Pokerstars NLHE Tourney Final Table Hand

hi all. i was recently in a pokerstars $20+2 NLHE tourney. i managed to get to the final table and was in 5th after a couple of rounds. i had approx. T22000, leader had approx T36000, small stack had approx. T6000. pretty even chip distribution, average was T22000.


with blinds 800/1600 ante 100, all folded to the button who raised to 3200. he was the 2nd shortest stack and had approx. T7500 after the raise. SB folded, i put him all-in w/ AQs. was this a mistake? i figured he was probably on a steal since he was short-stacked and i'd be at least even money against anything other than AA, KK, QQ, or AK. i thought the chance of his playing something much weaker like Ax or Kx was high enough that i should make the move. also, if i win the hand, i'm very close to the chip leader. turns out he had JJ and it held up.


next hand is folded around to me, i get JJ in SB, raise the minimum to try to get the BB to steal-reraise (i had ~T10K, he had ~T32K), he does reraise, shows KJo and catches K on river. oh well.


was my AQo play reasonable? i am very new to NL and would appreciate any comments.

thanks, RP

I think re-raising with AQs in the blinds after a button raise is perfectly acceptable. Now the mini-raise with only a smallish stack is the only thing that might raise a red flag. Some players might only do this with AA/KK but since he had JJ that is not the case.


On your second hand I don't like the mini-raise. But you did get him to commit all his chips with 3 outs!


Ken Poklitar

ohKanada@Hotmail.com

You leave out some very important information here: how many players, payout structure.


I'll assume 7 handed play and a usual structure like 40%-25%-15% and the rest for 4th and below.


> button who raised to 3200. he was the 2nd shortest [...] i put him all-in w/ AQs.


Correct play. You have to defend w/ AQs (did you have AQo or AQs as your post is inconclusive on this) against a button raise. But maybe a call with the intention to move in on the flop, no matter what, would have been better play as it would increase you chance to win the hand.


> i get JJ in SB, raise the minimum


This is a cardinal mistake. You don't want to see a flop with JJ and chips left, so since you were in an OK chip-position (a pot sized raise would have been to T5600), you should have moved all-in. JJ is much too weak to try to get tricky, esp. if you don't have the stack to capitalize on your opponent's mistakes.


cu


Ignatius

thx ken and ignatius for your replies. it was 9-handed, 40-25-15-etc. was about the payout structure.


as i think about it more i agree that just calling w/AQs and putting him all-in regardless of the flop would have been better. i'm putting him all-in anyway and he may fold.


2nd hand, you're right, i should have just moved in w/JJ. i got lucky (sort of) that he only had KJo.


thanks again. RP

> as i think about it more i agree that just calling w/AQs


Don't overexaggerate this advice. It shouldn't matter much either way (no more than fractions of the BB). Your main decision here is if you are dominated or not. If you think you're not, you play (either raise, or call and bet) and else you muck. As it turned out, your read was correct but you lost a coin flip. No way to avoid these kind of situations, unless you are content with just making it into the money but not playing for the top places.


cu


Ignatius

You have to gauge the opponent to know whether reraising all-in preflop is a better play than flat-calling and betting out on the flop.


If you're pretty sure his mini-raise is an attempt to cheaply steal the blinds, then reraise now. You do not want him to flop a pair and stick around when you bet the flop. If you just call, he's not going to put you on a big hand, certainly not a big pair, especially when you bet the flop all-in. So, if his J8o catches a flop of T83, he can certainly call figuring his second pair is good. You don't want to give him this chance to catch a flop.


On the other hand, if you think he has a good hand, but not a great hand, then you might be better off doing the call-and-bet routine. However, if you're going to do this, you need to do it even when the flop is extra scary, like K99. The whole point is getting him to fold a small to medium pocket pair even though the flop actually missed you. So, even if the flop scares you and you think he might have hit it and have you drawing slim, you must bet. If you're going to check because the flop is scary, then either reraise all-in preflop, or fold preflop.


Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)