Tournament Question

[stalar]

Background: $53 Buy In w One $20 rebuy NLH tourney at The Orleans in Vegas. 19 players left out of 175 entrants. Pays only top 10. I have 12,500 chips, average is about $8000. I was playing conservatively at this table, wanting to wait until I made the final table to get aggressive again. I knew I would have to make some moves though, to survive with a decent final table stack. I believe I had a weak tight image at this table.

I was in the small blind and had JJ. Blinds were 500-1000 w 200 Antes. It was folded to me. The BB had about $9000 in chips. I pegged him as loose agressive based on a few earlier plays I had witnessed. I raised to 4,000. He immediatly went all in. I called.

He had KK.

I lost.

Is there anything I could have done to avoid this situation,
losing less chips?

The next hand, I had AK and a small stack went all in with $3500 with A4o, I immediatly call. The big blind thinks about it for a long while and is finally coaxed by the dealer (!!!) into calling with 35o. 3 hits and I am out of the tourny. I couldnt help but think that if I avoided the loss with JJ,
I would have at least won the AK (I am quite certian that the BB definately would not have called if there had not been two all in short stack players).

I appreciate any response.

[McMelchior]

Good job making it to 19th in that tourney ... I've played it a few times, and it's a crazy bunch! And on top of that you need to be watching the dealers every move, cause - MAN! They are sloppy! But it's all fun & games, and I love it every time.

I don't believe there's no possible way you can get away from JJ in that situation - and I don't believe you should either. Basically you're only in hot water if the aggressive BB holds one of following hands: AA, KK, QQ, AK, AQ, and KQ. That's 66 hands out of 1326 (roughly) or 19:1 that you're a big favorite ... and the guy being aggressive gives you tons of equity, since he'll come over the top with a wide array of hands. Just tough luck at a critical time, that's poker, you played absolutely correctly.

And in this case there's no way what happened on the next hand can influence your play ... it's not like a volume type hand like Sklansky writes about in TPFAP with long odds ... you're a big favorite to be a big favorite!

Congratulate your self for getting that far in a tournament with relatively steep blind increases in the mid phase and lots of LAG type players - you must have played well, and you just missed out on the luck all tournament players need to make the final table.

Best,

McMelchior (Johan)

[betgo]

There was obviously no way to get away from JJ blind versus blind.

I don't agree with playing tight to make the final table. The reak money is in the top 3-5 places.

[Greg (FossilMan)]

Given how short everybody's stack was compared to the blinds, if you get away from JJ here without doubling him up, you almost certainly played the hand wrong. It is just too strong of a hand for the situation. There is no way you could know you were behind until it was just too late. It would take an amazingly accurate tell for you to have folded to his reraise.

As for your bustout hand, the only problem there was the dealer. The fact that he got involved in suggesting to the third player to call indicates a real problem. Either the 35o player was a friend of the dealer, in which case the one-player-to-a-hand rule is being violated, or the dealer is simply too ignorant as to his proper duties. This situation definitely requires a talk with the dealer's boss, either there on the spot, or away from the table.

later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

[The4thFilm]

I like how you played the hand. I would've put him on AK or AQs which of course gives you odds to always call.

[FloppedFlush]

I think it would be wrong to play your JJ any differently in those circumstances.

And there's no point in fretting about the AK hand that followed. If you had folded the JJ, then the flop-turn-river wouldn't have been dealt and the cards would have been shuffled in a different order and you wouldn't have gotten your AK on the next hand anyway.

[cferejohn]

[ QUOTE ]
Basically you're only in hot water if the aggressive BB holds one of following hands: AA, KK, QQ, AK, AQ, and KQ. That's 66 hands out of 1326 (roughly) or 19:1 that you're a big favorite ...


[/ QUOTE ]

Well, you're only *really* in hot water against AA-QQ. Against the others its, umm, tepid water or something. In any case, there's a bit of a false conclusion above unless you think he would come over the top with any 2 cards. That said, JJ is ahead of may of the reasonable range of hands he is likely to be on.

[MilwaukeeBull]

I would have been PO'd at the dealer for talking someone into playing a hand that, as it sounds, he was ready to fold. I may have channelled Phil Hellmuth and given him a few choice words.

[stalar]

I just got through reading all your replies and wanted to thank you for taking the time to give me your feedback.

This is a great site, and I will try to give back by offering my feedback where I can.

Thanks again!