New tourny guy...please help!!! (long...sorrry)

[Bat Cape]

I am not new to poker...I have been playing 15 years, but I recently picked up an addiction to NL tournies. I think I am a fairly strong (17 money finishes out of 70) tourny player considering that I only started playing regularly 2 months ago, but I am in a rut, and I find myself often struggling to get into the money (and barely miss it many time...10), and often just make it (although I have 8 final tables). I am playing mostly 5, 10, and 20, with a few 30 and 50 mixed in. I've also taken some incredible beats...but then I wonder if I played the hand incorrectly. Like today...I am 8/33 in the LB with 4.5k and AA...4 callers...I make it 2400 (8x)...the BB raises me all in..so I am smiling, everyone else folds...he turned over AQ and flopped a straight. I think I did the right think (i.e. raised the right amount), but maybe I should have gone all in. What do you guys think? The other thing is I am not sure if I am steal raising enough. For instance...say you are on the button or 1/2 off...and your 20th/40...again, close to the money at that point...should you pretty much raise most of the time, and if so...how much? I often find that when I try to SR raise I get called and or reaised. I realize the stacks of the blinds need to be considered, which I do (e.g. laying off SR with big stacks). Here is anther play I questioned. I am about 12/22 in the LB with AK, a guy in late position raised 2x (he has half my stack)...everyone else had folded...what do you do? Again..very close to the money at that point...top 20 got paid. Well, I raised AI (knowing I'd still have half my stack with a loss) and he called, turned over 99 which held up. Do you think it was still correct for me to raise. Ordinarily, I'd say yes, without a doubt, but considering the fact that I was so close to the money, guaranteed if I waited it out, I am not sure I did the right thing. I find myself in these types of situations more than I'd like...hold my hands up not really knowing the best thing to do. I'd appreciate any insight my fellow tourny players can provice. Thanks in advance.

[cferejohn]

First of all, better post formatting (i.e. paragraphs) will help you get more responses. That said...

On the first hand you posted, you certainly did the right thing. Your goal with AA or KK is to get someone else all-in pre-flop, when you are definitely ahead. You did that, and you got quite unlucky. Go to www.twodimes.net (http://www.twodimes.net) to see odds of AA v. AQ and you will see that you did the right thing. With 4 callers, I think an 8x raise is about right. Generally speaking, if your pre-flop bet is for more than 1/3 your chips, you are probably better off going all-in. In this situation, however, you actually would like someone to come over the top of you, so a smaller raise designed to fold all but one person is reasonable.

On the second hand, I would do the exact same thing against most players. Had this player always been raising the minimum pre-flop? If not, pay attention to the times he did raise the minimum. Sometimes this is an attempt to steal cheaply, sometimes it is a 'slow-play' of a big pair. Unless I had only seen this player minimum raise with big pairs, I would do just as you did.

As for steal-raising, that's a big fat 'it depends'. It depends on the character of the game and the nature of the players who have yet to act. Have they been calling a lot of pre-flop bets or coming back over the top? If so, stick to legitimate hands to raise with, though you can loosen up your definition of 'legitimate' a little since they are calling with marginal hands. If on the other hand they are folding nearly all the time to a pre-flop raise you'll probably want to raise with either a very good hand (AK, AA-JJ) or with complete crap (J4o). That way if they come over the top, you have an easy decision. Well, JJ is not so easy, but I'm not throwing it away pre-flop anyway; if you get popped you'll have a decision to make.

Also, its much easier to steal-raise when you have a big stack, since people don't really want to tussle with someone who can put them all-in, especially as you get close to the money. Otoh if someone in the blinds has a much bigger stack than you, he may raise you all-in when you raise, especially in late position. If someone has blown up your steal-raise a couple times, limit yourself to only raising him in late position when you have something you would call a re-raise with. If you suspect him of re-raising very thin, you can loosen up your standards a bit.

Final thing on steal-raising. Don't always steal from the button or the cutoff, especially if you don't have a big stack. If your stack is big, you can probably get away with it, since no-one is going to challenge you without a legitimate hand, and odds are the 2 or 3 remaining hands won't be that big. However, if you are on a small or medium stack, you're going to get played back at quite often when you try this. Therefore, especially if the table is tight, it is sometimes worth steal-raising from early or middle position. This is of course riskier because there's a better chance that someone behind you has a legitimate hand. Otoh, if they play back at you, you can be pretty sure that they have a hand since your raise didn't come from 'steal position', and if you have nothing, you can lay it down (note this assumes you have enough chips that you are not getting close to all-in with your steal). I'm not saying do it routinely, but if the table is tight (i.e. a pre-flop raise is usually taking the pot), its something to consider.

Hope some of that helps. Good luck.

Chris

[Bat Cape]

thanks Chris...very helpful. Pretty much confirms the way I play, with a bit more insight.