Unsure of what to do on certain hands

[dlap11788]

I've been playing tourneys for about 2 weeks now and I love it however I am still having some problems. Like what to do with pocket J's and pokets Q's Everytime I go all in with good position I get stomped. Being a little hesitant today I only bet 1600 ( I had about 6000 in chips) with blinds at 400 and 800. I was holding Big Slick Suited on the button with a medium stack and was called by the small blind ( I only limped because I was shell shocked from getting my large pocket pairs busted all the time) The flop was ace, king, 10 and I went all in again he called. Turns out he flopped the nut straight w/queen, jack. Again I was disgusted!!! My opponent said after the hand was over that I should have gone all in from the start and he would have folded. Is that the right advice.

[Lloyd]

I would suggest posting specific hands (in detail) that are causing you problems. You alluded to a hand here but it seems like there is conflicting info.

[CardSharpCook]

Welcome to poker, DLap. How you play certain hands in certain positions depends on SO much. In this case, doubling the blinds is ok, you are inviting a call or a raise, and also getting the players at the table used to you showing strength by doubling the blinds. The problem is the size of your stack Vs. the size of the blinds. You have 6k, BB is 800. You have 7.5X the BB. In my opinion, when you have between 5-10X the BB, you have only one bet PF, and that is all-in. Also, with 5-10X, you should be playing extremely tight, waiting for hands like AQ, JJ, or better. When you drop below 5X, you loosen up - go all in with A6o (if you are first in) and keep doing it until you get back over 5X. This is a brief lesson in Tourney theory by CSC.

Read books, play the $10 SNGs, you will get better.

CSC

[Lloyd]

I specifically chose to not give advice to the original post since so much information was missing and to do so could be dangerous. But I just can't ignore some of the things you've said here.

[ QUOTE ]
In this case, doubling the blinds is ok, you are inviting a call or a raise, and also getting the players at the table used to you showing strength by doubling the blinds.

[/ QUOTE ]

The last thing you want to do is invite people to call a raise with QQ or JJ. They are probably the best hand pre-flop but can have lots of problems when overcards fall.

[ QUOTE ]
The problem is the size of your stack Vs. the size of the blinds. You have 6k, BB is 800. You have 7.5X the BB. In my opinion, when you have between 5-10X the BB, you have only one bet PF, and that is all-in.

[/ QUOTE ]

Correct

[ QUOTE ]
Also, with 5-10X, you should be playing extremely tight, waiting for hands like AQ, JJ, or better. When you drop below 5X, you loosen up - go all in with A6o (if you are first in) and keep doing it until you get back over 5X.

[/ QUOTE ]
If you wait for hands like AQ, JJ, or better, you'll be really shortstacked in no time at all. What hands you play depends upon your position and what size stacks are behind you and in the blinds. You can often just play the hands you would normally from whatever position you're in, but push versus making a normal raise because of the pot odds you'd be getting if re-raised all-in.

[jojobinks]

you've been playing for a few weeks? getting beat with these hands sucks, but it happens. i'd advise as cheap an immersion plan as possible.

-read every poker book you can find. search for book reviews here if you want to know where to start.
-watch poker on tv every night. listen to phil gordon and the fox sports guys. ignore mike sexton, vince van patten, chad brown, and the game show network guys except for robert williamson, he's alright
-play 10+1 sng's
-post hands here (as lloyd said) that you wonder about. you'll get good feedback.
-read the single table forum, and peruse the rest of these boards daily.

then keep at it forever

[Tevyee]

You don't give enough information. You say that every time you push with QQ's or JJ's you end up losing. But from a mathematical perspective, you're about 50%-50% against AK and only a 4-1 underdog to AA or KK. So don't be so hesitant, in the long run you have + EV. As for the flop, work on reading board texture. Throwing away top two pair is difficult but maybe check first and see what your opponent does. And when coming in for a raise pre-flop raise about three or four times the BB. Hope this helps some. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Dave D]

Specifically, here are things missing from your post:

1. What site did you play on, buy in, how many entrants, how late in the tourney.

2. You didn't limp. Limping is defined as just calling the BB. This is probably confusing other people trying to read your post.

3. I *think* that it folded to you, but you don't really tell us.

Otherwise, I think the all in was probably fine. You're heads up, and he's a moron for calling that kind of raise w/ QJ, especially from his position. But he got lucky. You generally shouldn't assume, heads up, that someone flopped the nuts.