late in a sattelite

[Mackie]

Yesterday I'm playing in a sattelite where 8 players get an entry into a big buy-in tourney plus a little cash. All top 8 places pay the same. We are down to 10 players. It's no limit he, the blinds are 4k-8k. I am in seat 8. The player in seat 4 is UTG with the small stack of 15k and goes all-in. Folded to seat 9, the largest stack with 52k, who goes all-in with AKs. He was called by the small blind with 40k holding JJ. Noone improved, seat 4 was out, seat 9 was left with 12k, now the shortest stack, seat 2 has a huge stack and doesn't need to play another hand.

So question 1: did seat 9 make a mistake by moving in with AKs in an attempt to play heads up with the all-in UTG short stack? Should he have just called instead? I think the small blind made a terrible move by calling all-in with Jacks here. Agree?

Next hand: Seat 5 is bb and has 12k left after posting. Folded to me, I have 22k, now the 3rd shortest stack after the bb and seat 9. I have AQo. If I call and lose I'm left with just 2k and would need a miracle to not be eliminated #9. I pass, thinking I can go through the blinds and be left with 10k. Seat 9 cannot go through the blinds. 15 minutes until next blind increase. Correct play?

[MS Sunshine]

I wouldn't play this hand. The short stack, seat 9, will have to win in the blinds and you will have a whole round where someone else might play and lose. Sit tight and wait.

MS Sunshine

[Greg (FossilMan)]

AKs shouldn't have gone all-in. He should've just called as an invitation to others to join in, or folded and let somebody else do the dirty work (as long as he's pretty sure somebody will). To go all-in is inviting disaster. If he just calls and somebody else raises, they are either ignorant, or have AA. As for JJ calling, yuck. Terrible call since he's all-in.

Your fold of AQ is 100% correct under these circumstances. Let seat 9 face elimination before you have to, and see if somebody else won't get stupid as well. Given the number of hands before you're forced to play, there's a good chance somebody gets out of line.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

[ohkanada]

In this situation I would muck AKs with other large stacks after me. I also hate the SB's play going all-in with JJ after the big re-raise.

On the AQ hand who is left between you and the BB and how close are you to the BB yourself?

I suspect I would fold the AQ.

Ken Poklitar

[The Prince]

I agree 100% with everything that was said above.

Call with AKs, fold the JJ (Greg, "yuck" is an understatement /forums/images/icons/wink.gif ) and also fold the AQ.

Hope you made it.

First hand, I think a case for going all in here could be made for AKs. You're a big favorite to any ace and not far behind to any pair but AA and KK. Considering that UTG is about to face crippling blinds, he's very likely to be moving in with an inferior hand. Of course, AKs needs to know that no one behind him is going to do anything stupid, like a large stack calling with JJ.

Second hand, I like your fold. Calling is bad, and going all-in may get you into trouble since: Seat 9 may be steaming/tilting after what seat 2 just did, so he may be more likely to call your bet with any quasi-reasonable hand (which would be -EV in terms of real $$$). Seat 2 may very well call you, also. Another consideration is that if the BB doesn't win this hand, he may be blinded off before you, as well. Folding is really best here.

[Mackie]

Actually with that AQ hand, I should have clarified - I was considering pushing in only, not calling. If I did push I would want as many callers as possible behind me. I don't care if I'm eliminated on the hand, as long as the big blind is also, I finish 8th and I win a seat, even if his hand is better than mine.

[Mackie]

Yeah, I did, Thanks. It ended on the next hand, I didn't even get to my blinds.

[Greg (FossilMan)]

I thought the BB that hand was NOT all-in for the blind. That is, he could choose to fold that hand and play on. Therefore, if you push in with AQ and get a bunch of callers, he is in a spot where he should fold AA and hope you get beat by the pack and he gets 8th by default.

Unless the facts are different than given, there is no way you should ever play that AQo.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

If you go all-in and get called by even one player, the BB is folding.

[Mackie]

Yes, you're right. I didn't think it through because I decided not to play the hand.