Is my friend an idiot - or am I?

[mjrevie]

I was knocked out a MTT last night with the following hand. Its not a bad beat per se - aces should get cracked 1 out of 5 times. This is just my 1 out of 5 times. But in my opinion, i played this hand perfectly. Aggressive table, UTG, was confident of a raise somewhere around the table and so when the hand played itself out, i was happy with the way i played it. I discussed it with one of my friends who is a good player who disagrees with how i played this hand. He believes that raising pre-flop 3 or 4x the big blind and then pushing on the flop is a more profitable play in a tournament as they are likely to lay it down unless they have hit big and all your chips arent at risk. I quote "I should clarify Revie, that I would have had no real issues with your play were it to have taken place in a ring game as it would be massively profitable over the long term however I feel that in a tournament situation you exposed yourself to dangers that it was not necessary to at that time."

I dont see how i could have a situation that is better for me. I got all his chips in pre-flop where i am an 80% favourite. What more do i want? My pal is better at tournaments than i am so i am inclined to believe that somewhere amongst all his thoughts is something resembling sence but i cant find it myself.

Am i missing something and I'm a moron, is he a moron or are we just seeing two different sides of the same coin? Interested in your thoughts please.




Game #2016450963: Hold'em NL (50/100) - 2006/07/26 - 22:23:50 (GMT)
Table "Tourney 3129610 - 4" Seat 5 is the button.
Seat 1: Paul180 (2700 in chips)
Seat 2: Dayoday (4560 in chips)
Seat 3: Snip__ (2750 in chips)
Seat 5: mp8419 (3745 in chips)
Seat 6: Blewberg (1005 in chips)
Seat 8: Lazydays (3335 in chips)
Seat 9: nofun21 (2555 in chips)
Seat 10: Brummy002 (810 in chips)
Blewberg: posts small blind 50
Lazydays: posts big blind 100
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to nofun21 [ ]
nofun21: calls 100
Brummy002: folds
Paul180: folds
Dayoday: folds
Snip__: calls 100
mp8419: calls 100
Blewberg: calls 50
Lazydays: raises to 600
nofun21: raises to 2555 and is all-in
Snip__: folds
mp8419: folds
Blewberg: folds
Lazydays: calls 1955
----- FLOP ----- [ ]
----- TURN ----- [ ][]
----- RIVER ----- [ ][]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
nofun21: shows [ ] (Two Pairs, Aces and Kings, Six high)
Lazydays: shows [ ] (A Full House, Kings full of Sixes) Lazydays
collects 5410 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot 5410 Main pot 5410 Rake 0
Board [ ]
Seat 1: Paul180 folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 2: Dayoday folded
before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 3: Snip__ folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: mp8419 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 6: Blewberg
(small blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 8: Lazydays (big
blind) showed [ ] and won (5410) with A Full House, Kings full of
Sixes Seat 9: nofun21 showed [ ] and lost Seat 10: Brummy002 folded
before Flop (didn't bet)\

[TightEnd]

come off it, you played it fine and only an idiot calling a limp reraise with KQ for the majority of his stack did for you

Your friend is right in the sense that you took a risk in that by limping UTG you are leaving yourself open to the possibility of playing AA multiway in an unraised pot...but you played it to extract the maximum chips possible, got it all in heads up as an 80%+ favourite and got done..it happens


by the by, if you limp utg and no raise follows you must be prepared to release AA down the streets if the action suggests you are beat

[mjrevie]

The idiot calling doesnt bother me - its idiots like that that help to keep us all in the black and not in the red. Plus i dont mind laying down aces post-flop, especially if i've just limped in.

My pals point i think is more about playing a certain style of play pre-money in a tournie, i.e. more cautious trying to push people off flops rather than having cards turned over and having more 'luck' involved. I respect his opinion when it comes to tournies so I'm inclined to believe he has a point somewhere.

[jezza777]

If you are going to limp utg then push all in on the flop in order to get people to release hands then you may as well make the move with 72 as your cards have no relevance. Your play , like a lot of poker situations is based on  risk v reward . You took more of a risk with a strong hand in order to build chips. AA is strong enough to do this . I think you played it fine . You dont get many times in a tourney when you are 70% + to win let alone 80%.

[Royal Flush]

The only thing i dont like here is your re-raise all in. I don't mind another player coming into the pot behind me when i have AA, and if they all fold then i am in position against the only opponent who is likely to fire any flop for a decent bet.

[Scottish Dave]

The only thing i dont like here is your re-raise all in. I don't mind another player coming into the pot behind me when i have AA, and if they all fold then i am in position against the only opponent who is likely to fire any flop for a decent bet.

i can see where your coming from but playing AA in a 3 way pot, trying to extract the optimum amount from the best starting hand possible, but increasing the risk of getting your AA cracked also, i suppose it depends on your chip position and what part of the tourney your at, weather you can afford to take risk or not.

I prefer to get my AA heads up preflop

[Royal Flush]

The only thing i dont like here is your re-raise all in. I don't mind another player coming into the pot behind me when i have AA, and if they all fold then i am in position against the only opponent who is likely to fire any flop for a decent bet.

i can see where your coming from but playing AA in a 3 way pot, trying to extract the optimum amount from the best starting hand possible, but increasing the risk of getting your AA cracked also, i suppose it depends on your chip position and what part of the tourney your at, weather you can afford to take risk or not.

I prefer to get my AA heads up preflop

The odds of your AA getting cracked dont really change when its 1 or 2 players in this sort of situation, the raiser is never passing and probably has AK/AQ or a biggish pair, anyone who is limp calling that raise is probably on an A aswell, maybe a pocket pair. Either way they make a huge mistake in calling vs AA so its all good!