Does this make any sense to you? (A hand from tourney play)
in Online Poker
I'm playing in a $20+$2 buy-in $10K Guaranteed multi-table tourney.
It's at level 5, I think. The blinds are 75/150. My stack is around 1600, way below the average of 3600. I'm in 120th place out of 160 players.
I pick up AQ in the BB, and decide right there that if no one raises when it gets to me I'm pushing it all-in because (i) The blind are going up soon; and (ii) AQ is probably the best hand I seen up to that point. It's folded to the SB who doubles the blind to 300 (as a steal attempt?). I go over the top and hope to just pick up his blind. He calls. With JTo!?! He makes a full house on the turn.
Can someone justify his call here? (He had about double my stack, by the way)
It's at level 5, I think. The blinds are 75/150. My stack is around 1600, way below the average of 3600. I'm in 120th place out of 160 players.
I pick up AQ in the BB, and decide right there that if no one raises when it gets to me I'm pushing it all-in because (i) The blind are going up soon; and (ii) AQ is probably the best hand I seen up to that point. It's folded to the SB who doubles the blind to 300 (as a steal attempt?). I go over the top and hope to just pick up his blind. He calls. With JTo!?! He makes a full house on the turn.
Can someone justify his call here? (He had about double my stack, by the way)
Comments
Some players are bad?
ScottyZ
That pretty much sums it up. The most common bad plays I seem to see are the ones like you described. I watched someone raise a BB who already had half of his chips in with the BB with a 7 4 off suit (he got beat), and then that BB with his newly doubled chips doubled again and became much more of a force.
I got knocked out of one sit and go recently when I had 900 chips as BB (blinds 200/400 ante 25) when the sb raised all in and I pretty much had to call. My K 9 lost to his 2 9 :shock:
A lot of people use how many chips they have to defend the play but I guess I just look at that play as an invitation to double someone up.
The other play that impresses me the most is when a relatively small chip person goes all in and gets called by 2+ players. Then after the flop one player bets all in to push everyone else out and shows something like jack high and just hands the small chip person a nice pot.[/quote]
I like the way you are thinking on this hand. You need to win a pot, you are short on chips, and you do something about it before you are so short stacked that it would be a mistake for an opponent to fold to your raise.
You made the correct play.
NOw lets look at your opponents call.
YOur stack 1600
opponent 3200
with no ante the pot would be 300(HIs bet) plus your 1600=1900
So it will cost him 1300 to win 1900 or just under 1.5-1 on his money.
If he loses the pot he will still have 1600 to play with and the button.
What hands does your opponent think you would push all in with?
We cant answer this question without speaking to your opponent but what I am trying to say is what is your image. Could you raise here with any 2 cards as a bluff? Do you have that image? Or do you have a tight image?
What hands could you have that he would be less than a 1.5-1 underdog to beat. pocket pairs 9s 8s 7s 6s 5s 4s 3s 2s
Any Ace where the kicker is 9 or smaller eg. Ac5c
Any King where the kicker is 9 or smaller Ks9s
Any queen wher the kicker is 9 or smaller Qs9s
If you have any of the above hands your opponent is getting the right price to call.
What hands is your opponent a big underdog to?
Pocket 10s JJs QQs KKs AAs AJ A10 KJ K10 QJ Q10
If you have any of these hands your opponent is drawing very slim in fact he would be anywhere from a 3-1 up to a 6-1 underdog.
What about the hand you did have? YOu had 2 over cards to both his cards AQ (AK KQ)against 10J. In this case you are about a 2-1 fav.
What does all this mean?
Depending on your table image I think your opponent didnt make a huge mistake in calling. I do think it was borderline call and a good case could be made for folding in that spot.
It seems to me like your opponent made a small raise hoping you would fold. He raised a little with the intention of folding if you reraised but then just couldnt lay it down. If he had raised 3 or 4 times the size of the blind he would be absolutely correct in calling if you come over the top all in.
I would wager that maybe 40% of the online players have done any research/reading on poker strategy. Of that 40% even fewer truly understand and properly apply what they have learned.
So in relation to the situation above: First was it a bad play? Of course it was. But these are the types of things that are common in poker these days.
The bad player made what could be called a semi-bluff (although he wouldn't know it is called that). He then having had someone come over the top of him he goes through a decision process. Likely he resigned himself to playing the hand because he didn't want to get bullied, or perhaps he actually figured that connectors were strong enough. The thought of value or pot odds never entered his mind.
Remember, there is still a luck factor in poker, and alot of online players still believe firmly in that luck. As we all are painfully aware, luck wins every hand, it is through understanding the odds that gives us an advantage of overcoming that luck factor. Also remember that this is also a longterm advantage we have.
Summary: When playing in online tournaments, or any type of game, don't get caught in the trap of assuming your opponents have any understanding of poker whatsoever, until they prove that to you. This is why you saw very few "pros" make it deep into the WSOP, they don't know how to deal with the "hacks" like Dave.
Mike
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Monteroy [As Ac]
jbmtoo: folds
drew3322: folds
R B TX: folds
Metakognitiv: folds
meathead76: raises 50 to 100
FINS34: folds
Monteroy: raises 350 to 450
meathead76: calls 450
*** FLOP *** [8h Jh 4d]
Monteroy: bets 500
meathead76: calls 500
*** TURN *** [8h Jh 4d] [Kd]
Monteroy: bets 835 and is all-in
meathead76: calls 835
*** RIVER *** [8h Jh 4d Kd] [Ts]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Monteroy: shows [As Ac] (a pair of Aces)
meathead76: shows [9c Qc] (a straight, Nine to King)
meathead76 collected 3595 from pot
drew3322 said, "lol"
As I sat there shaking my head he called a pre flop all in of 2200 the next hand with 5 8 suited and beat JJ (he had just over 4,400 chips after he beat me in the one table sit and go).
Scotty summed it up pretty well.
I just got moved to this table about an orbit before that hand occurred. That was the first, or second, hand I played at that table. So it would be correct for someone at that table to assume that I'm a pretty tight player. From what I noticed about my opponent, he appeared to be a decent player but that call was pretty ridiculous. Oh well, that's in the past now...
PokerStars Game #473661508: Tournament #1779300, Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2004/06/07 - 13:16:09 (ET)
Table '1779300 1' Seat #7 is the button
Seat 2: aceoftheaces (1680 in chips)
Seat 3: Monteroy (2565 in chips)
Seat 6: Oriole69 (2660 in chips)
Seat 7: The Dream (2140 in chips)
Seat 8: manse (1255 in chips)
Seat 9: mrsdoc (4530 in chips)
manse: posts small blind 15
mrsdoc: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Monteroy [Th 4s]
aceoftheaces: folds
Monteroy: folds
Oriole69: folds
The Dream: raises 60 to 90
manse: raises 1165 to 1255 and is all-in
mrsdoc: calls 1225
The Dream: raises 885 to 2140 and is all-in
mrsdoc: calls 885
*** FLOP *** [5h 9s Ts]
*** TURN *** [5h 9s Ts] [3d]
*** RIVER *** [5h 9s Ts 3d] [5d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
mrsdoc: shows [9d Qd] (two pair, Nines and Fives)
The Dream: shows [Kc As] (a pair of Fives)
mrsdoc collected 1770 from side pot
manse: shows [Ad 2d] (a pair of Fives)
mrsdoc collected 3765 from main pot
Sadly mrsdoc was moved to a different table after that hand.