early stages of a tournament....

[UpTheMariners]

you get  , blinds 25/50 stack 2000. There are 2 limpers and you raise in the cut off to 300. SB calls as do the 2 limpers.

3 players see the flop of 

The pot is 1250

Its checked to you, what do you do?

[Graham C]

Not sure, I'd either check and take the free card and pray it's not another spade, or bet 600 then fold to a raise.

[Indestructable]

I would take my chances and go all in.

[NoflopsHomer]

I bet 3/4 of the pot and call any push. Moving all-in won't get anyone with a flush or straight to fold but worse hands will fold. But a decent size bet might get a raggy ace, perhaps with a single spade to call or raise us all-in.

[Royal Flush]

First of all you ain't passing, especially if you bet.

I would just ship it in.

[AlexMartin]

Push in, some mug will call with a spade draw.

[M3boy]

Push in, some mug will call with a spade draw.

yep, and hit! lol

[Horneris]

Push in, some mug will call with a spade draw Flush, but you'll probably make a Full House.

[ChipRich]

haha agreed!

[tantrum]

Push/ 3 players are in a pot one might have a flush let it be

[johnbhoy76]

you get  , blinds 25/50 stack 2000. There are 2 limpers and you raise in the cut off to 300. SB calls as do the 2 limpers.

3 players see the flop of 

The pot is 1250

Its checked to you, what do you do?

That's a tough situaton.

The only hands that will check to you here are folk with nothing (i.e. small pocket pair, ace rag with no spades or something like that). The only other hand that would check to you here is the guy who has flopped a flush.

I think hands that would bet out here are sets, and straights and two pair in order to protect against a possible flush draw.

so a bet of about 600-800 from you is in order here.

The problem is that it will only leave you with 1100-900 chips and if you are re-raised you then have a big decision. In fact if you are flat called you also have a big decision. You are pretty much committed to the hand now as half you starting stack is in the middle.

I think shoving all in on the flop means you will only be called by a better hand. and you don't want that!



Here's something else to think about though.

If you had made your opening bet 200 rather than 300 and got the same callers.

the pot would only be 850

so a bet of 400 on the flop would let you find out where you stand. You would now have 1400 chips left so you would at least have a chance at getting away from it.

[AlexMartin]

you get  , blinds 25/50 stack 2000. There are 2 limpers and you raise in the cut off to 300. SB calls as do the 2 limpers.

3 players see the flop of 

The pot is 1250

Its checked to you, what do you do?

That's a tough situaton.

The only hands that will check to you here are folk with nothing (i.e. small pocket pair, ace rag with no spades or something like that). The only other hand that would check to you here is the guy who has flopped a flush.

I think hands that would bet out here are sets, and straights and two pair in order to protect against a possible flush draw.

so a bet of about 600-800 from you is in order here.

The problem is that it will only leave you with 1100-900 chips and if you are re-raised you then have a big decision. In fact if you are flat called you also have a big decision. You are pretty much committed to the hand now as half you starting stack is in the middle.

I think shoving all in on the flop means you will only be called by a better hand. and you don't want that!



Here's something else to think about though.

If you had made your opening bet 200 rather than 300 and got the same callers.

the pot would only be 850

so a bet of 400 on the flop would let you find out where you stand. You would now have 1400 chips left so you would at least have a chance at getting away from it.

Bit harsh but i disagree with most of this. But thats the beauty of poker. Any small probe type bet that gets called could spark a calling domino chain. This then means that dodgy flush draw wil be getting the odds. And there a lot of cards on the turn that scare the shite out of you.
A made flush is unlikely, unlikely enough to make disregarding it reasonable given the size of the pot. A set is unlikely as the big pairs AA and KK would likely as not be re-raising preflop. QQ is possible but you have to chance it.

The likelihood is much greater that weaker hands will call you.

AQ/AJ/A10 could all call you here. JsX might too.

The worst possible thing for you to do is make a weak lead type bet, encouraging action on a borad where any J,10 or spade scares the bejeezus out of you.

Given that you said the starting stack was only 2000, i take it the buy-in isnt huge, so the player quality isnt great.

One word, shove.

[temp0r]

I would take my chances and go all in.

LOLZ serious?!

it's a check and bet out on the turn if checked to you again.

[temp0r]

okay now i've read everyones replies i feel the need to lecture a little on TOURNAMENT STRATERGY. you have 1700 left! that's 34 BB. thirty fucking four!! and you're thinking of PUSHING?! jesus fucking christ you have a playable stack behind you and you're going to push when there's every chance someone has checked with J10 or a made flush. i thought we stopped overplaying AK after we broke through .01/.02 limit?! would you not check that board if you had J10 or a made flush? OF COURSE YOU WOULD. and who knows one of the two players before you may have. but OH NO LETS PUSH AND HOPE. terrible terrible tournament play. at such an early stage. you have 6 BB dedicated to the pot and you want to chuck the remaining 34 in IN HOPE. i'm disgusted. wheres the spanking smilie when you need one??!?

[johnbhoy76]

Bit harsh but i disagree with most of this. But thats the beauty of poker. Any small probe type bet that gets called could spark a calling domino chain.

Well yeah of course it could but an opening bet of 6xBB  into an unraised pot COULD spark a folding domion chain also. and when you have AK you want people to call. I don't want to just pick up the blinds with AK early in a MTT.

At the end of he day when you raise with AK you want hands like KQ, KJ, AJ, AT etc.... to come along for the ride

If the table is full of calling stations then fair enough your raises need to be bigger but the guy said in his post it was the opening stages of an MTT so we have no idea what the table is like. So I would make standard raises until someone gives me a reason not to.

Going all in is insane and smacks of someone who does not like to play on the flop and can't be arsed to take a minute and think what the oher guy might have.