Final Table Question - Winner Take All Tournament

[MarkD]

Last night I played in the 1000FPP WSOP satelite tournament at Pokerstars. I typically wouldn't play in this because I would rather play for cash but I want more tourney experience and this was available so I played in it.

I'm sorry, the hand history is at home but I feel like wasting time at work right now so will post it from memory and will recheck the details later - it should be fairly close.

Situation
Final table down to 7 players and I am the chip leader with about 115K. The next biggest stack is about 70k and with the remaining players between 30k-50k. Throughout the final table I have been the chip leader a few times and relinquished it a few times on some loose plays (+EV, but with the appearance of being very loose since they started as marginal blind steal situations). I've currently regained my chip lead and have been dormant for about the last 5 hands. I am by far the most active player at the table. As noted above I currently have a loose wild agressive image but have decided to switch gears and tighten way up for a while.

The Hand
Blinds are 1.5k/3k and I can't remember the ante but it might have been around 300ish (someone familiar with pokerstars can surely correct this).

I am dealt K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] in the CO position and open for my standard 9000. This value has been stealing me a lot of pots, but has also been called quite a few times. It appears to be less than optimal for a pure blind steal, but just about right for the hand that I currently have as it has high fold equity butm may also get a play. The SB calls me and we see the flop head's up.

SB has a stack slightly over 50k prior to this hand starting. He also cold-calls pre-flop more than anyone else at the table. His post-flop play is not too tricky. He likes to C/R the flop though and I have seen him do it with top pair / decent kicker and a couple of other times he was not called.

Flop: K73 with one heart. Just about perfect for me I think. The pot is about 25k and I bet 12.5k and he C/R's me to 25k leaving himself about 10k behind. If I move him all in here I will have about 55k and if I fold I will have 70k. If I win I will have a greater than 2-1 chip advantage over the closest player and we will be down to 6. What's my play?

[DireWolf]

I call here, I don't think it is that close in a winner takes all tournament, but maybe im wrong.

[MarkD]

You call? I thought this was the 3rd of my 3 choices - by far the 3rd.

If I call he has 10k left and the pot will be 60k+. I am not going to fold if he bets again and if he checks I am going to bet.

With that said, if I am going to call on the flop shouldn't I just set him all in?

I honestly only considered calling for a brief second for the above reasons.

[dmk]

All-in.

Start by putting SB on a range of hands. You're easily ahead of over 50% of them.

Next, factor in the fact that its winner take all, and winning this hand gives you over 33% of the chips on the table w/ 6 ppl left. And, if you lose, you're still average stack.

Go for the gusto

[DireWolf]

errr yea, i meant all in. Sorry.

But i think folding is worse than calling. The rest of the money is going in on the turn if u misclicked the call button. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[JKratzer]

Well, I think its close but I would probably go all-in. Based on your reads you probably have the best hand, I assume he would reraise pf with AK (?) so you really only have to fear a set.

I think a better question to think about is your flop bet. Knowing that your opponent likes to c/r, consider what you will do if he c/rs you on the flop. Knowing how you will respond allows to make a better bet. Smaller if you want to get from a checkraise, bigger (or same size) if you're looking to get him all-in on the flop.

[ZBTHorton]

All in..and it's not even remotely close.

[MarkD]

I went all in. My opponent had AA and I did not improve. I later went out 6th when I had a straight and my opponent had two pair and rivered a full house. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

To the one poster who commented on picking the right bet size based on how I wanted the hand to play out... well, that is exactly what I did on this flop. When I saw the flop I knew what I wanted to happen. I posted here to make sure my thinking about the hand in question was correct.

Anyways, this opponent did not check raise all the time - he just seemed to do it a bit more than some of the other players - but he was also in more pots than the other players. I had also been check raised on about 3 or 4 hands where I subsequently folded and this is also why I suspected a check raise.

I bet 12.5k because if he had a hand he wanted to play he would play it for this amount and I would be able to get a large amount of chips in the pot. If he didn't have a hand he wanted to play for 12.5k then he definitely does not have a hand he wants to play for 9k and this is exactly the type of flop that I was hoping for with my hand (if I saw a flop at all).

I posted mainly for confirmation and to see if there was anything I was missing in my analysis.

[SossMan]

if you are considering folding to the check raise, then your flop bet was the worst play in the history of poker.

[Roman]

My chips practically beat his into the pot...