I'm in a tourney with a $125 buy in, 21 people. We begin with 5000 chips, blind start at 25-50.
First hand I'm the cut off with 9S 9D.
A mid position player makes it 600 to go, I call as does the big blind.
The flop 3H 5H 9H
The BB checks the original bettor (the one who runs/owns the place) goes all in.... what do you do???

Well I called and the BB folds.
The initial bettor show JC JH

The turn 4S...... the river 6H and I'm on the rail.

Did I miss play the hand??
Is it to early in the tournament to over play this hand?
Or in order to win do you have to play aggressively no matter what stage it is?

I fold preflop. Honestly.

However, I do call his all in at that point. Easy call. Sorry he outdrew you.


EDIT - There's a Tournament Play forum where you can post these hands.

Someone's going to say to post this in the tourney section. So I'll say it too =)

Let's say conservatively that there is a 10% chance that he has the flush already (not likely since he would probably slow play it). And 90% chance you have the best hand. You have to call with the knowledge that 1/3 of the time you're out of the tournament and 2/3 of the time you'd double up. So you have to call.

I guess the only way to avoid this is to not call pre-flop...tough to do, but possible since he raised it 12xbb. At that point you know you're likely to be playing for most of your chips post flop. At that point, I would see that I'm probably a coinflip if nobody else behind me comes in. I guess I could convince myself to fold.

Your preflop play is fine, just keep in mind that you might be playing only for set value i.e. if the flop comes babies you might have to make a laydown and hope the raiser has you beat.

In terms of post flop, you haven't told us anything about the player who pushed. It may be unlikely that he is pushing in with the flush but if he isn't you have the current nuts. I think with no info you may have to call only because this bet looks scared, it is not one that wants a call in what seems like an amateur game like this. With no info this hand is too big to let go to that bet. In fact you made the correct move and got unlucky. Don't second guess whether the call was correct, it was, any cards that go bad after that are out of your control. In terms of whether taking this kind of aggressive risk is profitable in tournaments this early, I would suggest reading Matt Matros' latest column in cardplayer about taking a coinflip situation early in a tournament.

And if the flop comes overs, you are equally screwed.

Playing for set value doesn't make much sense. I believe the odds are still 7.5 to 1 for catching your set.

Hi guys?

I flopped top set, some guy went all in and i called and i was the 70% favorite to win the hand.

Did i make the right call?

Wow some great reply's here. It is my first post in the strategy section and I'm happy I did. Thanks a lot.

To address the last reply which was great.
To be honest I don't know a lot about the player as I have never played against him before. This is what made the decission tougher.
But I do know that he owns and runs the spot I was playing at. So that would lead me to believe that the money wasn't as great a concern and he may be just as anxious to go back doing whatever he does. Not only that but he knew everyone at the table but me.

I think the only mistake here was not getting the right value/ odds on my call. And not knowing the player well enough. I put him on what he had which was an over pair and possible back door flush draw. But I didn't even have a hart?
So I have mixed feeling as to if it was the proper play here.
Part of me thinks I should have waited and saw what the rest of the game had in store. But another says to win you have to take chances.

oops when I said last post thanks I ment Viola.
Not quick enough