Final 2 tables of 10+1.....

[Sluke]

I had this hand come up this morning...looking for feedback. Could this have been played any other way??

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t1500 (8 handed)

saw flop|<font color="C00000">saw showdown</font>

UTG+1 (t12358)
MP1 (t32156)
MP2 (t8900)
<font color="C00000">CO (t48697)</font>
Button (t12687)
SB (t10104)
<font color="C00000">Hero (t14631)</font>
UTG (t17140)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. SB posts a blind of t1500.
<font color="CC3333">Hero raises to t4500</font>, <font color="666666">4 folds</font>, <font color="CC3333">CO raises to t7500</font>, <font color="666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises to t14631 (All-In)</font>, CO calls t7131.

Flop: (t30762) 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

Turn: (t30762) 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

River: (t30762) 3[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

Final Pot: t30762

Looks like the converter messed up. I was UTG.

[Lloyd]

I would have pushed up front. Anytime you have a stack of less than 10xBB you need to think about pushing rather than just raising. Especially since you know you're going to be all-in if someone re-raised you. Why not go all-in yourself and put them on a bigger decision.

With your re-raise all-in your opponent is getting 3 to 1 odds to call so you know he's going to do it. If you put him all-in his range of hands to call shrinks.

[RavenJackson]

No question I would have pushed QQ right away. Especially if I had less then 10BB.

[tiger7210]

Assuming Hero here is short stacked being less than 10x the BB, To get in a position to win the tourny, would his raise be appropriate hoping to get called or Rerasised to give himself a chance to double up since there r only 2 hands he could be behind? With a full push he may certainly pick up the blinds here, but with a smaller raise me may get reraised by someone holding JJ, TT, AQ or AK. Any thoughts on that?

[RavenJackson]

In the hero's position [short stacked and out of position] I think the only option is to push or fold. IMO QQ is a tough hand to play pre-flop in the best circumstances, it is a good hand; however, I do not believe it is as strong as you indicate.

[Lloyd]

First of all, just winning the blinds at this point is important. Yes, it would be nice to double up but winning the blinds is a 15% increase in his stack.

But more importantly, I think there is an interesting impression of what an all-in bet means in online tournaments (at least at this level). For whatever reason, people are more likely to call an all-in bet with middle and small pairs than they are a normal raise. I think everyone automatically assumes that if someone goes all-in and they have a pair, it's a coin flip. And as the experience of the player increases, they will often look at this type of a raise by a short stack player as one begging to be called - so they would put them on a big pair.

I think you're better off throwing all your chips in the pot hoping to win the blinds and if you get a caller, hopefully you'll double up.

[BradL]

Had hero had KK or AA then a standard raise hoping for a re-raise is an ok option. With QQ out of position a push is apropriate give stack size. Had hero had position in the hand then a standard raise could be considered but a push is still the best play IMO.

-Brad