A mysterious new strategy??

[kerssens]

Over the weekend I was playing in a $20 freeze out no-limit tournament. I was down to the final two tables and mostly through unremarkable cards and a bad beat or two I was down to 800 chips on the button, the blinds were 200/400. The small blind had me covered 3 or 4 times over and the big blind had about 1000. I am dealt AKo, unfortunately everyone in front of me folds. I move all in and the small blind folds leaving the big blind who INSTANTLY calls. When the cards are flipped I found out that he had 34o. As you might imagine, since I'm writing this, he pulled a straight and knocked me out. That's not why I'm posting this because I do realize that getting outdrawn is not unheard of and that I was only about a 2 to 1 favorite before the flop. I am posting because I went back to the table to check on my friend who was still there and the guy that knocked me out was trying to tell me that his call was part of some strategy that he was playing but that he couldn't tell me too much because my friend was still at his table. The only valid reasons that I can think of are that he was pretty short stacked and didn't want to just give up 400 out of his 1000 chips, or that he figured that calling another 400 into a pot of 1400 was in line with his pot odds. Another friend of mine in the tournament played next to this guy earlier and he and I both agree that neither of those are the case. My question is....is there some grand strategy that would call for you to call the rest of your chips away when at best you are a 2 to 1 underdog? or am I correct in assuming that he just doesn't want to admit that he got a lucky outcome?

[shemp]

I might call without looking at my cards, that way I couldn't chicken out when I saw chickshtt. He's getting 3 1/2 to one and he needs chips. Unless you a very tight raiser when shortstacked and everyone folds to you on the button (not bloody likely), his call is fine.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

When the action gets back to him, there is 1400 in the pot and it only costs him 400 to call. Thus he is getting 3.5 - 1 from the pot. If he assumes (correctly, I think) that you do not have to have a pair to make your bet, he is correct to call with any 2 cards as he is less than a 2-1 dog against 2 overcards.

In short, there is nothing mysterious or new about his action. His call was correct tournament strategy..

[ThaSaltCracka]

I would like to add that I was also playing in this tournament as well. I played on one of the tables with this lucky guy, he knew nothing of pot odds, or any statistical edges, he was a moron, I saw him play 10-6 suited from MP with callers in front, I saw him overbetting the mid-pair on the board, I honestly don't know how he made it to the last table, this guy was really bad.

That being said, I understand the strategy that you guys are talking about though, I can see how his call may have been justified, I just wanted to add that the player in question, was not thinking any of these things though.

[Jeremy'sSpoken]

He probaly thinks that your raise puts you on high cards and he is one of those who believe that you want to have low cards against someone with high cards. Or even more likely he is completely Fing with you.

[SoBeDude]

[ QUOTE ]
When the action gets back to him, there is 1400 in the pot and it only costs him 400 to call. Thus he is getting 3.5 - 1 from the pot. If he assumes (correctly, I think) that you do not have to have a pair to make your bet, he is correct to call with any 2 cards as he is less than a 2-1 dog against 2 overcards.

In short, there is nothing mysterious or new about his action. His call was correct tournament strategy..

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, he is less than a 2-1 dog against overcards, but that is not his entire range of holdings. It seems you're assuming he DOESN'T have a pair, which is wrong thinking.

A short-stacked player will also go all-in with any pair here. when you factor all pairs into his possible holdings, he's no longer a 2-1 dog to win.

His call might still be close though, I'm not sure.

What are his odds when you include the pairs?

-Scott

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

OK. It's a button raise by a short stack. It doesn't have to be a great hand.

Any pair = 78 combinations
Any Ax = 184
Any K(x>7)= 80
Any Kxs (additional) = 20
QJ-Q9 = 48
JT = 16
Other suited connectors down to 65s = 20

348 non pairs vs. 78 pairs, so 81.6% of the time he doesn't have a pair.

He's still got the odds to call.

[mosch]

I can't help but be reminded of something that I've had happen a number of times while playing poker. I'll make a stupid move for one of many possible reasons, and I'll end up showing it down (whether it wins or not is pretty much irrelevant here). I can then fold 98 of the next 100 hands and the majority of the table will still think of me as 'the maniac who straddled, then capped with J3s pre-flop.'