leave out the end result and my own play as well, that way I can probably get a more unbiased answer. I think people have a natural bias towards being correct and making the play where they would look smart.

[Wlleiotl 0]

dont listen to these weak players, you played it fine, you got a 60% chance of having a stack of 30k+, and the chance that he folds on the flop which puts you at about 20k. both of which would set you up for lots of bullying around the bubble to increase your stack and push for the final table.these are the plays that help win tournaments, if you avoid them you'll be scraping through the money and need lots of luck to get near the final table

[Scott31 0]

of course I could have stayed alive in the tournament, I could have just folded pre-flop and not lost a dime off my stack, the point is whether I played the hand right or not. I think next time I post a hand like this, I'm going to leave out the end result and my own play as well, that way I can probably get a more unbiased answer. I think people have a natural bias towards being correct and making the play where they would look smart.

Jay,Nobody's saying you should just fold to barely make the money. I've busted on the bubble so many times that I've lost count. Aggression (within reason) wins in poker. I just felt you were TOO aggressive with this one especially considering the opponent. Even with the results, I'm fairly sure I'd come up with the same comments, although I agree it's best to post results after a few have posted. BTW, most have agreed that you should raise, but it was the size of the raise that sent up a major red flag. Play this one semi-aggressive and move on. It seems that you obviously would have had a caller when you hit top pair....just pick a hand later.