180 @Stars - last two tables

Here's one of those big chip meltdowns I mentioned. I'm second in the tourney at this point. 3rd place is $23k. UTG has been raising a lot from EP.

Seat 1: CO ($15,750 in chips)
Seat 2: Button ($4,200 in chips)
Seat 3: SB ($16,199 in chips)
Seat 4: BB ($12,085 in chips)
Seat 5: UTG ($75,600 in chips)
Seat 6: Hero ($45,750 in chips) A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
Seat 7: UTG+2 ($22,439 in chips)
Seat 8: MP1 ($9,770 in chips)
Seat 9: MP2 ($2,435 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
SB posts blind ($300), BB posts blind ($600).

PRE-FLOP
UTG raises to $3600, Hero raises to $20000, folds to UTG, UTG calls $20000.

(T40900) FLOP J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
UTG bets $7200

hmmmmm

What would you do? What hands can I really put him on? AA or KK goes all in preflop right? I think JJ goes all-in post flop. Seems like QQ or AK to me.

I really really appreciate any advice here. I have a strong feeling I made a couple of mistakes. I've been kicking myself over this hand for days. My thinking with the preflop raise was that UTG was just playing some big stack poker. I wanted to show him I had a hand so he could just get out of the way. Really I was targeting some of the other low stacks at the table. Dumb I know. I was a little shell-shocked when he called.

[schwza]

once you put half your stack in pre-flop, you should not fold post-flop. i would push and pray he somehow folds 66.

i'd make the pre-flop raise to 11k. smooth-calling is also not bad if villain has not been running over the table.

I think your raise was pretty large pre-flop. You are comitting so much of your stack here that you mine as well stick it in the middle instead of just raising to 20k. I feel like it would have been better to raise to 10k instead of 20. After the flop, 7200 is a very weak bet into a pot this large. I feel you are now in a position where you need to push or fold.

minimum raise or call preflop. After the gross overbet preflop and the horrible flop, I probably run with my tail between my legs, I don't think he folds to a push and there are only a few hands that you are ahead of that would call your preflop raise.

I think you went wrong preflop. Your raise is way too big. If you are going to put in nearly half your stack, you should have just pushed it all in preflop here. Now you are staring at a 7.2k bet into a 40k pot and you only have 25k behind.

I think a better raise preflop would have been to about 3x his bet or about 10k. This would have left you with 35k and only a 20k and you would have been able to make a play at the pot or get away from it a lot eaiser.

Also you could argue for a call here as you have position on UTG and it isn't really smart when you are second in chips to play for all your chips against the only guy who can bust you. I'd rather play a smaller pot in position and keep my solid grip on second place position. Especially considering that you are above average in chips for the final table already.

As it stands you have left yourself in a difficult position. You either have to go all in here or fold and I'm leaning towards a fold since you still are in good position with as many chips as second and I can't see you beating a lot of hands here or getting a fold from UTG.

and no JJ does not go allin postflop, why would the nuts push out any action on this hand?

Its probably just me, but I lose my [bad word] whenever I get too attached to AK pf. in this case, you have position and a really strong hand. I think I just call the UTG raise and see the flop. BTW - unless you have a good read on the chip leader, 6XBB raise is pretty strong. Another warning flag - "Use your position, Luke"

[webmonarch]

I basically agree with everyone else. AK is a crappy hand to be getting into a war with preflop. The time to start pushing your chips around with that is if you hit something.

AK is good to push people out, but if you find yourself having to push too hard, its time to look elsewhere.

BTW, I am definitely pushing this after the Villain just called and seems to have put out nothing more than a feeler bet.

Yeah, I agree on the preflop raise. I was thinking more about a showdown with the smallstacks and discounting UTG for the most part. My big mistake was just *assuming* that UTG didn't have a real hand, given his recent action. Just because it looked like a likely scenario, doesn't mean it's the only scenario. And those other scenarios are not good for me.

Also falling in love with AK after a long dry run.

So anyway, I folded and tried to pick a better spot. Wound up finishing 8th for $93. If this was a two table SNG, same relative chip stacks, I push instantly. Is it wrong to play tighter here?

Really really wondering what he had. I think it might have been worth a push just for the knowledge, esp. if I'd have known I was going to finish 8th.