blonde poker forum

Last night was playing a live tourney game and I got laughed at by pretty much the whole table bar 2 decent players who agreed with me for the way I played this hand. However in hindsight I do kinda think I maybe played it wrong but want to hear other opinions

We are down to the last 6 players and 6 players get paid, however 6th place is getting after a good 5 hour poker game £35 and its a £15+£2 buy in tourney

Blinds are 1k/2k I am second to act with around 27000 chips and to my right UTG has about 1000 chips less than me and has been up and down like a yoyo all final table- it seems as if he is on tilt because I think he just recently lost a big pot- he was sitting around 50k at one point.

Anyway he looks at one card then pronounces "I have looked at one card I am all in", now I look down at my hole cards and see  Aspades Js, if I call and lose i'm down to less than the big blind and pretty much 99% chance i'll finish in 6th for £35, if I call and win i'm sitting about 10k above the average and probably 3rd or maybe even joint 2nd in chips and have a good run to win it

Whats your play- i'll post what I done later

I am all in.

If I had no info on the player or any other factors of the way the table had been playing then it's gotta be a fold everytime for me. Having said that, if you're over 90% confident he's tilting then i'd speculate to accumulate and make the call. You're gonna be unlucky to see much bigger than what you're holding 6 handed I reckon.

He only looked at 1 card, how can you pass?

fold everytime

If you're sure he only looked at one card, beat him in the pot with your chips.

can you explain your reasoning behind the fold? I'm interested to read it.

I cant ever see myself folding here, the chances of a big hand behind you are slim, the guy has only looked at one card, the other is a completely random card, it can be literally anything! Even if the one card he looked is an ace, theres 3 aces that beat you, one that is tied, and 9 that you beat! You are about 9/4 to double up! its gonna be slightly less then that because of chops etc, but I think the figure is gonna be around 65% which is around 2/1.  If the one card he looked at is a King, theres 2 "kickers" that beat you, 11 that you lose to. Same with a Queen.

It makes no real sense to me to fold, as you cant expect to find much better spots for your stack! Sure, you might lose, and it sucks to lose your chips, but  you need to get chips to win, this is prolly the best chance you are gonna get (because hand values are relative to that of your potential opponent, and AJ suited vs a one-card-blind hand has a real good chance of winning, even though AJ by itself isn't a particularly stunning hand!)

If you think he is tilting and can be relatively sure he has only looked at one card I would call, totalise summed it up perfectly.

There are definently worse spots to put your money in.

im not in the blinds and have at least 10 bb's left after this hand. Personally im waiting for a better spot to get my chips in, i dont know i would just prefer to get my chips in first in situations like this

in situations like what? the guy has moved in only looking at one card, these situations almost never arise, you should, in my humble opinion, be looking to take advantage.

If the guy had looked at both cards, and wasn't discernibly tilting, then I would agree with you about first in vig etc, and agree  that folding is  (likely)  the best play, but that isn't the case right here, in this specific hand

each to his own and all that

i understand many people will call, and maybe that is the correct play. But in this situation my first instinct would be to fold

time to reply- I thought the majority would tell me to beat him into the pot- thats why I didnt want to state what I done as I was looking for constructive criticism and an objective viewpoint- (as opposed to the mumbles of "mug" etc I heard last night at the table)

Anyway I decided to fold and wait for a better situation to arise, my reasoning behind this is below:-

A) I had another 4 players behind me still to act- 2 of the large stacks were aggressive and good players- I honestly think if either of them had any pair 8's or above then they would call with getting 2-1 their money and chance to knock out 2 players and set them up for winning the whole thing

B) The money was a factor- I simply didnt want to walk away with only £35 after playing so long (I know this is a very bad reason and probably goes against most principles in poker) but I was confident I could get down to 3 handed- which was only £85 btw, but then I knew if I could get to 3 handed it really was anybodys game- the reason I thought I could make it to 3 handed was this guy was making quite a lot of plays and I felt one of the big stacks would knock him out sooner or later and there were 2 short stacks I felt would be knocked out soon

C) Other players at the table stated he must have an ace so its an instacall-I didnt think so- I felt that this player was too cunning to simply see one ace and go all in-he is a decent player normally regardless of last nights play and he knows any big ace would call usually- it seemed to me he wanted to gamble and would more than likely have 2 live cards- at that point I thought this would mean a 60/40 shot- I have checked cardplayer and it is actually 65/35- I just didnt want to put my tournament life on the line with this sort of gamble-albeit in my favour where (I thought) I would win 6 times out of 10

I have since done quite a few simulations on cardplayer and I realise I may have been wrong to fold:

Although I didint think he had an ace-

against any ace or jack with a lower kicker I am 70/20 with a 10% split

against 2 random cards(not ace or jack) I am between 60/40 and 68/32

against any pocket pair below jacks I am 48/52

so everything points to me calling- incidentally I was correct about him making the play with no ace- I was just unfortunate that the one card that he did see before deciding to go all in was in fact a  Jh with even more unfortune his kicker was  2c so I would have been 77/21 favourite with a 2% split- could have easily been  Qh 2c and would have been 68/32 which is still an instant call

Can i ask what edge you need before you commit your stack?

If you were certain beyond all doubt that hed only looked at one card you simply have to call in my opnion.

the 2 decent players thought you should have folded? wow

Position for a start- I was worried about the 2 big stacks calling me and eliminating me in the process- they both had the chips to do so with any pair above 8's IMO


I know-might seem strange as I was a massive favourite(in hindsight) however they agreed against any 2 live cards although I woulda been favourite not a massive favourite- if I'm being honest I really hate getting my chips in preflop the best of times-but even more so from an early position- it just seemd an awful lot for me to call for what seemd at the time a gamble

yes, I just think that making folds like this (not specifically this hand, but spots where the equity edge is laden with gold) is a great way of drastically increasing your chances of not winning... all too often people will just sit and wait for these "better spots".. they dont arrive, and then they end up pushing all in with 4/5BB's with a hand like K9 and hoping they are in a coinflip, 40/60 spot, and then wither out in 3rd or 4th place... rueing their lost opportunities.

The reason they said that is the good players dont educate.

They will tell you the wrong thing, either that or the are 'good' players by that i mean just tight players. Always seem to get it in ahead but dont really understand when to deviate.

it's scary as I'm doing this a lot lately  but I agree with totalise on this one... I would move all in myself.very few people call two people who are all in at a final table. And "any 2 life cards and you're not a massive favourite" no, 60-40. the same percentage as JQ to AK is. or 24 V AK....

My chips are in the middle. Although I am more than happy with you making the fold I don't know about it being the correct play if you want to win the tourney.


and who were these "only two decent players"? Before i believe they are the only 2 decent ones I would kind off like to know you didn't think they were the only 2 decent ones because they agreed with you.. ;)

Boldie and flushy- these players weren't trying to bait me- one of them was the dealer for a start and wasnt involved at the final table- andrew-the dude that runs the tourneys, then the other was a good player called dougie who i've played against a few times- he wasnt saying it directly to me- he was just saying to the other players it wasnt necessarily an instant call because he agreed against any 2 live cards i'm not a massive favourite.

My chips would be in the pot so fast there would be scorch marks on the table*



*as long as i was reasonably certain he wasn't pulling a fast one.

Well its not an instant call, as its such an unusual situation.

I can't think of any good players that can find a fold here though! It's always easier away from the table though!

i didn't want to imply they were trying to bait you.

i do still think however that it was a call.

Yeah U are all correct that I probably should have called-i've done the simulations and I would have been a big favourite, I just wanted more opinions, but like flushy says its all so easy away from the table when its not your money and tournament life on the line,

I also dont think folding here was totally the incorrect- taking into consideration my other arguments that the money did mean something-even if it was only another £50 on top to finish in 3rd and that I was confident I could get to 3 handed without really playing many hands- even with your argument totalise that many better spots might not come up,

What was also in my thought process was the 2 short stacks will probably try and double up with marginal hands and a good chance they will get knocked out and the other dude who had raised me in this pot would prbably hang himself against one of the big stacks- and thats exactly what happened

The first smaller stack had managed to get his up to about 18k when he was on the button he raised my big blind all in and I looked down to  Ac Qs now this was an instant call for me- nobody else in pot, nobody behind me and I would have around 14k left even after I call- I called he didnt hit then there were 5 players,

next was the erratic player who had been making big plays with peesh such as this hand in discussion, it was actually me that knocked him out- he called from sb when I was BB I checked my K9, flop came K9x with 2 diamonds, he went all in with a flush draw and I called my top 2 pair and hit the boat

then the other smaller stack got kocked out

after quite a few hands of play when it was 3 handed I had managed to work my way up to about 2nd in chips with about 77k in chips when this hand came down- blinds were 2.5k/5k I was sb and button flat called and I called the extra 2.5k with 4d 6d, the BB then min raised 5k and the button called- a lot in the pot so I called to see what the flop would bring- flop came  Ad 5s Kd- I could sense the raiser had something- at least an ace with his initial raise so I just checked in the hope he would give me a free card, he did the button checked too- then a  6c came on turn giving me a pair and flush draw- I still didnt want to bet as I could sense he had something big so I checked again to see where I was- BB checked and button checked- the river brought me a  Td which was my jackpot card(unless a higher flush-but not throwing this away 3 handed) so I check he puts in massive raisde- button folds and I go all in- the BB calls and shows his 2 pair A5

I also got quizzed how I could play  4d 6d to a min raise- but IMO he played it terribly giving me those free cards just because he had 2 pair, and for the extra 5k I had to call there was 25k in the pot

In the end up we chopped 1st and 2nd prize  for £210 each after 7 hours of play- I understand it may not have been the right move to fold the  Aspades Js at that point but perhaps it was the wrong move at the right time cuz it kinda worked out for me in the end

p.s. at one point I had 200,000 to 30,000 chips lead but he chipped away at my blinds while waiting for a hand to put him in- he was going all in every hand while I was getting 45os, 83os etc eventually I put him all in with K5 and he called with A2- the first card out was a King and I thought the tourney was mine but he rivered ane ace to put us at roughly 100/130 in my favour-thats when asked did I want a deal and I agreed even although it was in my favour I was shattered as it was 3a.m and I also knew the next hand that wins will probably win the tourney so it coulda easily been a coinflip so all in all I was happy with the £210

I like your style, I like your moves  ;karabiner; Well played Hairydude

I like the suited connectors play...it is simply good play IMO and anyone who doubts that move 3 handed is nuts.

What would you have done with the hand had he not said that?

Get your chips in the middle in this position every time.

Who was UTG??

To me it comes down to your style and your level of confidence of whether you can get the better of the other 5 players. IMHO I think there's a huge edge in getting your money in first, for me its an easy fold, even with  Ahrt  Qh !

I just wouldn't of talked about my hand to anyone, it gives them too much info, storing up problems for later.

I guess its just as well that we all play differently otherwise it would be like playing whist with your Gran.

Bandit-it was keith- the guy who's 2nd on the leaderboard- managed to win again last night in the double chance game so i'm creeping up the leaderboard now too

insta fold for me- with the chips hairydude had against a fairly inexpierienced table i see no reason to stoop to a gamble like that at that stage, still plenty of play and plenty of better spots to outplay players. absolute insta fold

I would have folded then the guy has a nack of outdoing me!!  v ery nervous player and manages to stack up early doors I don't think he's a great player but overplays any Ace!