77 vs. AQs

Home Game (Six Handed)
.25/50

Preflop: Hero is 2 with 7,7.
1 fold,hero raise to 1.50, sb fold, BB raise to 2.50, Hero raise to 7.50, BB raise all in (10.75), Hero Calls (10.50). BB shows Ad,Qd

Flop: 10d, 4, 3d (2 players)

Turn: 8 (2 players)

River: A (2 players)

In the end the BB hit his ace on teh river and knocked me out.
Do you think i played this right preflop? The blinds were going to go up in 10 minutes and BB is a very agressive player.

[car ramrod]

I'm not a big nl player. You would get better answers in the small stakes no limit forum.

But I'll give you my best. I may have just called the raise and then saw the flop. With that kind of flop you can probably push him off his hand there.

I don't think the way you played it was bad. You got all his money in and he was a slight dog.

He might have called my raise on the flop because he had the nut flush diamond draw.

I will post this in the other forum.

[ackid]

I dont like the raise in ep with 77. If your going to play it, limp and hope you hit the flop. I would have folded preflop when he raised to 2.50. Best case is coin flip when you reraise and he pushes all in. But do you really want to risk the rest of your stack on a 50/50. Folding 77 in ep. is not bad either.

[car ramrod]

6 handed, 77 is a good hand. He was a slight favorite here, not 50/50. I think the AQ going all in was the bad play. He was not going to get the op to fold, it was only another $3.

Well its important that this is a NL Tourney and not a cash or limit game.

In a tourney you really dont want to have to put your tournament life to a coin flip, which this play is.

Sometimes you get so lowstacked you need to push with something even though it may not be the best hand because you dont want to blind out. Most players begin to fret at 6bbs or so, but I dont really feel like they should until 3. Remember that at 6 or 3, your prob going to get called by someone at this homegame either way, so having 6 isnt much of a bully type advantage.

3 extra buttons makes a lot of difference in the quality of hand you may push with. Worst case scenario is a dominated hand here, playing PP 9+ and large cards is a good bet.

77 isn't a great hand especially since it wasnt unlikely conisidering his raises that he may have had a larger PP. However, you got lucky and he only had AQ which is about a 4-6% dog to your 77.
(without actually checking the stats)

If you really felt like the blinds were hitting you hard and this was your spot to pick, you shouldnt have raised reraised called all in.

One option here is make a smaller raise with the 77 that will limit the preflop calls to larger cards, see the flop, then act accordingly. (hope for rags!)
The second more common action would be to push immediately.
Maybe that AQ thinks twice about calling now, because your totally confident and committed to you hand instead of making a small raise which he views as an attempt to prob pick up the blinds without risking your entire stack.
Best case here is he folds and you pick up the blinds.
Wont happen often in a home game!
If he calls your all in, its the same coinflip but you made him really think about the decsion instead of the situation you described in which he acted aggressive.

I have often heard pros say, they dont want to go all in preflop ever in a tourney because even if you have aces, you just put your entire tourney life on a gamble...
hope i can help,
cdl

[topspin]

[ QUOTE ]
I have often heard pros say, they dont want to go all in preflop ever in a tourney because even if you have aces, you just put your entire tourney life on a gamble...

[/ QUOTE ]

There's a nice section in Harrington on Hold'em that debunks this idea.

To the OP: a NL tourney is very different from a limit cash game. How you're going to play this hand depends as much on the stack sizes of everyone at the table, the blinds, and people's tendencies as your actual hand. You should have a good handle on all of these in a live tourney.

I don't like your getting all-in preflop with 77 having a stack of over 20 times the BB left, but it is possible that you may have a read that makes this play better.

[krimson]

I would call BB's first re-raise and evaluate the flop before continuing. 77 is a good 6-way hand, but after being re-raised from an out of position player you have to imagine your at best a coinflip to overcards or dominated by an over pair. This is not a necessarily a situation where we want to get all-in.

20x BB>?>?? I didnt read that, fold that 77!!!!!!
If you reach 3-5 bb, start to think about an all in with next good hand.
Also, herrington does mention that in his book, taking the best of it preflop, but most pro players dont support that. A tournament life can cost you a crazy amount of money, so the less odds gambling the better as far as im concerned. Note here, If I have rockets ill still put anyone all in. But the key to tourney life is slowly building your stack, not taking monster swings (this can happen and you can still win) and picking spots where you know you are a huge favorite. Think about how you would play if you could see everyones cards, would you take AA against 10 9, hell ya, but taking aa over 10 9 with a flop of 10 9 A would be a lot better...

[4_2_it]

Since your intention is to get all your chips in then I would limp in and hope for rags on the flop at which point I push all in immediately. By doing this you put your opponent on notice that he does not have the best hand post-flop and you force him to make an uncomfortable decision. Of course, in a home game many will call (and correctly) with the nut flush draw and two overcards if they put you on a middle pair, but you are least float the possibility that you flopped a monster. I would say that you didn't play the hand badly as you felt pressured to make a move. I would rather be all-in with 77 than Ax. I think it is more profitable to make on play on a raggedy flop as it gives your opponent more trouble calling with his hand. I am not a tournament expert but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[deception5]

[ QUOTE ]
Since your intention is to get all your chips in then I would limp in and hope for rags on the flop at which point I push all in immediately

[/ QUOTE ]

This will win you the minimum when you are ahead and lose the maximum when you are behind.

[4_2_it]

I stand corrected. /images/graemlins/blush.gif Looks like I picked the wrong week to give up glue-sniffing /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Cased Heel]

I don't have a problem with this.