WPO NL Satellite Hand

This hand was from a $65 buy-in satellite. You start with $200 in chips.


At this point I have $185 in chips. I'm in early position with AQ of spades. The blinds are $5 and $10. I put in a raise of $30. A middle position player, who I had played with in the Omaha 8B tournament in the afternoon, moves-in with $130.


This player was sitting on my right during the Omaha tournament and was playing pretty loose. So, I didn't think much of his play, I would say he was your average player. Furthermore, since he played loose during the Omaha tournament, I thought that his playing style would carry over to NL the same way. I ruled out AA or QQ, since I had AQ it reduced the posibility of him having either of those hands, but he could have KK. But, since I knew he was a loose player it would more likely be AK, AQ, AJ, KQ, or JJ.


Then to my surprise, a late position player CALLS this guys bet with half his chips. This player had just won a pot and had approximately $260. Fortunately for me, I had watched him play a satellite and get busted earlier. He was probably the loosest and one of the wildest players I've watched.


Now, it's my turn to act. I decided that the first player that pushed in his chips could have either AK or a pair. If he has AK I'm pretty much a dog, but I knew for sure that the other player was playing a weak hand and I'd probably have him beat. If I move-in my stack will be $500, and if I just beat the caller I'll have $55. Furthermore, since you only get $200 to start you're not going to have much of a chance to play real poker. So, I decided to move-in.


Would you do the same as me?


Mark

Mark,


It seems like you have a good read on the players but even the loosest of players will have something when calling an all-in raiser after there is a raiser(you) and a re-raise. I think I might wait for a better spot to risk all my chips. If you had two eights or better this might be a better spot to go after the pot. Hope it turned out well.


Russ

As long as you're sure of your reads, and that therefore your AQ is ahead of their average holdings, then your play is fine.


Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

There were several reasons why I posted this hand. The first had to do with the amount of chips you were given to play the satellite. With only $200 in chips to play you will not have many opportunities. Plus, once you raise preflop, I believe you are almost committed to this pot.


Regardless of my reads of the two opponents, I believe I would do the same, just because the money is short. Does anyone think that this is a good enough reason?


My argument for this is to look and see what happens if I would fold preflop. If I folded, I would only have $155. The next round of blinds would take $20 away from that, leaving me with $135. But by this time the chips are unevenly distributed and someone is going to have a large stack. So, even if you go against the large stack, you will have no betting power to make them lay down their hand. So, I think it is important to double up as soon as you can when playing one of these satellites.


Anyway, my opponents hands were much worse than I gave them credit for. The first guy had Ah5h and the other that called had QT. So, I won the hand and ended up having a $500 stack.


Good Luck


Mark

Good read, good play, just one point though, in my experience a lot of players play "loose" in Omaha because they're just no good at it and this doesn't necessarily carry over into their Hold-Em play. Nonetheless if that's all the info you have, you're probably right to go with it.


Andy.

terrific read!!

although i have a hard time putting it into play personally, i like your play based on what you start with. getting out from under a weak stack genberally requires taking risks that you wouldn't normally anyway... so i like your move.

hope you took it all down!!

-marlow