All-in with QQ

[PocketRags]

Hi,

Long time lurker making his first post.

Stars 200 + 15 (my first "big money" tourn.).
Blinds 400/800. 81 players left, 45 in the money.

I have ~7000, average ~11000. 3 or 4 shortstacks on the table.
I got QQ i mid-late position. Fold to me and I go all-in.
Fold to the BB with ~14000, who calls and shows AK.

He rivers an A, and I'm out.

Should I have played this differently ?

-Rags

[swimfan]

Hi Rags,

Only other tactic to use would be a stop and go...you barely have enough to make a 3x raise not seem fishy, if he calls w/AK, greater chance he doesn't hit his flop and check/folds after the flop. All-in here is fine, with your chip level and the blinds I'd probably do the same...only two hands that are better than yours pre-flop, and good chance a caller may have AQ or <QQ where you're maximizing your EV with any callers.

I wouldn't beat myself up over this really, just really bad timing for the A to pop. I definitely feel your pain.

[JustPlayingSmart]

swimfan,

He can't use a stop-n-go here. He isn't faced with a raise, and he acts after the BB on the flop.

rags,

At this point in the tourney, you are probably looking to double up. It's doubtful you will get a better hand than QQ before the blinds hurt your stack enough that a double isn't that helpful. To win a tourney of this size (and most likely to even get in the money), you have to win a race (and probably several). You lost this one. Your play was fine though. You have less than 10xBB, so you are in move in or fold territory. Well done to make it that far.

[spacemonkey]

what's a stop and go?

[JustPlayingSmart]

Many times when you are shortstacked in the blinds, you will face a raise from a late position player. You have 3 options: folding, calling, or raising. A lot of times, you have a decent enough hand that you feel comfortable going all in. However, if you move all in, and it is not a lot more for the LP player to call, he will almost certainly call your all in. In this case, Greg (Fossilman) recommends just calling the raise, and betting all in on any flop. This may get him to fold a hand that beats you, and if not, you were going all in anyway, so you can't be worse off.

Example:

You have A9o in the BB with a stack of 3700. Blinds are 400/800. A big stack min raises to 1600 (he has 88). If you go all in, he will almost certainly call. You go for the stop-n-go, and just call. The flop comes KQ7. You bet all-in and he folds. You have just won the hand, even though you were behind. This may not happen often, but even once and you stay in the tournament. By the way, in this situation, you may want to fold A9o, but do this play with AJo.

In this situation, if the flop is AQ7, you probably should check, since your opponent may then bet all in and you can call. If you bet all-in here, he will certainly not fold a hand beats you, so you would rather get him to bet all-in with a hand that you beat.

I believe this concept is explained in Tournament Poker for Advanced Players. If you are serious about tournament play, this book will be very helpful.

[spacemonkey]

thanks. i've read TPFAP, and i know this idea, i just didn't know that was what it was called.

[theBruiser500]

Thanks for the explanation JustPlayingSmart, I'm goign to try and use this tactic in my next touranment, it sounds really cool. Also, I like it's name "stop and go".

danny

[Goodie]

I would just make a standard raise here for two reasons. First one has been outlined. If you get called by someone with AK, you can bet him off the hand on the flop if he doesn't hit. The other reason is to make it easier for someone to call or re-raise your bet. That's what you want.

Your going with this hand regardless, so your rooting for a re-raise or call. If someone has AA or KK well that's the breaks, but raising a standard amount may get someone with AJ, A10, AQ, KQ, any pair lower than QQ or possibly even as weak as QJ to play with you. You definetly want all of these hands to call or raise you since this is your best chance to double up or at least win a sizable pot. By raising all in, that will reduce the amount of hands that others will play.

Peace

Goodie

[Mike Gallo]

Should I have played this differently ?

I would not have.

[IdiotSavant]

IMHO, these hands were destined to be a coin flip situation taking into account depth of your stacks unless you were facing a tight passive player.

More that likely, he would have reraised your opening raise where you would have either call for all your stack or reraised all-in where the call would have been pretty much mandatory at that point.