blonde poker forum

Hi All

Not posted on here before but have a hand that's bugging me. Any opinions would be appreciated. Here goes:

$5 rebuy - 860+ entrants - just into the money after 3hrs+ play - 160 players left - Blinds have just gone to 1000/2000 plus 100 ante - I have had above average/average chip stack all through tournament - I have only recently been moved to this table so have no knowledge of players - My stack is 67k and I'm in Small Blind. Big Blind has 70k.

My Hole Cards:  Qh  Kd

First seven players fold to me

I raise 4000 to 6000.

Big Blind calls

Flop:  8d  5c  Kh

I bet 10,000

Big Blind raises All-In

I have top pair of K's with Q kicker. I know nothing about my opponent's style. Does he put me on a steal and make a stand? If he's hit a monster why did he go All-In? FFS what's he got? I think long as possible, using my Time Bank (which is a rarity for me) and eventually decide that my hand is strong enough to call. I call for all my chips and he turns over AA which holds up through turn and river.

Usually when I lose a big hand I know whether I was unlucky or made a mistake but in this instance I simply cannot decide. Apart from taking on a stack that could knock me out I really dont know if my call was a mistake. I am torn between protecting my remaining 50k and the probability that my hand was in front post flop.

Your views please.

I call there most of the time, if he has a K he almost always thinks he is ahead and so may well push, you actually have a stronger than needed hand to raise from the SB so i think you have to call.

I am tight and weak and bad player so my advice might not be valid, but the question I ask myself in those situations, why would a player go all in after my raise and whether I want to risk my tournament life to find out if my hand is ahead or behind.  (when I have no info on the players) 
So I might have folded here....If my pair would have additional draws I would be more inclined to call, but having a naked top pair with good kicker is not the hand to get busted in my weak tight style of play.

I would have instantly put him on 6-7 and called.

I'm not sure that putting your opponent on exactly one hand is the best way to approach situations like this... but I would probably have called as well

I wouldn't have thought 6-7 was a calling a raise hand of that amount.  I'd have probably called too, but I'd be expecting a pocket pair- between 9's and Q's, AK, QK, or trips - obviously we don't want trips or AK, but I call here too.  If you win, you have to be in a great position with over 100k. 

Play to win and welcome to Blonde :)

Yes that's a fair point graham.

Welcome to Blonde Tootoos.

if you're gonna raise you gotta call simple as.

I completely disagree with this...for the very obvious reason that he's got a lot of chips left if he folds and could still win it. The "I raised so have to call" reasoning is one I hear a lot at tables in live tourneys...and it's simply bad play IMO.

Welcome to Blonde Tootoos. To be honest I probably would have called but I might have folded, it's a gut thing. If I am by myself I call, if someone is watching me play (IOW sitting in the chair next to me while I play online) I might actually fold here as I would ask myself the question that I might not ask myself when I'm alone. "Why would big stack be messing with the only player at the table that can do him severe damage?" If I ask myself that question and dwell on it for a while I might fold...and probably tell BB what I folded so he knows I am not messing about with bluffing him out of pots..some would say this is bad play but I find it works for me most of the time)

I am OK with doing both...at a new table it is always tricky and top pair with a decent kicker is ussually good enough to take the pot down so I reckon you played it fine but the guy just happened to have the Aces and played them well.

I wouldn't, i want him to think that if he starts with me i'm gonna make him regret it. If you fold and tell/show he will think he can bully you out of any pot and he will pick on you.

that's why some people will disagree with me supa...it seems to work for me(ussually as it becomes quite clear that I shall not be bullied) but I don't mind people knowing I can make the big lay down

I'm calling his all-in raise every single time! If he's the man with the big stack at the table before you were put on it then my gut instinct would be that he is trying to simply defend his blind and trying to tell you"i'm the daddy at this table".  I don't believe anyone in your situation could really make the fold as you've got pretty much the flop you wanted... you've just been cruelly unlucky to run into a monster.  This sort of stuff happens all the time but if you call everytime then i'm confident you'll win at least 80% of the time in an exact replica of the scenario.
 

it happens in live games more then that happens online. I rarely encounter the "I'm the daddy" business..and definetly don't put my entire tourney on the line simply because I think the guy has a big ego.

I think you can see his motivation for pushing here though. He is clearly worried that you have a hand and may stack him because you're the only person at the table who can (he knows he's not gonna lay down AA) so he pushes to defend his hand. I orginally thought he was pushing to get you off of your hand with a draw (he didn't want to lose his dominance over the table) but now i realise he was trying to get you off of your hand because he's worried about losing his stack to it. Something to remember for next time i think.

of course...the push by AA guy is a great move. he gives you the chance to raise pre-flop and hit a card and then he says "You've hit your shitty little hand but tyat's enough now. No funny business. If you want to hit trips or two pair you're gonna have to pay for it" This is the way to play aces IMO...Aces should never ever ever be slow played untill the river.

Do you write screenplays in your mind?

I have a very VERY boring job..and no life.

I'd need a big reason to fold here eg losing my connection

ah!..but if you had you probably wouldn't mind that much after a while...and that to me screams fold.

Thanks for your responses guys. Seems many of u would have called and some fold. Guess it was, and will always be, a marginal decision in this case. I'm some the wiser lol. Thanks again.

a lot of people state, "well if i fold here then i can still win, and he MIGHT have me beat, do they really think that their edge is that big, we are all human, not superhuman, Passing here is ludacris, get it called you will be infront 8/10 times

i disagree boldie, i think as long as you know where you stand in the hand with AA you can play down the streets obv provided the board isn't too scary, all too often these days players play their AA to the flop and END it there, this imo is giving away so much +ev its untrue. In this instance if i were the AA man i would flat call and let the KQ hang themselves on the turn. For all the AA man knew the sb couldve had anything and just made a continuation bet here and therefore pass to his re-raise

But that's the point. He really doesn't know what the sb has and could end up getting stacked himself. That's why he defends his hand