Poker Pages Tourney Hand

I'm in the cut off with JJ and about 27K in tourney chips.Blinds 400/800. UTG (40K)limps, rest folded to me and I raise 5K, button folds, SB(90K)reraises 5K, BB (30K)calls, UTG caps and goes all in. Whats my best play here? Do I call and go all in, or fold? Did I raise to much or not enough? Results to follow...

Your initial raise might be a tad high. Depending on the antes I might raise 3k or 4k. Once you get raised and then re-raised a huge amount I would muck JJ. At best you are up against AK but you may be up against a big pair.


Ken Poklitar

When the action got back to me I felt I was in over my head. I had to belive my little JJ was beat by AA, KK, QQ, or in weak position against AK, AKs, KQs. I folded. Final board was rainbow 10,6,2,7,5. SB had AJs, BB had AQs, UTG took the pot with AKo. I missed out on a huge pot. But any other flop and I would have been out of the game.


This is one problem I have in my tournament game. How should I bet big pairs that lose value when an over card flops? Especially later when the blinds are higher and blinds will defend with an all in raise.

You did the right thing. You were underdog before the flop with A,K and Q all out. In no-limit, JJ is the sort of hand you want to win before the flop. That means if there's a huge raise you want to be the one making it, not calling it. JJ is the sort of hand that should come over the top of an AK or AQ (and of course, AJ), meaning an incorrect call by your opponent will give you a slight advantage with 5 community cards against two overcards if its headsup, but your objective should not be to see the flop, but to make opponents fold. Since you were in a free tournament, the play is loose and it's often hard to put opponents on hands.


I disagree with the response that your raise was too big. In this sort of tournament you need to make big, agressive raises pre-flop. In your situation, I probably would have committed 1/3-1/2 of my stack pre-flop, hoping to scare off AK, or better still get a sucker call from AJ, and gamble that no one has a big pair. Of course, after being re-raised like you were, gambling against a big pair is foolish and folding is the right thing to do, though maybe not if half your stack is already committed. But if you raised 10 or 15K before the flop would you have been re-raised or just called? and with no overcards on the flop, you could move all-in. I spose it depends on your style of play. There are those that will play to get "in the money" or to the final table as the prime objective, and these are the sort of players that will advise small raises with a hand like JJ. Personally, I like to play agressive and gamble with the best of it in tournament play, trying to get a lot of chips to move around in the later stages with the intent of winning. After all, there's no point showing up at the OK corral with no bullets for your gun! Often, I see extremely tight tournament players get far by simply folding A LOT (not saying this is a bad strategy) but they really need some luck late to have a chance of winning. If you get to the last table with chip position, you are less reliant on luck (though less likely to get there in the first place).


This is just my humble opinion, I am in no way an expert or professional or anything and havn't read much on No Limit, just played a lot of pages tournaments and gone in a few live ones, including money finishes in $1000+ buy-in events. There are a lot differing opinions on how to play NL. When playing a tough field, the most important things are not to play out of position and don't be too predictable. My advice about the JJ and the big raise would be silly in a cash game as well, due to the relative size to the blinds. It's a complex game, takes brains, balls, strategy, a little luck and....oh yeah.....CHIPS!!!!

"I disagree with the response that your raise was too big. In this sort of tournament you need to make big, agressive raises pre-flop. In your situation, I probably would have committed 1/3-1/2 of my stack pre-flop"


There are many raising strategies. My general strategy is to raise the same amount no matter what my cards are. I typically raise 3xBB or 4xBB in all cases if no one else has entered the pot. When I do this I might have JTs or AA.


The other strategy is to vary your raises based on cards or mood. Against better players they may notice a pattern and catch you. I played against one player who would always double the blinds with Axs or small pairs. Makes things easier to decide to call or raise.


Joe's stack was 27k. Why bet 9k or 13k into a pot that is only 2000+antes. If you get called you will most likely be behind.


Ken Poklitar