TOURNAMENT QUESTION...NEED HONEST FEEDBACK. PLEASE HELP!

HI.

I was playing a $500K Guaranteed tournament qualifier on Party Poker. The first and second place finishers received a free entry to the $500K Guaranteed Saturday tournament. Keep in mind that I've only been playing poker since October of this year 2005. I've read alot of poker books and have played extensively on PP for the past 2 months. I play alot of SNGs and I keep track of my progress. So far I get to third place in SNGs about 4 out of 10 times I play. As far as small stakes no- limit multi-table tournaments are concerned, I've played about 20 tournaments so far, usually free ones or $5-$10 buy-ins and so far have 2 final tables under my belt and usually on average finish in the top 15-20%. I played one $2 buyin tournament and out of 965 Entrants I got to 2nd place and won $231.60. I follow all the general rules mostly. Play tight from early, cautious from middle, and open up a little from late. Overall I think I am a very tight player and sometimes get scared out of a lot of pots which I am trying to work on. But anyway back to the story.

I'm up to 11,000 chips, the blinds are $150-$300. About a round prior to this one, there is an idiot at my table who goes all-in with 11,000 chips and is the chip leader at this point (I've got about 6,500 at this point). I'm wondering why would anyone with the chip lead at this point go all-in instead of just making the normal 3-4 times the big blind raise. He did it 3 times during the same round. The last time he did it his hand came up and he had an A-4suited. I said to myself the next time I have a decent hand and he goes all-in again I'm going to call him just because he's dumb. I figure anyone with a substantial chip lead and goes all-in for no apparent reason with an A-4 suited has got to be a retard. Now the blinds are $150-$300. I've got $10,000 in chips and my table image is superb. Everyone knows that if I raise I've got something. About 3-4 people had to find this out the hard way. I get Q-Jsuited from UTG. I open up with a raise of 4x the big blind ($1,200). The idiot goes all-in with his now 21,000 chips. I'm pissed but I let him take that down. The very next hand I get A-10suited. I'm the first one to enter the pot so I open with 4x times the big blind ($1,200). Guess what the idiot does...you guessed it...he goes all-in. I'm pissed off and I go all-in because I feel it in my gut that my hand is better than his. Another person with 4,000 chips went all-in after me. I guess he was tired of the idiot's shananigans too. Sure enough the cards are turned over and here's where we stand:
Other guy has Q-4offsuit.
Idiot has 7-6diamonds.
I've got A-10 diamonds.

So I breathe a sigh of relief...but guess what happens...the idiot hits his 7 and of course no flush possibility, no Ace or 10 show. He wins my chips with a pair of sevens, the other guy doubles up with his Queens and I lose everything with just Ace high. Out of 490 entrants I go out in 50th place.

I'm still pissed about the whole thing and am posting this to get some feedback. I really need some feedback on my play in general. My question to you guys is should I have taken that "risk" in the first place when I had good chip position in the tournament. Because of the relation to the blinds I was well over the normal range of chips for that level (about 40x). Should I have just folded that hand and not even taken that risk in the first place. I only had 48 more people to beat before I went out. I guess in hindsight that hand could have went a lot of ways. Had he not hit that 7 I would have won with Ace high. Had 3 diamonds come I would have won with Ace High Flush. Had a 10 come I would have won with a pair of 10s. So I guess that's just poker for you. All I want to know is was I the idiot for calling that all-in in the first place even though I knew for a fact that I had the best hand before the flop. What should I have done. Please respond. Thanks in advance. Sorry this was so long...I get longwinded.! P.S: Also what else can I do to improve my game.

[Isura]

Please delete this thread. I moved the original from small stakes.

Sorry I didn't know you couldn't post in two different forums. I'm new here. How do I delete the second one?

[Isura]

[ QUOTE ]
Sorry I didn't know you couldn't post in two different forums. I'm new here. How do I delete the second one?

[/ QUOTE ]

Nevermind. An MTT moderator will have to delete the duplicate thread.

[LLKOOLK1]

Everyone knows that if I raise I've got something. About 3-4 people had to find this out the hard way. I get Q-Jsuited from UTG. I open up with a raise of 4x the big blind ($1,200).

NH
-LL

[bigfishead]

Late in a tournament with a wacko like this at the table, I will try to be a little more patient than you were in this instance. A10 aint all that great. Especially in early positon. I think you mistyped, since the prior hand you claimed to be utg and this hand you open-raise. And you had a cold caller of your opening raise inbetween with Q4? A whole new can of worms is opened up when idiot shoves and you still have a cold caller in between. Overall I just dont value this hand to take a stand in this spot. I think I can get this guys chips later with better.

It also sounds like he has position on you in most hands. This may mean you'll have to limp with big hands and then catch him. If you're behind him you tend to shut out the others with your cold call with the lessor hands such as this A10s. But not so much so from an earlier position. Generally speaking however I'm just not gonna let idiot take my chips without at least having a holding that has a fairly decent likelyhood of winning unimproved.