an pivotal hand in a big tournament

[Temp Hutter]

Hero called and became one of the chip leaders at the time because villian only had JJ. Most of the table commented that it was a call that they would not have made. Oh well, it worked.

[Mammux]

Well played, the slightly oversized preflop raise also made me think JJ, but it's still a scary call to make.

-Magnus

[nightlyraver]

I have been in similar spots, though not in 10K tourneys or anything like that. As far as I remember, similar hands have come my way two or three times in the last month or so. I called after about 10 seconds of deliberation every time and won huge pots every time. The fact is, you're only really afraid of EXACTLY AQ or AA. Your analysis holds true for why AA or AQ are less than likely holdings. Every time I've been in this spot, I've been shown jacks or tens or something like that. I think I actually was shown AK once. If you call and double up, you're probably scooping up a HUGE pot and will be in great shape going forward.

One thing I want to add to your analysis: By pushing the original raiser would have to be playing VERY tricky. He would have had to be thinking something like this: I thought he was on a steal when he popped it preflop, so I made this frisky call with my AQ; he just bet into me so he either has a good pocket pair or is on a bluff; I probably have a lock hand and he surely will shut down if I just call; If I push, he may just call w/ AA,KK or JJ suspecting I'm on a bluff; After all, why would such a strong hand push in this spot?

[Mammux]

[ QUOTE ]
He hesitates before folding to think about what has happened to this point.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think this is the important lesson in the hand.

-Magnus