A hand I played recently, just like to know your thoughts

[Lapper]

I was playing recently in a $250 buy-in with one $225 add-on tournament at a local Indian casino when I ran across the following hand and I just wanted to know some of your thoughts on it.

The blinds were $1000-$2000 with no ante yet. There were originally 70 players in the tournament and we were down to about 21 at this point. Only the final table made the money.

I was second chip leader at my table with $82,000. The chip leader was a very solid player who was not afraid to try to steal some pots, but usually played very solid hands. He had a few more chips than me, say $90,000.

The rest of the table were pretty much recreational players (which I am also) with what seemed like not too much tournament experience. They all had medium to low stacks ranging from $50,000 down to a short stack who only had $1000 left.

I am a recreational player who knows my own limitations and am honest about my abilities, and I would say that me and the chip leader were two of the better players at the table. I considered the chip leader actually to be a better player than myself and that is why I made some of the decisions I did.

Anyway, on to the hand. I was in the small blind and the chip leader was second to act. He threw in the minimum raise to $4000. Everybody else folded to me. There was now $7000 in the pot and I had to put in $3000 more to call. I had A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 10 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] so I figured with more than 2-1 odds it was a good call because it was possible that the chip leader was trying to steal, but even if he had a decent hand I had a good one too. I didn't reraise and maybe that was a mistake, because I was out of position and I probably wanted to get the hand over with right then if he was trying to steal, but if he did have a solid hand I would be laying myself open to a reraise, so I decided a call was the best option. Thinking about it now, maybe a reraise would have defined his hand, if he reraised me back I could have folded comfortably knowing he had a monster.

Well, anyway, at the time I called, I do remember having the feeling that he was trying to steal, because he hadn't done it in quite a while and he was the type of player who liked to mix up his play.

The big blind folded and the flop came K [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 10 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 7 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], giving me middle pair with the nut flush draw. The K was a scare card, but I figured that if he was trying to steal with K high I still had 14 outs ( the As, the 10s, and the spades). If he did have a monster like AA or AK, I still had 11 outs, and if he had a big pair like QQ or JJ I still had the 14 outs. I discounted 10-10 because I had the case ten and if he was that lucky then so be it. I also discounted 77, why I don't really know, but I'm not perfect.

With $7000 in the pot, I decided to throw out a feeler bet of $1000 and then make a decision depending on what he did, so I bet out $1000 and he raised me to $2000, at which point I went all-in. I did it for two reasons, his minimum raise could have been a trap with a monster, but I didn't think so. At that point I really put him on a K high steal and I had played my hand like I had something like a small pair, 77, so I was banking that he would put me on the set and fold top pair, and I figured that even if he called I still had 14 outs and if I took his stack, I not only eliminated a better player than myself, but with that amount of chips I was almost guaranteed a top 5 or better finish. I admit it was a gamble, and with the amount of chips I had, I probably could have played very conservatively and made it to the money fairly easily, so that is why I am asking this site for their comments. Do you think this was the correct decision? And if not, why not?

Meanwhile, the outcome was that he didn't put me on the set, he called with K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] and the turn and river came 6 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 9 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], giving him the pot with a pair of Ks and eliminating me from the tournament.

I don't necessarily feel bad about this because I think the play I made will be a winning one over the long run. I think an aware player like he was will fold that top pair more often than not when confronted by a bet that would take most of his stack. I had been playing very conservatively before this hand and the only hands I ever showed down with were AK, AA, or QQ, so I didn't appear to the table as a super-aggressive player, although I did win a few pots without showdowns with aggressive play. Maybe, he had a good read on me and if so, I have to work on my table demeanor.