Player and railbird didn't like this

[Cornbread Maxwell]

Boo hoo for all of them, but it was an automatic call, and I'd be happy to see AJo there, since your cards are live and you're not that far behind. That is why it's better to raise than to call, in fact, if given a choice I'd rather have to raise allin with 97h than have to call an allin with AJo, in most situations.

However, when you are 'stealing', you need to make sure that the raise won't be against a player who will feel committed to the pot after posting his blinds. For example, if the T1300 player were on the BB, I'd hesitate to raise T700 with 97h because if he re-raises allin, it will be a difficult situation. Of course in your situation the guy was on the button so there was nothing you can do, I'm just pointing this out because I see players make this mistake sometimes.

Anyways, it sounds to me like you played it correctly, and remember, stealing blinds is *rarely* ever wrong, especially if it's a good situation (i.e. right before the bubble) and you know the players relatively well.

Sometimes you get lucky in poker, but I have absoltely no disgust for someone who is pot committed preflop with 97h and makes a 'bad beat' as opposed to a player with a huge stack cold calling another large stack allin with AJo vs the raiser's AKs and bad beats them by catching a J. One relatively sure sign that you're a good poker player is that you *rarely* are unnecessarily calling allins with the worst of it.

[jomatty]

that call is automatic but the PF raise is one i usually dont make. im not being critical as this could be a leak in my game. just curious what others have to say. i usually wait until the blinds increase and some of the self destructing loose players who will automatically call or move in with seemingly anything get weeded out. i want to be invlolved in their self destruction just with a quality hand. i would fold this hand this early. i use a very tight early and agg late strategy in these. others thoughts would be appreciated

GL matty

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

However, when you are 'stealing', you need to make sure that the raise won't be against a player who will feel committed to the pot after posting his blinds.

Excellent point. Had the BB in this case had, say, under 1000, I would have folded instead of raising. In this case the blinds were the two stacks that had me covered.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

You never raise pre-flop to build a pot?

Never say never, but in NL, building a pot has a trap built in. You may inadvertantly let the pot get so big that it becomes impossible on later streets for you to deny draws the proper odds to call.

[PrayingMantis]

I just realized I read your original post completely wrong (I was in a hurry or something), and wrote my reply as if your opponent was on BB, and you on the SB, hence my thinking about "him folding most of the time". I feel like an idiot. I'll read much more accurately from now on...

But I have now 2 question, regarding your specific hand:

A. If you say the blinds are the two stacks that have you covered, it's not that you are putting pressure on them with T700 raise, but - I guess you still don't want them to call you with this kind of hand. So, you are raising with 97s because you think they respect your raises already, but if so, it's either you didn't raise much in that game from CO position, or that you raised only with good hands, that they saw on showdown or otherwise. Am I right? But you are probably not the kind of player who raises only with premium hands, or who doesn't raise at all. There is a kind of paradox here.

B. When you open-raise like that from CO, no matter with what hand, don't you think people will tend to see it as steal, and call/raise with wider range of hands (including short stack button) so you might actually need a better hand to raise from this specific position?

Hope my questions are clear,

PrayingMantis

[CrisBrown]

Hi jomatty,

[ QUOTE ]
i would fold this hand this early.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think you misread his post. This was a two-table SNG -- 18 entrants -- at the final table with 8 left, and 100/200 blinds plus 25 antes. This wasn't "early."

Cris

[Al_Capone_Junior]

1. railbird backseat drivers online should be packed into a boat, taken the the middle of the ocean, and sunk. There, I said it. I'm a hostile SOB, I know, but we all think it, I just said it out loud....

2. You played in a very reasonable manner, I have no criticism of anything here, and I would have probably played exactly the same, including the initial raise.

al

[CrisBrown]

Hiya Kurn,

There was nothing "ridiculous" about this. You had a good blind-stealing hand at this stage in a tourney, and you'd have been happy to just pick the blinds. But a short stack went all-in, and you easily had pot odds to call and take a chance on busting him. You caught "lucky" as a 2:1 dog.

So?

Cris

[M.B.E.]

[ QUOTE ]
1. railbird backseat drivers online should be packed into a boat, taken the the middle of the ocean, and sunk.

[/ QUOTE ]
Well, neither the railbird nor the other player directly criticized Kurn's play. All the railbird said was "ridiculous", probably meaning it was ridiculous that 97 would beat two bigger cards. Hardly deserved to be fed to the sharks for that!

When players use chat to berate other players I'm the first to tell them it's inappropriate, but that's not what happened here. There's nothing wrong with typing "unbelievable" and suchlike when an underdog wins the hand.