2 hands for review

[luv2chkraze]

2 hands I played at a live NL MTT at Hollywood Park last week.

Hand 1: Blinds 300-600, antes of (i believe) 75. I am BB with about 12,000 chips. Rebuy period is over. Folded to MP player who goes all in for about 1200. Next guy goes all in for 1275. Folded to me. I have K9o. It's another 675 for me to call. I can't lose any more chips, as the other 2 guys are all in. Do I call, knowing that I'm certainly a dog to win the hand? These guys are both pretty short, and are in "all-in-or-fold" mode, so I'm sure I'm up against a dominant hand. I called for the sake of pot odds, but I'm not sure it was correct.

2nd hand: UTG+1. I have a little over 10,000 after I called and lost on hand 1 above [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] Blinds still at 300-600. UTG player miniraises to 1200. I have him covered by about 2000 or so. He is pretty easy to read. limp=suited connector/small pair, miniraise=2 big cards, big raise=big pocket pair or AK. So his miniraise stinks of something like KJ to me. This guy will also almost always fold to an all-in if he miniraises. I have AJo, so I push. Well, I get called by a LP player who has AK, and I end up crippled. I know my mistake on this hand. I was so caught up in reading the UTG player (he DID have KJ by the way!) that I forgot that I was playing with a full table, and my push with AJ would probably drive out the UTG player, but would only be called by someone who had me beat. Sure enough, that's what happened. The results notwithstanding, does anyone else make this play on this hand?

[FloppedFlush]

On Hand 1, you're getting about 6:1 odds to call and the extra 675 isn't a very big percentage of you're stack. The only way you're not getting the right odds to call is if both your cards are dominated (ie. you're up against A9 and KQ; or AK and JJ; or something along those lines). I'd make this call every time.

On hand 2, how does your stack compare to the average stack in the tourny and to the people left to act behind you? That would be the biggest influence on whether I decided to play this hand or not, but I think your choices are either push or fold. I don't like calling or making a small re-raise in that spot.

[cferejohn]

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Hand 1: Blinds 300-600, antes of (i believe) 75. I am BB with about 12,000 chips. Rebuy period is over. Folded to MP player who goes all in for about 1200. Next guy goes all in for 1275. Folded to me. I have K9o. It's another 675 for me to call. I can't lose any more chips, as the other 2 guys are all in. Do I call, knowing that I'm certainly a dog to win the hand? These guys are both pretty short, and are in "all-in-or-fold" mode, so I'm sure I'm up against a dominant hand. I called for the sake of pot odds, but I'm not sure it was correct.


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675 into a pot of 3800-4000 (depending on how many players anted). You definitely have to call. Unless you know you are up against KK and 99 or something, it's very unlikely that you are a 5:1 dog.

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2nd hand: UTG+1. I have a little over 10,000 after I called and lost on hand 1 above Blinds still at 300-600. UTG player miniraises to 1200. I have him covered by about 2000 or so. He is pretty easy to read. limp=suited connector/small pair, miniraise=2 big cards, big raise=big pocket pair or AK. So his miniraise stinks of something like KJ to me. This guy will also almost always fold to an all-in if he miniraises. I have AJo, so I push. Well, I get called by a LP player who has AK, and I end up crippled. I know my mistake on this hand. I was so caught up in reading the UTG player (he DID have KJ by the way!) that I forgot that I was playing with a full table, and my push with AJ would probably drive out the UTG player, but would only be called by someone who had me beat. Sure enough, that's what happened. The results notwithstanding, does anyone else make this play on this hand?

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Sounds like you figured out your mistake on your own. Yeah, it sucks to have to lay down a hand that you are probably ahead with, but with so many still to act, you don't really want to overcommit to AJ. A shame that you had position on a player you could read so precisely and you missed the opportunity to exploit it.

[TheJackal]

Hand 1 - Well you were getting about 7:1 on your money with the call. I don't think it's a real bad play, but I think it's a fold situation, for some to re-raise all in, he needs to have a hand. But calling here since it wont hurt you too bad and the chance at a nice pot isn't too bad (in my book at least).
Hand 2 - This is why position is just as important as the cards, with all those behind you to act, you must play very tight up front. I think a fold in this spot is pretty easy (It takes a better hand to call a raise than to make a raise yourself).