so a calgary casino was having a canadian poker tournament event - i decided to join. it was only $150 freeze out (for $4000 worth of chips) - so no rebuys...no-limit texas hold'em. it was 109 people vs me. after 2 hours i was 2nd on my table (10 tables of 11 players to start) and feeling alright. then i picked it up a notch. caught flushes, straights, trips, everything. i was chip leader for the next 4 hours - my chip count was around $16000 with 30 people left. the blinds grew from $25-$25 to being anti's of $200 and blinds of $500-$1000. that's when my cold streak came, which really sucks. there were now 18 people left and i probably had the 10th biggest stack. Ace-Jack clubs in hand and i was big blind. 2 people stayed in. off the flop 10 diamonds, 8 clubs, 3 clubs came up. i had the flush draw. "all-in" i say - desperately needing to get a larger stack. i had many outs. any club, ace, or jack and i'd win. NOTHING CAME on 4th or 5th street. i lost to a pair of 3's to the large stack who wanted to put me to the test. DAMN...only top 10 positions paid, i finished 18th. 7 hours of work only to come so close. i probably eliminated 20 people myself, but to no avail. oh well, i'm sure to play again sometime.
Nice run, and when you are short stacked, you should probably NOT go all in unless you are sure you have it. Sounds like you played sound poker, but that last call was really risky. DD
well, since i was big blind i was already somewhat pot commited (1200 of my 10000 in chips at the time)...seeing two clubs come up off the flop seemed like a miracle, but it was actually failure in disguise.
No need to push all in, at that point it seems a bit strong, like a bluff. Also, you should pay attention to who is in the pot with you. Having the chip leader in was a big red flag. He could afford to gamble in an effort to take you out, whereas you could not. I think the play would work if you were not against the Chip leader or someone that could afford to take that risk on a coin flip. 2 clubs means it is an obvious coin flip, unless you have a pair in your hand and flopped a set, which means you would be more cagey. I have been playing a lot of tournaments in Vegas recently....most in the under 1k buy in....got to one final table, but have lost twice on all-ins with 4 of a kind. It is a blast though.....glad you had a good time..but when you are so close to being in the money, tighten up a bit and once you make the money, loosen up. DD
thanks for the advice. i'll probably join another tourney before the semester is over. it was a blast today, just wished a club came or that maybe i would have played that smarter.
You played great, but remember if only 2 clubs are on the board, and you go all in, most people would put you on a draw, or a high pair in your hand. There are good times to go all in, and there are obvious bluffs, or draws, yours was the later, IMHO. The beauty is that the game gets more fun the more you understand about it. I am now into reading people. I was playing at the Mirage the other night, and had a pair of Qs in my hand. Only one over flopped, but the guy across from me who had been a loud mouth all game made a heavy bet. I stared him down, and then folded. He was all smiles as he showed his set of Kings. I then said, I knew it, and he said..."HOW?" and I told him that he had been loud playing all game but when he got a good hand he got quiet. He was smoldering, played one more hand then left....everyone at the table was laughing about it. DD
Don't risk your tournament life if you don't have to. If you don't believe me, ask TJ Cloutier. He hates draw hands in tournaments.
ya, i can see how it might have been obvious. but even with the draw, i don't see how anybody in their right mind would call with the lowest pair on the board. what if i had the 8? or the 10? or any pocket pair above 3. he's lucky IMHO.
Sure, but he was not risking his tournement life, and when you get big stack and have a shot to knock someone out, you almost always take it. DD
yeh, that's true. except that's how i lost some of my stack ealier in the day (pocket aces with an ace on the river...AFTER his all in on the flop - to my two pair - Q's and J's off the flop). that was a big loss too. but yeh, obviously i realize that's poker. you win some you lose some. i thought i had it - i took my chances - there's always risk - i lost. i could have been more careful - i should have been more careful - but i wasn't. i still think i would play it the same if i was dealt it again - but i TOTALLY understand why one wouldn't. it's a big risk.
I like his all in bet. If I am calculating things correctly, assuming he figured he would win with the flush, pair of A's or J's...He had 15 outs after the flop. That means he had a 54.1 percent chance of winning the hand at that point. Being relatively short stacked, I'll put all my chips in the center of the table when I am sure I have a better chance at winning a hand than losing it. But my calculations might be wrong.
Actually, with a board like that, his all-in bet looks as if he has a set or two pair and is overbetting the pot to try to protect his hand from getting outdrawn. The large stack made a horrible call with his underpair. The original poster had almost an average stack. I'm all for taking a little bit of the worst of it when you have plenty of chips and want to take a shot at eliminating a short stack. But I would never call the original poster's bet with pocket 3's. That's how large stacks become average stacks, and how average stacks become short stacks. "A bettor be, a caller never be"
Sounds like the big stack just made the right read on him. With that flop, he could have thought that 3814 was just frustrated that neither of his face cards showed and was trying to buy it.
But 3814 was the big blind and wasn't in the pot just because he had face cards. I think the big stack figured 3814 was going for the flush draw and decided to try to knock him with a pair of threes. It's really a risky bet (like going for the 1st on 4th and 1) but it paid off for him.
My theory is that if your all-in bet can knock you out of a tourney, then you only make that bet after you have something of significance in your hands, not when you are fishing for something. If your tournament life is not on the line, then thats when you take your chances, but otherwise, make sure you have something. The whole point of tournaments is to stay in longer than the others and prolong your life. If you go all-in because you are hoping to catch a card, then you are just taking an unneccessary risk.
You're right, I forgot about that. Nonetheless, I think the chip leader just had the right read on him. He didn't get the chip lead by being stupid (hopefully).
So what would u do when the blinds are 1/5 of your chips and there's 4 people at your table and you are dealt a Ace King? Is it good idea to go all in at that point before the flop? I'd do it and have done it, just don't know if that's the right play?
The answer is yes. At this level the blinds represent a good percentage of your stack. If you only had about 5xBB left the correct play is to go all in because AK really is a drawing hand, and you would prefer to win the blinds without a showdown. And even if you do get called you are only an 10-11 dog to a hand like QQ or JJ. When you are desperately shortstacked like that you pray to find something as good as AK to make your stand with.
Of course, with Ace King, you cant get a much better hand than that. Pre-flop, you go all-in. After the flop, if queen, 10, 7 land on the board, you check/fold, regardless of if you have a straight draw or flush draw. No need to go all-in at that point.
I think you made a good call to go all-in there. Strictly looking at that hand, your opportunity cost was $8800. There was $3600 in the pot, and if someone called you, you can add another $8800 to it. It's likely that at most only one person is going to call you. You were going to need a larger stack to stay in the tournament anyway, so you took your shot when you had a better than even chance to win the hand. More than doubling your money on a hand where you have a > 50% chance of winning is good poker strategy in the long run. In the short run, it'll burn you sometimes. The chip leader had no business being in there with a pair of threes anyway, so I wouldn't give him any credit. Anyway, if you wanted to have a shot at finishing high in the tournament, it was the right call. You might have been able to limp into the money, but you probably would have ended up hopelessly short-stacked.
