hoopsguy
08-22-2004, 12:48 PM
My last two tournaments (10-20 player tournaments) I have exited early with hands that were decisive favorites when I pushed all-in. If I feel that I'm one of the better players at the table, then I know that I don't want to find myself in a coin-toss with all the chips on the line early. But I'm curious about what people on this forum consider appropriate odds to want the all-in showdown early in an event. 80%? 90%? Or just avoid any kind of all-in prior to the river, where you know that a suck-out can't hurt you?
Part of the problem I've had with both tournaments has been with the blind structures, which made it challenging to aggressively play a hand without becoming pot committed very early on.
Example 1: 1000 in chips, blinds 25/50 (first hand of tournament, accelerating every 15 minutes) ten at the table, have KK as third to act. Put out a raise of 150, have a raise of 150 come back at me. Take a deep breath, decide that I'm against a decent pocket pair, ask the guy if he has cowboys while trying to get a read on him. Decide he doesn't have the aces and send the chips all-in. Could have called to see flop, I know, but I really did not think he had the aces and would have been more than happy to take the pot here if he was overplaying something like 10s. He calls, shows Qs. Buzz at table ensues, and it comes out that both a K and a Q have already been mucked. So he has one out over the remaining 46 cards. I'm a 90% favorite, and lose. $20 buy-in goes bye-bye with the quickness. Queen came on flop, no ace came on flop ... if I had bet at that pot, he would have come over top. If I check and he put a bet on me, should I have read him as hitting trips? I think it would have been very, very hard to get away from this hand even if I had just called the re-raise pre-flop.
Example 2: Fifty dollar buy-in tournament, start with fifty in chips, blinds at $1/$2 and increasing every half-hour. I've been at my table of six long enough to know that the guy to my right can play and the rest of the table is rank amateurs. I've got 40 in chips. I get dealt AJ and raise 5 one off the button. Get a call from button, everyone else folds. Flop is AK8 rainbow. I check, button bets 5, I re-raise him 8. He calls. Turn is a 4, still a rainbow. Pot is at 43 right now, I'm down to 20 in chips. I push all-in feeling that I've got the best hand and hoping I have this player dominated but also realizing that he isn't thinking pot-odds - he is playing on beginners instincts. It is an aggressive play, but this player has been really transparent with his hands and has stayed in a lot of them early helping me get a read. He calls, turns over K9. So he has five outs (was hoping he had weak ace and would only have three). Catches a K on river. I bet into the pot three times, as the favorite each time as it works out, and took a bad beat. I asked him later that night what he thought I had and he didn't believe that I had an ace.
I feel like I played tight-aggressive poker and trusted my reads - which turned out to be right in each case. Should I just chalk this up to two bad-beats and continue playing the same way or should I be less aggressive early in tournaments? Or should I save the all-in scenarios early strictly for post-river? This is what I'm leaning towards, but it also feels like I'm being a little reactive here to bad-beats where I was significantly out in front. Thoughts? Thanks in advance for the input.
Part of the problem I've had with both tournaments has been with the blind structures, which made it challenging to aggressively play a hand without becoming pot committed very early on.
Example 1: 1000 in chips, blinds 25/50 (first hand of tournament, accelerating every 15 minutes) ten at the table, have KK as third to act. Put out a raise of 150, have a raise of 150 come back at me. Take a deep breath, decide that I'm against a decent pocket pair, ask the guy if he has cowboys while trying to get a read on him. Decide he doesn't have the aces and send the chips all-in. Could have called to see flop, I know, but I really did not think he had the aces and would have been more than happy to take the pot here if he was overplaying something like 10s. He calls, shows Qs. Buzz at table ensues, and it comes out that both a K and a Q have already been mucked. So he has one out over the remaining 46 cards. I'm a 90% favorite, and lose. $20 buy-in goes bye-bye with the quickness. Queen came on flop, no ace came on flop ... if I had bet at that pot, he would have come over top. If I check and he put a bet on me, should I have read him as hitting trips? I think it would have been very, very hard to get away from this hand even if I had just called the re-raise pre-flop.
Example 2: Fifty dollar buy-in tournament, start with fifty in chips, blinds at $1/$2 and increasing every half-hour. I've been at my table of six long enough to know that the guy to my right can play and the rest of the table is rank amateurs. I've got 40 in chips. I get dealt AJ and raise 5 one off the button. Get a call from button, everyone else folds. Flop is AK8 rainbow. I check, button bets 5, I re-raise him 8. He calls. Turn is a 4, still a rainbow. Pot is at 43 right now, I'm down to 20 in chips. I push all-in feeling that I've got the best hand and hoping I have this player dominated but also realizing that he isn't thinking pot-odds - he is playing on beginners instincts. It is an aggressive play, but this player has been really transparent with his hands and has stayed in a lot of them early helping me get a read. He calls, turns over K9. So he has five outs (was hoping he had weak ace and would only have three). Catches a K on river. I bet into the pot three times, as the favorite each time as it works out, and took a bad beat. I asked him later that night what he thought I had and he didn't believe that I had an ace.
I feel like I played tight-aggressive poker and trusted my reads - which turned out to be right in each case. Should I just chalk this up to two bad-beats and continue playing the same way or should I be less aggressive early in tournaments? Or should I save the all-in scenarios early strictly for post-river? This is what I'm leaning towards, but it also feels like I'm being a little reactive here to bad-beats where I was significantly out in front. Thoughts? Thanks in advance for the input.