blonde poker forum

I was playing the Genting Poker Players Championship in Birmingham last Saturday where I was in a difficult spot with AQ where I had to make a decision:

302 players started, 65 left (40 places paid)
average chips 33k
blinds - bb 2k, sb 1k, antes 100

I have 52k stack and I am the second chip leader on the table.

scenario:
solid player who has 18k pushes all in UTG, im in UTG+3 position with AQ off suit, what do u do here?

my thought process:
the players has only 9bb and he is going to be blinded next, so he is kind of desperate to make a move, i put him on a wide range of hands...any low pair, suited high connectors, AJ,A10...I think its very likely I am ahead and the worst scenario is a race and even if I lose Im still on average.

However there is still 6 people to act after me, and do i need to take 50/50 for 30% of my stack in this spot?

Any comments would be very much appreciated.

Iso shove all my betting discs is my standard play here. Though against some live players this might actually quite marginal.

yup, shove to isolate. if u run into QQ+then its just meh. the rest of the table will snap fold almost everytime here. They will probs fold any pair up to and probably including JJ cos two ppl have moved allin before them from early position.

easy shove

isn't that easy to be fair and is definitely a fold vs some players

u say solid, but is he capable? If he has a basic understanding for stack sizing etc then its an iso 100%. If he is a super nit who is also bad and is far more likely to fold to 3bb than ship his 8bb UTG with like 9Ts then i guess its a fold. (but i sureee am folding)
If online then the only question is do u slowroll or not.

arreeeeeen



nice ante size too!

good point! antes 200 at that point.30 min clock

Thanks for all replies guys.

Taking into the consideration 30min clock and the fact the raiser mentioned before that he is going to push with any pocket pair, I have decided to just call and get out of the way in case I am reraised by another big stack on the table, who in my opinion could only do that with AA or KK in that spot.

Unfortunately, another small stack on the table announces all in for 24,000. Obviously at that point although I know I am beat I can’t escape the odds. I call and lose to KK.

You are racing against  a small pair but dominated by AK. Anything else that calls after you should have us crushed so not convinced this is an obvious call. Are you better off waiting and using your chips when you are first in, to push the smaller stacks around?

That comp became pretty quick early on. Ppl were rightly jamming wide, numbers were dropping like flies. I know i had to get it in a great deal wider than aq a few times from all spots.

All the speech plays about getting it in with any pair is the same as saying (if they are being honest) that they are getting it in with most aces and most if not all broadways.

Tbh yr range crushes this and i'd be getting it all in quickly.

Yes live players can have well nitty ranges, but most of these tables were becoming short handed pretty quickly and it was push or fold poker.

1 hand that amazed me early on day 2 in this comp was when i jammed 9 bbs from the cut off with 44 and the sb tank folded aq. Imo that folds explains the value in live poker.

With the average stack at 16 bigs you're going to have to take a race or 2 at some point very soon. You might as well start now.

If you want to win it's a pretty easy re shove. If you fancy scraping the cash it needs a bit more thought.

That's exactly what I was thinking...I didn't have much time to waste, especially when the blinds were going up to 2,400/1,200 & antes 200 next hand. And I was confident my AQ is beating the guy's range... so thought why not risk 18k now with all these favourable conditions and add an extra 40% to my stack if I win and still be in a tournament even if I lose.

So why post the hand and doubt yourself?

Well, im still learning...and gettting a second opinion from the fellow players always helps:)