Guy F
10-03-2004, 02:39 AM
I'm still feeling my way around NL and am using S&G's to do it. Whether that's a good idea or not is a subject for another day! The hand below is the interesting one, and I'm wondering if I was being prudent, or crazy, or something in between.
The larger question I'm trying to answer, though, is at what point do you have to throw caution to the wind and go for it to try to improve your standing. That is, to play to win instead of merely survive. The conventional wisdom I've read is ~10 x BB, but there must be other factors to consider besides that and I'm wondering what the collective wisdom here thinks the other factors are and how heavily to weight them.
The situation here has a twist. There are 4 players left, but the SB got a big chip lead (>5000), then sat out the rest of the game. I don't know why. So there are really 3 of us fighting it out to "take him on", but we're not in the money yet.
As you can see, I'm all in on the ace high flop. I'd successfully stolen a few pots with a 3x raise here and there to keep my head above water. With the other two limping in and me with a suited ace, it seemed like another good time for this move. The button's call was troubling, but here's my reasoning for the all-in and what I'm looking for opinions on: I started out slightly above 10xBB, and after the raise I'm slightly under that. The next biggest stack is about twice mine at this point. At the time, the prospects looked bleak enough to me that I figured I was either gonna be a contender or bust out, and the board might look scary to him. Reckless? Bold? My self analysis of this is that my biggest mistake was not thinking what I'd do if I got called (or raised). I'd gotten used to the other two folding to a raise and got complacent. Perhaps I should have just pushed it all in preflop instead? Other options I haven't thought of?
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (4 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)
SB (t3835)
Hero (t1915)
UTG (t2770)
Button (t4980)
Preflop: Hero is BB with A/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 9/images/graemlins/spade.gif.
UTG calls t150, Button calls t150, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises to t450</font>, UTG folds, Button calls t300.
Flop: (t1125) 3/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 7/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets t1465 (All-In)</font>, Button calls t1465.
Turn: (t4055) K/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>
River: (t4055) 3/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="blue">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>
Final Pot: t4055
<font color="green">Main Pot: t4055 (t4055), between Hero and Button.</font>
The larger question I'm trying to answer, though, is at what point do you have to throw caution to the wind and go for it to try to improve your standing. That is, to play to win instead of merely survive. The conventional wisdom I've read is ~10 x BB, but there must be other factors to consider besides that and I'm wondering what the collective wisdom here thinks the other factors are and how heavily to weight them.
The situation here has a twist. There are 4 players left, but the SB got a big chip lead (>5000), then sat out the rest of the game. I don't know why. So there are really 3 of us fighting it out to "take him on", but we're not in the money yet.
As you can see, I'm all in on the ace high flop. I'd successfully stolen a few pots with a 3x raise here and there to keep my head above water. With the other two limping in and me with a suited ace, it seemed like another good time for this move. The button's call was troubling, but here's my reasoning for the all-in and what I'm looking for opinions on: I started out slightly above 10xBB, and after the raise I'm slightly under that. The next biggest stack is about twice mine at this point. At the time, the prospects looked bleak enough to me that I figured I was either gonna be a contender or bust out, and the board might look scary to him. Reckless? Bold? My self analysis of this is that my biggest mistake was not thinking what I'd do if I got called (or raised). I'd gotten used to the other two folding to a raise and got complacent. Perhaps I should have just pushed it all in preflop instead? Other options I haven't thought of?
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (4 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)
SB (t3835)
Hero (t1915)
UTG (t2770)
Button (t4980)
Preflop: Hero is BB with A/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 9/images/graemlins/spade.gif.
UTG calls t150, Button calls t150, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises to t450</font>, UTG folds, Button calls t300.
Flop: (t1125) 3/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 7/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets t1465 (All-In)</font>, Button calls t1465.
Turn: (t4055) K/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>
River: (t4055) 3/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="blue">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>
Final Pot: t4055
<font color="green">Main Pot: t4055 (t4055), between Hero and Button.</font>