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?

You had your chips in when you had the best hand. Nothing wrong with that. However, weren't you slightly worried about that flush after the flop? Did you assume he didn't have it? Did you think you had him on a draw? What were you risking? 4400 to win 6200? Was that worth taking the chance he made his flush? To be out of the tourney before it even started?

Thanks for your response.
You bring up some good points here.
I put him on an over pair based on how aggresively he bet pre and post flop.
The fact that he didn't value bet another 600 or 1000 makes me think he does not have the flush.
He is a player that isn't as concerned with the money which also help support that.
I guess the mistake made was not getting the right return/odds on my call.

What would you have done? I think either play could be justified.

But at the end of the day do you play to win or not to lose?

Certainly your play was justified by the fact that you had him beat on both flop and turn. But again, its about pot odds. Paying nearly 70% isn't where you want to be unless you have the nuts.

I play to lose in the beginning of every tournament. The bad players (this is in no reference to you) play themselves out. its surviving the donkey's in the early stages and outplaying the predictables in the later rounds. But thats just my way of trying to survive until I'm heads up.

Well that approach certainly doesn't sound bad in this case based on my result.

So the leason learned then I guess is considering the odds a step further.

Looking back I wasn't getting great odds pre flop with just 9's.
3 to 1 and I was about 7.5 to catch a set. Or 50/50 on over cards.

Post flop wasn't great either having to invest 4600 to win 10600 which is almost 2.5 to 1. Not too bad though considering I had him 3 to 1 when he turned his cards over and 4 to 1 after the turn.

It gets me frustrated because either argument sounds good right now and it is a very hard decission.

Thanks for your help though.

If you didnt put him on a flush after the flop then u have to call. He just caught on you, nothing u can do about that.

I think folding before the flop would have been the best choice. As stated before its 7.5 to hit a set, and you're calling 12X the big blind on the first hand of the tournament. What flop that doesn't contain a 9 are you comfortable with putting all your money in?

Posted it before I could..

other than folding pre-flop, i think this was pretty obviously well played. as for folding pre-flop, you might only have been getting 3.5-1, but your implied odds are obviously huge. he makes a huge raise (12x?) and is probably paying off a set.
he hit his flush, so that sucks for you, but i think you played it correctly.

why not start with 200 chips though with blinds 1/2? wish people didn't try to be like the guys on TV. my biggest pet peeve, people calling chips "dollars" like when Mike and Vince say someone bets "600000 dollars." no, they bet chips. if the chips had dollar values, they'd all cash out.
sorry, know it wasn't your tournament, just ranting.

daniel

U played it fine unless this was a slow structure, which Im sure isnt the case, but understand that you did not play the hand aggressively. U called on both streets. If you reraised preflop that would be playing aggressively. You do need to play aggressively, but it needs to be calculated, i.e. steal blinds in late position, when you need to make a move make sure its against a tight player, etc. Dont be aggressive for the sake of being aggressive, do it because the opportunity predented itself.

Thank you!!!!..

OP. what are you doing calling such a large raise 1st hand with 9,9???

Yes you did play this hand poorly. You made no choices what so ever in the outcome of this hand. You called 1 bet and then another on the flop.

Calling with top set isnt the issue for this hand. You had to do that. We have to assume that he doesnt have the flush, because why would he scare you off?

But agian, cant stress this enough. What was your motive for calling 600 pre flop with 9,9?

Horrible call in my opinion