Question re: EV allins in the first hour of a live tournament

[dmk]

if he isn't willing to take a 80-20 shot, he isn't the best player in the field

[diebitter]

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if he isn't willing to take a 80-20 shot, he isn't the best player in the field

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Agree - not getting as much as possible in with such a big advantage is lame poker

[subzero]

I e-mailed a similar question to Tom McEvoy (poker pro). Here's the scenario:

- very first hand of the $10,000 WSOP Main Event
- you have AA under the gun and raise it to 3xBB
- next person (amateur Internet player) re-raises all-in
- all fold to you
- you put him on AA or KK
- Do you make this call?

Tom McEvoy's answer:
"I would call instantly with AA before the flop on an opponents move in bet. You have to win a lot of chips in order to be successful in the tournament. What are you going to wait for--a better starting hand headsup? Tom McEvoy"

[calmasahinducow]

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Anyone who has actually put some thought in this, please chime in, I'd love to hear your opinions.

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Aaron,

We've had several threads like this. I suggest you read this one and read Paul Phillips' and Greg Raymer's comments, two people I'm sure you know put some "thought into this."

http://archiveserver.twoplustwo.com/...art=1&vc=1

Paul Phillips' first comment:
"I've said I'll take ANY edge (or even ANY COIN FLIP) early, and that NOBODY is good enough to intentionally refuse a 60/40 edge early. Repeatedly applying a 60/40 edge would make you one of the top players in tournament poker."

Do you have information that there's a 30% chance that everyone else at the tournament will get the flu and leave in level one?

[ActionJeff]

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You're going to have to win some allins to win this, doesnt matter if it's early or late, if you know you're best, you get your money in.

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Not true at all. I've played many tournament where I've built my stack up to over 10 times the starting stack, never exposing more than 33% of my stack on any one hand.

Anyone who has actually put some thought in this, please chime in, I'd love to hear your opinions.

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Hey Aaron,

A month ago I would not have known what you meant. But after playing the WCOOP main event I would have to agree. It is just so easy to keep accumulating chips against weak players. I don't have experience in tournaments with deep structures other then that event because I only play online as of now, but I wonder , what is the chance of building your stack to double what you started with when you are easily the best player at the table? My gut instinct says you should be calling if you know they have a smaller pair. Theoretically, if you felt you were 80% to double up at some point even after this folding this hand, wouldn't you want to call anyway? Certainly having a larger stack early on as a very skilled player is going to be very beneficial, and will further increase your odds of accumulating even more chips.

-Jeff

[SossMan]

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I am putting a friend into a decent sized buyin land based event next month.

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it's a good thing it's not the other way around.

look at the 'anthology' thread that is stickied. this has been discussed ad nauseam.

[sirio11]

There has been some threads about this (not one recently though). The common wisdom in this forum is that you should take any 50.000001% flip early. I don't agree with that, and I have stated some of my reasons in those threads.

Thread about this issue #1

Thread about this issue #2

But I think the 80% is just too much for anybody to give up, I think maybe even 60% is just too much.

[Exitonly]

Is the consensus really to take any (on the good side) coinflip w/ insignificant pot odds?

I was uunder the impresion that it's alright to be in coinflips, but not in a 1:1 risk:reward situation. And i can't imagine that the top posters here would do that.

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The times i'll coinflips are when im' getting like 1.3:1 or better.

[fnurt]

You can make a case for taking a 51% flip, but the reality is, these threads never involve passing on a 51% flip. They always involve someone passing up a much larger edge, and then when they hear that you need to press your edges, they respond by saying, "Oh, so are you telling me I have to take every 50.000001% flip?"