Race Situations, when to gas up?

I recently found myself in a mid-tournament NLHE situation with a stack on the smallish side (16.5 BB) when one of the players said he had to go for one reason or another.

This resulted in him going all-in the next 3 hands, with no callers.

I found myself in the big blind with the "leaver" in the small blind; everyone folded and he went all-in. I looked down to find two threes in the hole.

I knew he'd be going in with anything, so short of him having picked up a hand, I was in the lead, but did I want to put my tournament life on the line with a race?

I eventually decided that he was my opportunity to get some chips again, and as I probably had the lead (at that moment) I should call.

I called, flipped over my crabs, he showed ace-six unsuited. An ace came on the flop, and I was sent packing.

My question is, did I make the right call here (I saw it as a "In order to live in a no-limit tournament, you have to be willing to die." situation)?

And is there a point in tournaments where you want to avoid hands that you know will be races?

[jman220]

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I recently found myself in a mid-tournament NLHE situation with a stack on the smallish side (16.5 BB) when one of the players said he had to go for one reason or another.

This resulted in him going all-in the next 3 hands, with no callers.

I found myself in the big blind with the "leaver" in the small blind; everyone folded and he went all-in. I looked down to find two threes in the hole.

I knew he'd be going in with anything, so short of him having picked up a hand, I was in the lead, but did I want to put my tournament life on the line with a race?

I eventually decided that he was my opportunity to get some chips again, and as I probably had the lead (at that moment) I should call.

I called, flipped over my crabs, he showed ace-six unsuited. An ace came on the flop, and I was sent packing.

My question is, did I make the right call here (I saw it as a "In order to live in a no-limit tournament, you have to be willing to die." situation)?

And is there a point in tournaments where you want to avoid hands that you know will be races?

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Before you get any meaningful answers to this question, we need more informatoin. What were the stack sizes, what were the blinds, what was your relative chip position, what was his relative chip position. These are all important in determining if your call was correct. Also how close you were to the bubble.

Well, like I had stated, my stack was on the smallish side at 16.5 BB, with average being around 40 BB. The "leaver" had me covered by 20 BB I'd estimate, meaning he had about 36 BB. And I was about 25 players from the bubble (which in this case was about mid-tournament, as I had stated).

In this situation though, I'm not quite sure I see the relevance of his chip position to mine? Had he been chip leader, I would have been in the same situation (he would still have had me covered) and had I had him covered, again I see it as the same situation. The only difference would be my tournament life would not have been on the line.

He was going all-in no matter what his two hole cards were.

[jman220]

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Well, like I had stated, my stack was on the smallish side at 16.5 BB, with average being around 40 BB. The "leaver" had me covered by 20 BB I'd estimate, meaning he had about 36 BB. And I was about 25 players from the bubble (which in this case was about mid-tournament, as I had stated).

In this situation though, I'm not quite sure I see the relevance of his chip position to mine? Had he been chip leader, I would have been in the same situation (he would still have had me covered) and had I had him covered, again I see it as the same situation. The only difference would be my tournament life would not have been on the line.

He was going all-in no matter what his two hole cards were.

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Position matters because we need to know if its also possible that a thirdperson may call his all in and your call (which would only be done with a hand that dominates you), thus decreasing your value. I'll give this one a shot, but the caveat is that I'm not really a tourney player, so others who have more experience may be better suited. You've got pocket 3's. You are putting your entire tourney future on the line for what is at best a race, and could just as easily be you dominated (He's got at least overcards to your 3's, and its not impossible that he has pocket 4's are higher). Just because he's going all in with every ahnd doesn't mean that this time he doesn't have anything. Also, you don't need to take a stand yet, your stack is 16.5 BB (I'm assuming you mean big blinds here, and not big bets). Save your money for a better spot.

[jman220]

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Well, like I had stated, my stack was on the smallish side at 16.5 BB, with average being around 40 BB. The "leaver" had me covered by 20 BB I'd estimate, meaning he had about 36 BB. And I was about 25 players from the bubble (which in this case was about mid-tournament, as I had stated).

In this situation though, I'm not quite sure I see the relevance of his chip position to mine? Had he been chip leader, I would have been in the same situation (he would still have had me covered) and had I had him covered, again I see it as the same situation. The only difference would be my tournament life would not have been on the line.

He was going all-in no matter what his two hole cards were.

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Position matters because we need to know if its also possible that a thirdperson may call his all in and your call (which would only be done with a hand that dominates you), thus decreasing your value. I'll give this one a shot, but the caveat is that I'm not really a tourney player, so others who have more experience may be better suited. You've got pocket 3's. You are putting your entire tourney future on the line for what is at best a race, and could just as easily be you dominated (He's got at least overcards to your 3's, and its not impossible that he has pocket 4's are higher). Just because he's going all in with every ahnd doesn't mean that this time he doesn't have anything. Also, you don't need to take a stand yet, your stack is 16.5 BB (I'm assuming you mean big blinds here, and not big bets). Save your money for a better spot.

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Also, keep in mind that there are no hands that you dominate here. *unless he has 3/2." So this really is a bad spot for you, tournaments are about putting your money in the middle when you know there is a good chance you are a favorite, and picking your spots when you have to.

I was aware that it was almost a sure thing that he'd have overcards, unless he had a hand like 3/2, 2/2, A-3.

As for the position, I had stated that everyone folded to him in the small blind, and I had been in the big blind, so it was just the two of us in the pot. Therefore no fear of a third party limping in with a big hand knowing that there would be an all-in.

You're right that 16.5 big blinds isn't the point where I HAVE to make a stand, at the time it just seemed like a spot where I was positive I in the lead (even though marginally) and took a race.

[jman220]

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I was aware that it was almost a sure thing that he'd have overcards, unless he had a hand like 3/2, 2/2, A-3.

As for the position, I had stated that everyone folded to him in the small blind, and I had been in the big blind, so it was just the two of us in the pot. Therefore no fear of a third party limping in with a big hand knowing that there would be an all-in.

You're right that 16.5 big blinds isn't the point where I HAVE to make a stand, at the time it just seemed like a spot where I was positive I in the lead (even though marginally) and took a race.

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He's going in on essentially random hands. On any given hand there is about a six percent chance you will have a pocket pair, so you don't know, he has overcards. And once again, tournaments are about picking good spots. You picked a spot where you were at best, very marginally ahead, and you picked this spot for your entire stack. I maintain that this was not a good play, I don't think anyone else is going to respond to this, post it in one of the tourney forums if you want other repsonses.

[Jdanz]

jman is right to say more details would be great, but sans any other info i call. the overlay more then covers the times you run into a higher pocket

[Perseus]

Post this is MTT forum for better responses.

In tournaments it is best to get the money in when you believe it is either a coinflip OR you have the other person dominated.

For instance, if you have AK and someone goes all in and you feel strongly he does not have AA or KK (among a butload of other factors), you may be correct in calling him as it is either a coinflip, you are a slight favorite, or you have him dominated (i.e AQ).

A hand like 33 is ok to go all in IF YOU ARE THE ONE GOING ALL IN. This is uber important. This way, you may be a coinflip but he may fold, and that folding equity is what it's all about with low pocket pairs.

The above advice changes constantly with chip stacks, player tendecies, position, tournament length, tournament structure, how close to the money/final table, other players involved, etc. So as you can see, there is lots more to consider but those are just some basic guidelines

GL,
Jon