Was this the right play?

[dELTAnEUTRAL]

Was this the right play?

Scenario:

I’m in the second round of a tournament -

I’m dealt Q /images/graemlins/spade.gif, 5 /images/graemlins/spade.gif in the pocket

Everyone else folds, except for the chipleader at our table. He and I both bet the big blind to see the flop. I notice the chipleader is getting more aggressive and vocal in the past few minutes (chiplead can do that to a guy!)

Flop: Q /images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 4 /images/graemlins/heart.gif, 2 /images/graemlins/club.gif

At this point, I’ve got QQ – considering blinds are going up and I'm small stack – I decide to go all in to be aggressive and push him off whatever he has - I have about half his stack.

– and the chipleader calls me.

Turn 7 /images/graemlins/heart.gif

River: 5 /images/graemlins/club.gif

On the Showdown, I have two pair – Q,Q and 5,5

Chipleader shows a low Straight A, 2, 3, 4, 5 – he caught the Straight on the River.

The question is: was going all in on a pair of Queens against the chipleader the right decision? – considering a straight draw was not evident on the board.

[ZBTHorton]

Several questions:

What were the blinds?
How big was your stack?
Were you in the small blind?

[dELTAnEUTRAL]

Blinds were 10,000/20,000

My stack was 190,000

I was not SB or BB, neither was the Chipleader

[ZBTHorton]

First of all, you don't need to be in this hand period. Q5s is just not a good hand.

The main reason I say this is because look at what happened during this hand. You caught your second pair, so regardless of whether you pushed on the flop, turn, or river. Your chips were going to go in the middle anyway. The best you could have hoped for would be a fold, and in that case, all your getting is the blinds, which is somewhat useless.

Also. If you called the big blind, and neither you nor the chip leader is the BB...why isn't the BB in the hand too?

[dELTAnEUTRAL]

[ QUOTE ]

Also. If you called the big blind, and neither you nor the chip leader is the BB...why isn't the BB in the hand too?

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point - I don't recall if we raised preflop - perhaps we did.

[ZBTHorton]

If it was raised pre-flop, then you REALLY didn't need to be in this hand. =)

[dELTAnEUTRAL]

I agree with all you have said - my conundrum is the fact that the Chipleader went all-in on A /images/graemlins/diamond.gif 3 /images/graemlins/heart.gif facing a straight draw.. I just feel he got lucky and I made the right play...

[dELTAnEUTRAL]

An Analysis of Outs:

His Outs:

- Pick up an Ace = 3 Outs
- Pick up a Five = 3 Outs less the one I have = 2 Outs
Total Outs = 5 therefore he has 20.3% chance of winning the hand after the flop with two cards to come.

My Outs:

- Pick up another Queen = 2 Outs
- Pick up another Five = 3 Outs
- Pick up another Two = 3 Outs
- Pick up another Four = 3 Outs

Total Outs = 11 therefore I have a 41.7% of winning the hand after the flop with two cards to come.

Therefore, even with the admittedly poor Q,5 in the pocket - I made the right play... any comments all? am I correct?

** all percentages from http://www.freepokerstrategy.bravehost.com/oddschance.html

[ZBTHorton]

Yes you are correct. Your push in theory was correct.

[ZBTHorton]

Actually. Let me rephrase.

Your push was correct in the way that you put your chips in while you were ahead. I think in this case the BEST play would have been to make a decent bet on the flop, and push on the turn.

I bet he would have folded then...and you would have not lost the hand! :-)

[dELTAnEUTRAL]

this is a VERY EXCELLENT point - the style of my push would have definitely affected how he reacted - if I waited for the turn to push, making him pay half his pot for one card would have been a surefire fold on his part. I will amend my play in the future - thanks.


Postscript:

I ran the hands on a Hold'em Hand Pot Equity Calculator - the results showing probability of winning the hand were as follows (winner in bold):

Preflop:
Me-42% Chipleader-58%
Flop:
Me-77% Chipleader-23% - I went ALL IN at this point
Turn:
Me-86% Chipleader-14%
River:
Me-0% Chipleader-100%

As you can see - I had a 77% probability of winning post flop - hence I still believe I made the right decision - and I just got rivered - what do you folks think?

[ZBTHorton]

Your push was definitely not a bad push.

The problem with this hand is still that you should have never been in it in the first place. Here is a list of the proper ways to play this hand in order:

1. Fold pre-flop.
2. Bet the flop and push the turn
3. Check the flop and bet the turn
4. Push the flop.