Analyze this hand...

[kid_surf]

55 person home tourney-17 left, final 8 make $.

I'm in BB w/avg stack, blinds 20-40. MP-LA chip leader ($2400 +/-) raises to $140, all fold.

I push $800 w/ AQs. He calls w/ KJ-o. He pairs on turn. I 2nd guess myself. Comments??

[baumer]

[ QUOTE ]
55 person home tourney-17 left, final 8 make $.

I'm in BB w/avg stack, blinds 20-40. MP-LA chip leader ($2400 +/-) raises to $140, all fold.

I push $800 w/ AQs. He calls w/ KJ-o. He pairs on turn. I 2nd guess myself. Comments??

[/ QUOTE ]

this is a good question, i started typing a response i was sure was correct but then i started to second guess myself.

i cant think of a reason you would just call preflop..
i guess if you did call PF you could bet the flop and hope for a steal, or a successful hit and go from there

but you'd be better off pushing and hoping for a no call,
usually the only things that would call you would either be a coinflip PP or a dominant hand,

him calling with KJ is pretty loose, a third of his stack when he has 60x BB. unfortunately for you he caught.

after all that im still not sure of anything, lol

[JFM]

What was your read on him? With the blind so low you still have time to wait for a better spot. If i where to play this hand I would push. You are out of position and have a strong hand but you want to take this pot down pre-flop(?). My only worry would be he have a PP and decide to gamble a bit.

Why he did call is beond me but you got your money in with the best hand so you shouldn´t doubt yourself to much.
Personally I would fold this. if you would have had the button call/reraise tough.

[baumer]

yeah position is a big deal, something i didnt mention in my post. a hand like this is much easier to play correctly with position.

AQ and AJ are two of my least favourite hands in EP, i'm never sure about anything when i hold these.

[JFM]

To good to throw away? If you hesitate then you probably should fold [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]. It depends a bit on the table for me. What do you base your calling/raising?

[baumer]

[ QUOTE ]
What do you base your calling/raising?

[/ QUOTE ]
not sure i understand this, but anyway


presently, i would most likely push in that situation with AQs to a decent sized raise, especially if he had been splashing around recently.

i dont think there is any real advantage to calling and pushing the flop rather than just pushing PF

any decent raise preflop would put around 40% of your chips in so thats an automatic all-in anyway

folding here is for people who only like to play the best hands, or stab at pots they have a better chance to steal (from LP most likely)

[Bernas]

You mentioned what his style was but what you didn't mention was what your image was. This is important here.

[Lloyd]

[ QUOTE ]
55 person home tourney-17 left, final 8 make $.

I'm in BB w/avg stack, blinds 20-40. MP-LA chip leader ($2400 +/-) raises to $140, all fold.

I push $800 w/ AQs. He calls w/ KJ-o. He pairs on turn. I 2nd guess myself. Comments??

[/ QUOTE ]
Why would you second guess yourself? This is pretty much the best scenario you could hope for and you got all of your chips in the middle as a slight favorite. You couldn't make a normal raise because you'd be pot committed so pushing was your only option.

[kid_surf]

Thx for the replys. I second guess myself after after most times i get knocked out of a tourney regardless.

After the fact...i thought that I either should have folded and not go against the chip leader, or tried the old stop and go.

The chip leader was every loose all night and the size raise he made was unusual for him pre-flop. I put him on a steal. My reads were actually very good all night.

My image was tight, agressive. I took down most pots uncontested. Several semibluffs made best hand on the river, and i was only caught once without a hand and was check-raised on the river. I know the guy would not check-raise bluff, so i know he made a hand. 2 times i folded to raises on the river, and both times they showed me the nuts after my fold.

All in all I thought i was playing well, which is the reason for the 2nd guessing. I think that w/a little more patience i would have made the final table...but i like to play to have a shot at winning instead of merely surviving and then trying to get lucky. I guess that is another tactical question in itself.

[schwza]

if he's so laggy he'd raise-call KJ, then yeah, push for value. you got the money in good. be happy.