Was this proper play>

[kravy]

Recently in a PL online tourney, we were down to 20 players, 2 away from being "in the money". I was dealt AA, seated just left of the big blind, I bet $600. The limits were 150/300. The player to my left comes over the top of me with a nice raise. (when we started the hand, I had appox. $6000, he had $8000.) Everyone else drops, so I go all in. He calls.

We turn em over and he has AK to my AA. Looks good. Or does it?

/images/graemlins/crazy.gif Flop: J 7 10 (rainbow)
/images/graemlins/grin.gif Turn: 7
/images/graemlins/mad.gif River:(you already know) Q

My question is: "Being so close to "in the money", was my play correct in this situation?"

[Zag]

That depends on your goals. If barely being in the money would be nearly as thrilling to you as would winning the whole tournament, then once you are in a position to coast into the money, you should fold your hands without looking at them. (I am assuming that there were several people who were going to be blinded all in within a couple of circuits.)

On the other hand, if your goal is to get into the top three spots, doubling up here is certainly going to help you do it. You didn't describe the structure or the stack sizes, but I am guessing that $5400 would be on the smallish side, but that $12,000 would be a little above the average.

By the way, your preflop raise was too small. If you had made it $1200 to go, maybe he would have thought twice. On the other hand, you got all your money in when you were an 8-to-1 favorite. You can't be unhappy about that, no matter what the circumstances. (Well, you can, of course, but you shouldn't be.)

[tewall]

Great choice of Graemlins, especially the flop dude.

[Zag]

Just to be precise, you were an 8-to-1 favorite only if his AK was suited. If his king was the same suit as one of your aces, you were almost a 19-to-1 favorite!

[Goodie]

Your play was perfect. You should never be unhappy to get your money in with the current nuts. If you had won the hand, it would not have been posted here. Bad Beats happen.

Peace
Goodie

[kravy]

I have to admit, since I was the first to act after the big blind, I wanted to semi "slow-play" the AA to maybe trap some callers. At the time, the average stack was about 7000, it was only a 117 player tourney @ $100 per person. 1st place paid almost $4000. My goal was not to just get into the money, but I figured once in the money, it might be easier to move up. I placed 20 and the money was at 18th or below. After reading yours and several other replies, I believe I played correctly, but I could have raised more. However, any decent player probably wouldn't throw AK away in a similar postion, no matter what the raise is.

[crockpot]

i'm serious, if i see one more of these, i'm going to unload the story of my AA36 double suited getting beat by an A358 that pot-reraised me preflop in PLO8 today.

and yes, you played it right. don't be so results-oriented.

[tewall]

It's important not to give information away with the size of your bets.

[kravy]

Sorry I'm not the "poker expert" that you are (or think you are). The question was aimed more at whether or not to play more conservatively to get into the money, not about looking for sympathy over a bad beat. Obviously, you lack the intelligence to understand that from the situation that I described. Next time, read the post before you offer up a response that's not answering the question asked, einstein!! Too bad everyone's not as smart as you.

[crockpot]

i believe that i am smarter than anyone who would consider folding aces in this situation. end of story. if you would fold the aces, then stop playing tournaments. you're not going to make money in them.

[kravy]

you still, obviously, do not understand the question at hand. why dont you write a book, genius?

[Copernicus]

There are bets in between "check" and "all-in". Even when you have much the best of it, against a similar or larger stack, taking/risking 1/2 your stack may be better strategy when you are close to the money.

[crockpot]

here is what i do not understand. why would you enter a tournament if your goal is to ensure earning a few dollars above your entry fee by getting barely into the money, rather than risk a 10-20% chance of going out when you will triple your chances of getting a higher prize if you win?

and we both know there is no way you would have posted this had your aces not gotten cracked. perhaps you just have some personal animosity towards me because i correctly pointed this out. find something better to do with your time than berate me. i am trying to help you play poker better, despite what you may think.

and if you really want to find out which of us is the genius here, go present this situation to some serious tournament players and find me one who folds the aces.

[ML4L]

Hey crocksucker,

While the "aces cracked" posts annoy me as much as anyone, I don't think that this is necessarily a bad beat post. There ARE times in tournaments when you should fold aces preflop (Sklansky put a chapter on it in TPFAP). And so even though you're correct in that he probably would not have made the post had he won, there is never anything wrong with questioning one's play, win or lose. That's what the forum is for... Besides, he's a newbie... /images/graemlins/wink.gif

Kravy, IMO, crocksucker is correct in his analysis on this particular hand. The times when you fold aces preflop in a tourney are few and far between and almost ALWAYS involve two other players already being all-in in front of you (there are other criteria to be met as well). But, again, it was a reasonable question (you might get better responses if you post it on the "tournament" forum).

ML4L

[crockpot]

thanks ML4L. i normally don't get out of line in my posts, but i have some blood in my eyes whenever someone personally attacks me for what i view as no reason. (go look at my war with OffTilt if you need proof.) usually all i need is someone else to shed some light on the situation from an outside perspective.