what's the move? What I did ain't it.

[sleepyjoeyt]

Charity No limit hold'em tourney. About 200 players to start. We're down to about 70-80 and I'm chip leader at my table with about 9K in chips.

As tables are being consolidated we get a guy moved to our table (and immediately to my left) who has about 20K in chips. He may be the overall chip leader (I'm not sure) but he's certainly in the top couple of stacks. 300-600.

I don't play a hand until I'm in the small blind and the big stack is the big blind. Everyone folds to the button, who also folds. I look down and find A7 offsuit.

What should my immediate thought here be? Is it "Don't mess with the chip leader, throw it away and look for a better start". Or is it "Don't be a pussy - you have an ace against a blind hand so you'd better raise."

I chose the second choice but didn't raise enough to force him to fold. I raised to $1500.

He thought for a minute and called ($900 more).

The flop is 10 9 2 rainbow. I think for a second (mostly thinking do I just abandon the hand now and check - fold and it only costs me $1500 or do I bluff at the pot).

Again, I did the EXACT wrong thing (I think) by leading out but not pushing all-in. If I push all-in I think he has to fold unless he has something solid. I bet $3500 at a pot that now had $3000 in it preflop. He thinks for about 30 seconds and calls.

Now I've only got $4200 in chips left and I've just [censored] myself. I don't have enough to force him to fold. The turn is a King, which I thought might be an okay card for me as I could be playing AK.

I push in for my last $4200, and with $10K already in there he thinks for about a minute and calls. I flip over my Ace high and he shows A 2, for a pair of deuces. The only card on the river that will save me is a 7 and its a Jack. I've now gone from 9K (which was second stack at the table and probably top 15-20 left in the tourney) to on the rail.

I had a lot of decisions to make on this hand and I believe I f'd up every one of them.

Please tell me what I should do in this situation next time.

There were a LOT of people in this tourney who had no idea what they were doing (apparently I was one of them) but I really felt like if I didn't [censored] up that hand I had a chance to make it far.

Thanks and sorry for the long, rambling post.

[betgo]

I would just push preflop. Sklansky gives an example with A6o in the SB, where he says pushing is EV+ with up to 30xBB. This is the kind of play you want to make versus a stronger player or a bigger stack, so that they can't mess with you or outplay you postflop.

Against a bigger stack in the SB, I like to open push, limp, or fold. There are certain situations I will miniraise, usually with a big hand.

When you are the second biggest stack at the table and a much bigger stack is on your left, your stealing opportunities are limited. You are going to have to play tighter in those situations.

[sleepyjoeyt]

I'm bumping this so I could get some more responses. I really want to know if the only move is pushing all-in.

Do some people fold here?

[45Player]

Firstly, I don’t think it’s a good idea to try and make any smart moves out of position against an unknown who can break you. The only piece of info. you have on this guy is that he has a lot of chips. I’d be a bit more cautious than normal against someone like that because there’s an increased probability that he got those chips by playing loose. So, you certainly don’t want to get involved with A7o against that type of opponent.
Therefore I would fold pre-flop with this hand.

You choose to steal – and yes you’re right, you didn’t raise enough – make him pay to see the flop – put in a pot sized raise or more , say make it 1800-2000. However, that’s 30% of your stack which is a lot of money just to win 900, especially as I said when you have to act first after the flop.
When he calls pre-flop, and then that flop comes I think you have to shut down. No point in throwing good money after bad. If you do bet, go all-in.