Someone please tell me I made the right move here....

[Gomez22]

Stars $2 buy-in NLHE - 8 Handed

Blinds are 100/200 with antes of 25

I have T3680 and am on button with A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 8 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

UTG(4412)
MP2(11709)
Button(ME - 3680)
SB(8420)
BB(9082)

UTG calls the BB of 100, MP2 calls, I call, SB calls, BB calls all-in. I thought this might be a steal attempt, so I figured if everyone else folded to me, I'd call the all-in and see what happened... of course, both players infront of me folded, I called, SB folded, so it was BB and myself HU for ~T8000.

BB shows pocket jacks(spades & diamonds).

FLOP: A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 6 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

TURN: A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

RIVER: 6 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

I know I got lucky with the flop, but did I make the right call here? To tell the truth, I honestly thought I had a better hand than BB pre-flop.

Please point out any errors I made.

[morgant]

i haven't played the stars tourneys, but they are big right? how many people are left at this point, where are you in the standings. you are shortstacked compared to the other oponents, are you at a stage where you need to double up. if so, and you were planning on calling an all-in, why don't you push it in first? i don't think this is a spot where this gamble is warranted, even if he is on a steal, i doubt he is pushin in with any hand that you can dominate. the blinds are still relatively low and you can get some mileage out of your current stack and pick a better spot. again you should be the one trying to steal if you are calling him anyways. now, the real question is, you limped along here, say the blinds checked, on the flop there is a pot bet to you? are you calling, are you going all-in. i would not feel to great about my hand at this point, i have no clubs, i could easily be outkicked, a set of fours, or sixes is not out of the question. glad it worked out, but i would pick a better spot.

[SossMan]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but this is a horrible call. It's not even close. Muck here every time. It's not just a matter of "I think I have the best hand here, so I'll call". You can't be ahead of very many hands. Most aces that you beat w/ your kicker will chop the pot a good portion of the time. The blinds were waaaayyy too small to call T9k w/ A8.

[JARID]

Unless the BB is frequently moving all in to steal pots I would fold here in most situations.
These type of raises scream of 88-JJ. BB cannot afford to play this hand multi way, as overcards will be a big concern. With no one showing any real strength his goal is to take the pot right there, OR isolate the guy with Ax, which he did.
Even if he did not have a pair, you would have to believe his hand to be better than "any two cards" given that if he does get called he will want his hand to have a chance of standing up. Those are my thoughts. Comments regarding my comments are welcome and appreciated.

~J~

[morgant]

why does this type of raise scream 88-jj? even if he is a frequent stealer, this is not time to gamble and have A8s against any two, because it just is not nearly strong enough here. let him steal the other limpers, because gomez shouldn't have been there in the first place, and wait for a big hand to call his steal. Your response might be a little tainted by reading the hand, i doubt he is trying to isolate an Ax hand, as normally no one this early in a tourney would call an all in with A rag, except for desperation? Easy way to think about it, what possible hands can gomez be ahead here pre-flop? Not many

[Gomez22]

I posted a similar hand to this a week or so ago, and never got any replies to it.... I honestly thought he was trying to steal with all the limpers and guess I jsut got extremely lucky....

thanks for the input!

'Mez

[SossMan]

[ QUOTE ]
I honestly thought he was trying to steal with all the limpers and guess I jsut got extremely lucky....


[/ QUOTE ]

Sometimes, you just have to let them steal. If he still had a significant amount of chips, and you really felt good about your steal read, then YOU moving all in on him is a much better (and perhaps even a correct) play. But calling all in w/ Ace no kicker is really bad since you only have one way to win (i.e. you have the better hand).
Gap concept, clear and simple.

[Gomez22]

I acted before the BB, though.... He had raised 3 of the last 5 hands before this situation, and I thought it was a little LAG-gish, if you know what I mean....

I mean, with his all-in there, it looked more like a steal than anything else. I would have thought if he had a real hand, he may have raised 4-8x the big blind and try to get more money in the pot and a couple of pay-offs from some other players. As it stands, I still have tons to learn about NL tourney play..... This is the 3rd tourney I've cashed at Stars out of the last 5, and each time I've cashed it's been higher on the scale.

Even though alot of players play $20 and up buy-ins, I think these $1, $2, & $3 multi's that Stars run are the best things in the world for learning tourney play... very inexpensive and fun to boot.....

'Mez

[Cornbread Maxwell]

Anyone who tells you that you made the right move here is either lying to you or doesn't know much about poker.

First of all, in tournaments, Ax suited is a muck preflop in my book, unless blinds are 10/20, 15/30, and maybe 25/50. When blinds are 25/50 I'd prefer it to be at least an A5s or A6s and be able to play it in position.

However, when blinds are 100/200 and up, you MUST muck this hand, unless your stack has about 50 or more big blinds and you are in position. If I had 10,000 or more chips and blinds were 100/200, I might consider limping with Ax suited in some situations.

The reason that Ax suited is an easy muck when the blinds go up is because you're playing a drawing hand, and at this stage in the tournament with large(r) blinds, you will often have to put your entire stack in to see the river.

More importantly, you should almost NEVER call an allin with Ax, even if it is suited. The only times you should *maybe* do this is when you are playing shorthanded at a final table, or if you are on the blinds and calling a short stack's all in, where you are pot committed after putting in your blinds. But for crying out loud, when the blinds are 100/200 with ~T4000 in chips, you should NOT be playing A8s, and you should NOT be calling an allin with it. It is a bad, bad hand. You will be up against AT-AK, or a pocket pair almost every time. EVEN if you are up against KQ, KJ, KT, etc, you're only a SLIGHT favorite against these hands.

Seriously, do yourself a favor and fold this hand PREFLOP next time, and definitely do not call any allins with it (Unless you're playing at my table) [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].

[gunbuster]

Horrible call. BB risks 9K to win maybe 900? Even if he's raising a hand that doesn't want to be called, it's probably better than A-rag. If you call, you wager the rest of your 3.5k for 4.4k. That's only somewhat better than even money. If you were only a slight-dog, this *might* be correct. But how likely do you think he's pushing a hand worse than 88?

More likely you are a big underdog and by calling this you are losing money (even though you won).