Best move I ever made
Playing at a live table, $1-2 No Limit. I have AK under the gun and raise to $8, everyone folds except to a guy in late position who raises to $20 (blinds also fold). I sit there and think for a couple of minutes and decide to fold big slick, I didn't want to risk no hitting the flop. As I fold and show the table my cards and everyone was "WOW" They couldn't believe I didn't call, just as the table was about to start laughing/making fun of me the raiser shows his cards as the dealer sides him the chips, AA. The table freaks out, they couldn't believe it, neither could I. After that showed his AA the table looked at me differently, especially if I was involved in the pot. That day I had a winning session, everyone folded to me after the flop or turn. Why can't they all be like that?
Comments
If you didn't put him on AA or KK, why did you fold? Since you had already made the initial raise, I'd assume that you have the pot odds to take the race? This is definitely a good fold if you are able to put him on the bigger hand, but if you didn't, this isn't a very good play in my opinion.
stp
Also, the reason given for the fold in the OP is: To me that sounds like being scared to take a race, which is a bad reason to fold.
No by providing a read, it changes things a bit. Â However, unless I have a read here that he has AA or KK, I still play the hand. Â OOP, I probably push here or call and push any flop (and yes, this means I would lose money on this hand) - I'd take the race.
Another thing to consider is how have you been playing? Â Have you been playing noticeably tight? Â I can say from experience that people will try to push back at you (even with nothing) if they know you are capable of making a "big laydown".
Be cautious with this thinking, unless you only play once. It's all one big session, so winning today and then having a bunch of losing days probably isn't desirable. Ignore the results and whether today is a win or a loss. Focus on making more good decisions than bad, and treat the results as a side-effect (because they will follow, over time). Basing your evaluation only on a sessions results can reinforce bad play which happens to work, and will only hurt you later.
Yes, you would have lost more money. On that specific situation. I find live low stakes NL games, the players will play anything for a small raise like this. Punish them by raising more with a premium hand. And they will re-raise a UTG raiser with much worse hands than AA or KK. If you AK was suited (not mentioned) I might have gone with a smaller raise hoping to hit a flush draw on the flop but being out of position, it could have gotten expensive.
Without a clear read, this is a bad fold. You shouldn't mind playing this hand against the likes of QQ or JJ or AQs, which are also likely to raise in your average 1/2NL game. (You mentioned afterward you had a clear read but I still say he is even more likely to be holding a smaller pair putting you in a race. I got the impression you would have been happy folding to 22 but that would have been just horrid from my perspective.)
Showing your hand is a bigger mistake IMO. In fact, it can be one of the worst moves you can make. You've shown people you'll fold to a small raise with a very good hand and if they pick up on it, they'll push you around all night. Maybe they didn't but believe me, others will another night. You can still make a profit on the night but not nearly as much as you could have made. As Beanie points out, the result of one night is not a good sample.
If I was the other guy, I wouldn't have shown my cards, either. Why give any credence to your read? Now they'll think you are PH, dodging bullets and all. I can just see them folding to all your re-raises.
I get the impression from another post that you are fairly new to poker. Certainly new to this forum, anyway. Best of luck to you. This place can be a good resource for those interested in learning.
The blinds were 200/400 there were about 7 players left, top 4 paid and I was the small blind with about 2000 (Short stacked).
The player UTG; who just took a huge hit to his stack went all-in for 200. Everyone folded around to me.
The big blind (who I have played a number of games with) I knew to be a very tight player that doesn't like to risk his chips in many situations had about 4000K.
I went all-in.
The BB folded (as I figured he would), the board came out missing me and tripled up the player UTG.
Almost all of the table couldn't figure why I didn't call and bring along the BB to check it down for the chance to knock out one more player (Again with the BB being a pretty tight he would have most likely checked it down).
Can any one figure why I did it?
But over all I think it was one of the best moves I have ever made.
I'm going with table image. I'm guessing you had complete garbage. Cost you nothing (you actually made a profit) and got all your future monsters called. No matter what you had anyway, you likely still had a good shot at winning the hand. Maybe even put the BB and some of the other 'proper' players on tilt.
With 2000K and blinds at 200/400, you had a massive stack.
At 2K you're micro stacked. You have to survive 3 more eliminations to make the money and have an M of a little over 3 (maybe around 3 if there's antes).
If you push and you're certain of your read, BB isn't calling without a premium hand for half his stack. Maybe AA-TT, AK-AQ? Seems like a smallish chance of that.
By pushing you're essentially freerolling (since you get your 200 back), and THIS is the part I originally missed, but you get half his BB back in the sidepot as well. (So you increase your stack by about 10% here guaranteed if BB folds). Plus you're basically on a freeroll vs. the short stack to pick up an additional 600, which is roughly 1/3 of your stack (more if there's antes). You're destroyed if he has a monster, but otherwise it's an easy push. You should be pushing any 2 here against a player you had pegged that tight anyways...nh.
May ualways make good decisions..
Anyway, I think this may just be a matter of having different perspectives on the types of opponents for each game we generally have and our preconceived notions we have about them.
stp