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NL Tournament Bust?, stein, 4. Nov 2003 18:07
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Need help on this point guys. Hope you can accomodate.

The Structure - Its No Limit Hold'em. An online $40+4 buyin tourney. Top 10 are paid. From 73 runners there are 24 remaining and so we're all at tables of 8. I have an average stack of T3500. The Blinds are T150/T300.

My table image - having had rags for the first hour or so I have played few hands. However, of the pots I have played, I've played aggressively. Moreover, in the recent action, I've begun to make *obvious* blind steal plays. I assume therefore my image is beginning to change from tight to loose-ish. I felt that the player to my immediate left (the SB in the following senario) was becoming especially aware of my blind stealing.

The Situation - So, I look down at 99 on the button and watch the
action fold round to me. The SB holds T6000 with the BB at T2000.
Suspecting I have the best hand and that there is a possibility that the SB may bluff-reraise to a weak raise, I make it T2000 to go. I thus committed myself to the pot in the eyes of the SB (taking his bluff-reraise option out of play) and also knew the BB could not call without a hand.

As it turns out the SB moved in with AQd. As I said, I was committed and so I duly called; then watched an AQx flop cripple me.

Ok, so I was a slight favourite in the pot and the double through would certainly have taken me to touching distance of the final table, but it felt careless to go broke at a time when my chip position wasn't desperate.

In hindsight I fell I should've made it T600-800 to go, with the plan of folding to a SB all-in or calling a BB all-in. Is this just unrealistic? Could I not avoid going broke? Are facing these 50/50s an unavoidable hazard in tournament play? and I should just accept that 'you win some you lose some'?

I should add that I felt I was a better player than both of the blinds and would have been confident of outplaying them on the flop and beyond. Should I, therefore, have just limped? Surely, though, the risk of giving the BB a free overcard chance is too great?

Basically, I came away thinking I shouldn't have gone broke and really just wonder what the Pros would've done. Would Cloutier have gone broke in this pot? I doubt it.

Thanks guys. Stein.
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Re: NL Tournament Bust?, KJo, 4. Nov 2003 22:29
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2000 is not a good raise here since it is more than 1/2 your stack, you're committing yourself. If you're going to commit yourself you might as well go all in and make it more difficult for the blinds to call.

I would likely push all in in this situation. A few reasons why- you say the SB was aware of your steal attempts, this makes this a great opportunity to go all in, since he may think you're stealing when you're not really (99 is a pretty good hand heads up- I'd rather "steal" with this hand than anything unpaired). Lets face it, if you're going to advance in a tournament you're going to have to win the coin flips, so going against AQ isn't such a terrible thing. And if the SB folds and the BB calls, you're getting some money back.

Going all in would have made it that much more difficult for the SB to call (since 3500 is more than 1/2 his stack while 2000 is 1/3).

And regardless of your chip position, you have to take advantage of the good opportunities as they come, and this was one of them.

Eli


on 4. Nov 2003 18:07 stein wrote:
> Need help on this point guys. Hope you can accomodate.
>
> The Structure - Its No Limit Hold'em. An online $40+4 buyin tourney. Top 10 are
> paid. From 73 runners there are 24 remaining and so we're all at tables of 8. I
> have an average stack of T3500. The Blinds are T150/T300.
>
> My table image - having had rags for the first hour or so I have played few
> hands. However, of the pots I have played, I've played aggressively. Moreover,
> in the recent action, I've begun to make *obvious* blind steal plays. I assume
> therefore my image is beginning to change from tight to loose-ish. I felt that
> the player to my immediate left (the SB in the following senario) was becoming
> especially aware of my blind stealing.
>
> The Situation - So, I look down at 99 on the button and watch the
> action fold round to me. The SB holds T6000 with the BB at T2000.
> Suspecting I have the best hand and that there is a possibility that the SB may
> bluff-reraise to a weak raise, I make it T2000 to go. I thus committed myself to
> the pot in the eyes of the SB (taking his bluff-reraise option out of play) and
> also knew the BB could not call without a hand.
>
> As it turns out the SB moved in with AQd. As I said, I was committed and so I
> duly called; then watched an AQx flop cripple me.
>
> Ok, so I was a slight favourite in the pot and the double through would
> certainly have taken me to touching distance of the final table, but it felt
> careless to go broke at a time when my chip position wasn't desperate.
>
> In hindsight I fell I should've made it T600-800 to go, with the plan of
> folding to a SB all-in or calling a BB all-in. Is this just unrealistic? Could I
> not avoid going broke? Are facing these 50/50s an unavoidable hazard in
> tournament play? and I should just accept that 'you win some you lose some'?
>
> I should add that I felt I was a better player than both of the blinds and
> would have been confident of outplaying them on the flop and beyond. Should I,
> therefore, have just limped? Surely, though, the risk of giving the BB a free
> overcard chance is too great?
>
> Basically, I came away thinking I shouldn't have gone broke and really just
> wonder what the Pros would've done. Would Cloutier have gone broke in this pot?
> I doubt it.
>
> Thanks guys. Stein.
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Re: NL Tournament Bust?, Mark Gregorich, 5. Nov 2003 00:25
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I like moving all-in preflop here - this prevents the SB from getting any ideas with coinflip type hands such as QJ or KJ (you'd assume he knows you're pot committed, but that's not necessarily in his thinking), since you are going to call a reraise anyway. As it turns out, he may call anyways with AQ suited, but that's just the way it goes. That's why lots of different people win tournaments. I wouldn't consider limping with this hand - it figures to be the best hand in this spot, and I would be willing to play for all my chips with it in this situation.
Mark
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