|
|
|
|
 |
|
EXPERT VIEW - The Right Decision Leads To The Wrong Result
|
20 March 2006
I made a great laydown last night at a crucial juncture of a big no limit online poker tournament. I had barely finished patting myself on the back when the flop came: I would have tripled up and taken the chip lead. Instead I found myself short-stacked and a hand away from going out on the bubble.
As always, I invite you to play along and add comments if you think I screwed up. It`s another very interesting situation where there was no definite correct play, but all in all I know I would do it the same way if it ever happens (when it happens) again.
It was a $40,000 guaranteed tournament, and we`d been playing for nearly 3 hours. The next three eliminations would receive nothing, and then we`re into the payout structure. I am short-stacked at my table, but have enough chips left to make some noise and cause a few concerns. My stack is still 6 times the size of the big blind. I am in the cut-off seat (one off the button) and get dealt AQ off.
I say to myself "this is it, you need to go all-in here and take a shot." That`s before the guy under the gun (who is very tight and the next lowest short-stack after me) makes a big raise (4x the big blind). A guy to his left moves all-in immediately for a lot of chips. I put him on a big pair. I put the guy under the gun on Ax, probably AK. I now feel like I have to fold.
I fold. The first guy to act calls all-in, which he had to do regardless. He turns over AK, as I figured. The raiser turns over KK! I feel very happy because I was dominated.
The flop comes Q-Q-7 and I feel ill. You have to fold AQ facing those hands, but in a big multi-table tournament where you are fast running out of playable hands perhaps you should jump in with AQ? I don`t really feel that way, but know a lot of players who would have gambled there. The turn and the river were meaningless (the KK held up to win) and soon after that I went all-in with a decent hand, TT, got called by A7 (a lot of chips in front of him) and lost to an A on the flop.
So one could play devil`s advocate and argue the following - perhaps we get too wrapped up with playing the "correct" way whereas you need to take huge risks every now and then - you will need good fortune to win these events, and that hand would certainly qualify. On the other hand, laying down AQ in the face of dominant hands is the sign of a good poker player. I know this, and believe it to be true, and 9 times out of 10 I would have seen the proof. But maybe, just maybe taking that 10% shot was my only chance that night...
Posted by: Marc Weinberg at 16:15
2 Comments
Related Posts:
> EXPERT VIEW - April Is The Cruelest Month
> EXPERT VIEW - Playing Online For $1 Million
> EXPERT VIEW - Betting First In No-Limit Hold`em
> EXPERT VIEW - Layne Flack, Huck Seed, and Bluffing
> EXPERT VIEW - Check Raising All The Time Is Not Smart!
> EXPERT VIEW - Folding Pocket Aces
> EXPERT VIEW - Playing The Gavin Smith Way Pays Off Huge!
> EXPERT VIEW - Don`t Sweat Heads Up Games In SNG`s
|
|
 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
