Anna Kournikova, 4 spots from in the money

[pdxjayhawk]

Go easy on me here gang. I'm a long time limit player. I recently took Lederer's advice to broaden my game and have been playing a weekly multi-table NL tournament. I like the aspect of being able to work on a game I'm less familiar with without having to risk a big portion of my bankroll to do it.

Last night I'm in a multi table with around 400 players. 36 places pay out. Obviously 26-36 basically just get a little more than the buy in, but whatever.

I've seen a 9,000 chip stack that had been in the top 10 for some time whittled down to 4,800 through bad cards, accelerating blinds, etc. Blinds are up to 250/500 with ante. I have AKo UTG +1 and decide to push after UTG folds. There are 40 players left at this point.

Good idea? Horrible idea?

I'm new to the multi-table world, so your comments and input are greatly appreciated.

[Karak567]

Easy push IMO but I am more of a SNG player than a MTT player so take my advice with a grain of salt.

What does Anna Kournikova have to do with anything, though? Is that just to get our attention? :-P

[pdxjayhawk]

[ QUOTE ]
Easy push IMO but I am more of a SNG player than a MTT player so take my advice with a grain of salt.

What does Anna Kournikova have to do with anything, though? Is that just to get our attention? :-P

[/ QUOTE ]

I have a buddy who plays a lot of no limit. He calls AK Anna (her initials are AK). His line is "she's pretty, but she doesn't win much".

[Karak567]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Easy push IMO but I am more of a SNG player than a MTT player so take my advice with a grain of salt.

What does Anna Kournikova have to do with anything, though? Is that just to get our attention? :-P

[/ QUOTE ]

I have a buddy who plays a lot of no limit. He calls AK Anna (her initials are AK). His line is "she's pretty, but she doesn't win much".

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh I get it now, haha that's pretty good. I guess I am old school when I say big slick :-(.

[Chief911]

If you dont win much with AK, you're not playing them correctly.

This is an easy push, and its not close at all.

Nick

[pdxjayhawk]

[ QUOTE ]
If you dont win much with AK, you're not playing them correctly.

This is an easy push, and its not close at all.

Nick

[/ QUOTE ]

Chief, I thought it was, too. But I want to know if the reason was correct. I felt any significant raise was going to be almost 50% of my stack anyway. I didn't want to get into a multi-way pot with what is, despite it's strength, a drawing hand.

I figured there were 3 outcomes.

1) I get the ante and the blinds because everyone folds to an all-in of that size from that position.

2) I get someone to call with something I've got 6 outs to beat.

3) Someone behind me is holding a monster, in which case my pre-flop raise would be called and if I'm out, I'm out.

It was a tough spot. Because if I don't do anything for another 10 hands, I'd have limped in to the money most likely. But my reasoning was that I've have been weakened so much I had no hope to get back into the top 10 where the money is significant.

[Karak567]

Here are my thoughts in response to yours.

1) Getting the ante and blinds at this stage in the tournament is probably a very GOOD thing for you. Worth more than you'd know.

2 and 3) You can't play constantly afraid of the nuts. If you were afraid of the nuts everytime you played limit would you make any money? And if you DO have 6 outs to beat it... it is a coinflip, not too bad with less than 10x BB.

My own thoughts: A lot of the time you are going to get called by AQ, AJ and worse. Combine this with the amount of times you will get called by a coinflip and win and even add in the times you are called by a monster and you will find this is still a VERY +EV situation. (oh and don't forget the times you take down the blinds and antes)

A good push on all accounts.

[11t]

Perfect.

[SossMan]

the only time i'm not pushing there is when the table is super agro vs. limpers and i can get a limpr reraise in a good % of the time. Otherwise, go ahead and push.

[Chief911]

Agreed Soss. But ONLY if it is a SUPER aggressive table, and limpers get reraised all the time. Otherwise I'm going all in.

Why?

1. You are under 10xBB
2. You are UTG, so you limp on a passive board and you'll have a 4+ way pot with AK, and only an AK flop is going to make you feel really good.

You certienly are not considering folding it.

Nick

[DVC Calif]

VVP - Are you posting here now? /images/graemlins/wink.gif

Good push. As you said, if you were going to raise a significant amount of your stack PF, you might as well just push and put the decision on the callers.

[A_PLUS]

You have 9xBB, there are antes. There is no way you can ever not put all of your money in with this hand. If you want to make money in NL MTTs, one of the things you will need to recognize is how the payout structure affects yoru decisions. Getting your money back from cashing is not the way to do it. Look at how many X your buy in 1st-3rd place get, then figure out how many times you would need to limp into the money to equal finishin 1st-3rd once. Once you actually look at the math of it, it is easier to play to maximize your chances of finishing 1-3, even if it is at the expense of "making the money" this particular time.

So anyway, your money is going in. With my image I open push under all but the most extreme circumstances (even a brain dead opponent would smell a rat). In your case, I would consider a limp reraise, or even a 3xBB raise knowing ou were pushing any flop. The last play is higher risk, but is something you may consider to accumulate chips at the bubble.

[rydazzle]

K is right, starting to collect the blinds and antes in multi-table are worth more than most people give credit to - it's these little pick-ups that help you stay alive.

Also, dont be afraid of the coin flips (AK vs. small/mid pair) in the tourneys. You need to win some of these to make it to the final table, no question! when you feel you have one against a stack that wont bust you out of the tourney, go for it!!