Aces up in big blind

[willie24]

40+4 tourny. level 2, blinds=10/20. 7 handed.

villian has approximately 1300 chips.
i have approximately 2800 chips.

villain is strong player. tricky/aggressive when it counts, but smart enough to be quite tight-passive this early. most of the other players in this game are not very strong.

4 limpers including villain on the button.
hero completes in SB with A /images/graemlins/diamond.gifT /images/graemlins/diamond.gif. BB checks

flop comes: A /images/graemlins/spade.gif T /images/graemlins/heart.gif 5 /images/graemlins/club.gif (pot=120)

hero bets 140. folded to villain, who calls.

turn: Q /images/graemlins/diamond.gif (pot=400)

hero bets 340. villian calls.

river: J /images/graemlins/spade.gif (pot=1080)...villain has 730 left

hero curses his situation, and pushes, seeing no better option...hoping that villain has A5 suited or AT for a split pot.

who does this differently on any street?

perhaps the J on the river was my friend? might he have checked behind on the river had i checked? i did not fear a straight, but was very worried that the villain had made a bigger aces up or was perhaps slowplaying a set.

[jcm4ccc]

You could have pushed on the turn, to get him off the hand. But the push on the river doesn't make sense, IMO. He's only going to call you when he has you beat.

Let's say you're committed to this hand. You could still check the river. If he hit the straight, he may only bet 200 or so, hoping that you won't fold. If he goes all-in and you call, well, you've lost just as much as you would have by pushing your hand.

[WarDekar]

You're not taking into account the times the villian will fold this, seeing that a K, or something else may beat him. He isn't going to risk his entire tournament calling if he doesn't feel a good chance of winning this hand.