Anyone play this differently?

[Cueball]

This occurred in a $20 NLHE event at stars, 480+ players and we are down to the last 29(well into the money). I have about 18k in chips(with blinds of 300/600) which places me in 7th or 8th spot and the chip leader for the tourney is sitting to my right. My table has a fair number of short stacks that are just trying to hang on for dear life and work their way up the payout ladder. I have been playing very tight but very aggressive when I do enter a hand.

Now for the situation, I am dealt Kd/Kh in my BB and the table folds around to the SB(the chip leader) who makes what appears to be a steal raise of just over 2 bets. At this point I pause for a sec to think about how to get him to put all his chips in and decide on a somewhat larger(but still small) re-raise hoping that he senses weakness and comes over the top of me...which he does almost instantly. The speed of his all-in forces me to think about the possibility that I'm a dog, but if he shows me aces, I can accept that beat. His cards appear, 22(can't recall the suits) and a deuce hits the turn to bust me out in 29th place.

Would anyone here play this hand any differently because my thoughts now were that I may have been able to pick on the short stacks for quite a while and could easily afford to sit and have the blinds run by quite a few times. The flipside of this is that I did have his hand dominated and stood the chance to put myself into cruise control to the top 5 or 6 which offered a much nicer payout than the $80 I got back for 29th. I see a bit of merit in both options, because I think the EV of stealing from the short stacks was pretty good, but a shot at doubling through against a big stack when I'm a big favorite was just too nice to pass up. Any suggestions or thoughts are welcome.

[etgryphon]

I wouldn't compain about getting in with 4:1 favorite. It was a +EV play and you didn't win. Bummer.

The thing is you will play this hand the same way the next time that you get it. You want to tangle with the Chip leader when you have the 2nd best starting hand. 3 times out of 4 you will be smiling and stacking the chips. Not this time though...

-Gryph

[Cueball]

Yeah, I agree with getting the chips in when I've got a big edge, but fact that I could probably steal a substantial amount of chips from the short stacks got me to thinking about whether committing myself against one of the guys who could seriously hurt me was a good idea. I think I made the right play, but still see a small bit of merit in possibly playing the hand differently and reducing my risk as opposed to committing my entire stack pre-flop. A smooth call pre-flop and big bet on the flop still nets me a profit and the ability to pick on the small stacks as well.

[UMCorona]

I'd agree that nothing was wrong about how you played that hand if your intent is to win the tournament, and not just move up a few places on the money list.

Pushing all of his chips in with 22 against a re-raise from one of the few people at the table with enough chips to do some real damage to his stack was a pretty bad move by the chip leader. He just got lucky and you didn't.

[etgryphon]

I think you are letting the beat get to your head...

You definately made the right move...no questions.

With your line of thinking would you muck AA here just because it is possible for the guy to bust you? I seriously doubt it. Just remember the chip leader is holding most of your chips for you and the AA/KK/QQ is the key to unlock the box and get your chips out.

I would expect more of this conversation if you went out with AK/JJ-88, but even then the only difference is that you should push when it gets to you and not try to sucker him in.

Also, going for the smooth call is alright, but you could get pushed off your hand if an A flops. Not because it is the right move, but because you would chicken out.

You took the best line. Period.

-Gryph

[Cueball]

Thanks for the responses guys, I know the play was correct and my intention in any tourney I enter is to win but I just wanted to see if anyone else would consider a different course of action. I would probably play it the same again in the future, and pray the hail mary on his part doesn't connect.

[skoal2k4]

Would a re-raise all-in be acceptable?

[Soul Daddy]

[ QUOTE ]
3 times out of 4 you will be smiling and stacking the chips.

[/ QUOTE ]

Or 4 times out of 5...
Nice hand. Don't sweat it.

[adanthar]

[ QUOTE ]
Would a re-raise all-in be acceptable?

[/ QUOTE ]

If you think he's more likely to call with 22/AJ/Q8o when you do that, yes.

[etgryphon]

Whoops...Yes I do Play Poker...And I'm Calling an all in with Axs...

-Gryph