PStars 180 Person SnG - Overly Aggressive?

[Cava72]

Here is the situation:
Final 10 players of the PStars 180 person SnG Tournament.
Blinds are 400/800 (25 antes)
I am sitting in the small blind with 22,000 chips.
Cheap Leader is on the BBlind with 40,000 chips.
I am dealt AQ us.
Everyone folds to me.
I raise 2 x BB to 1600
BBlind comes over the top to make it 3200
I am thinking that he does not like me trying to steal and comes over the top to prove his point.
I think about it, and given my AQ decide to go for the gold and I put him all in.
After long thought he calls showing AK. Hits K on turn and takes me out.

This happened Friday night and I am still thinking about. I should have probably called, see the flop and make my next decision than. But, I went into this SnG wanting to win it...and decided to go for it...

Any thoughts?

[Renton]

Not a horrible play, I think. But this is a play you'd rather make against medium stacks only. These stacks give you the most folding equity. The chip leader might call you with any medium pair and you'd be a coinflip. He don't have as much to worry about (would be an average stack if he loses the hand and still be in fine shape to win). A medium stack with 88 might just lay it down.

[Sprayed]

I think that if you raised to 3x you may have had a better picture. Sometimes people will just pop you back because your raise is so small. With a bigger raise and he still came over I would bet you would be up against something better than your hand. I don't think that you need to gambool just yet. You have a pretty healthy stack. I would have just laid it down after his reraise if you raised a little more. As played I would have called and went from there. If your stack was shorter it would have been a definite push initially.

Looks like AQ is a piece of shit for everybody.

[drmcboy]

if your normal raise is 2x, stop. Do at least 2.5. Once Antes kick in you want 3x IMO.

If 2x isn't your normal raise, you have made a play that will make him want to come over the top. He did. He happened to have a big hand. Not much you can do about it. Most of the time you probably win the hand pre flop, or worst case end up in a flip. A flip isn't a great result withyour stack, but given you have fold equity it's certainly +EV. His range to make the raise is very wide IMO (pretty much anything).

Renton is right. Generally, without a big hand, you're looking to avoid playing against the big stack. That said, it would be weak to not make some sort of effort to win the pot here with AQ against a blind.

A more conservative approach would be standard raise - 2400ish. If called and you hit the flop (TP+), you're going with it. If called and you whiff, you could lead 3-5k (whatever your normal c-bet would be) and if you get called you can give it up with your stack still over 10k. If he raises you pre flop... that's still the tough spot. With your stack, I'm probably giving the guy credit for a hand when he re raises me.

[chardrian]

Looks like AQ is a piece of shit for everybody.

Game #1294463898 - Tournament Lava $20K - 20,000/40,000 No Limit Texas Hold'em -
2006/02/18-05:45:58.9 (CST)
Table "Lava $20K 40" (MTT) -- Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: chardrian (1,186,156 in chips)
Seat 2: williamkao77 (1,136,344 in chips)
williamkao77: Ante (2,000)
chardrian: Ante (2,000)
williamkao77: Post Small Blind (20,000)
chardrian: Post Big Blind (40,000)
Dealt to chardrian [ Qs ]
Dealt to chardrian [ As ]
williamkao77: Raise (990,000)
chardrian: Raise All-in (1,144,156)
williamkao77: Call All-in (124,344)
*** FLOP *** : [ Ts 9h 7h ]
*** TURN *** : [ Ts 9h 7h ] [ Qd ]
*** RIVER *** : [ Ts 9h 7h Qd ] [ 3c ]
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 2,272,688 | Board: [ Ts 9h 7h Qd 3c ]
chardrian bet 1,186,156, collected 2,322,500, net +1,136,344 (showed hand) [ Qs
As ] (a pair of queens)
williamkao77 lost 1,136,344 (showed hand) [ 4d 4h ] (a pair of fours)

Yay AQ!!

[Cava72]

Thanks all of you for the great feedback...I agree with Renton...shouldn't go up against the large stack.
drmcboy, you are absolutely right, and this is what has been eating me up thinking about it...why would the big stack risk losing 1/2 his chips with anything less than AK...
The beauty of this game, is that we become better players with every mistake we make...

[DaNutsInYoEye]

1. You got involved with someone that could break you.
2. You put your tournament life on the line by getting AI PF with a hand like AQ. Not only that, but you did it by putting in the third bet.
3. You did it when you were not forced to make a move. You still had more than enough of a stack to find better opportunities.

You blew up. You should have been on that final table. At least you were the one pushing though.

[Sprayed]

Looks like AQ is a piece of shit for everybody.

Game #1294463898 - Tournament Lava $20K - 20,000/40,000 No Limit Texas Hold'em -
2006/02/18-05:45:58.9 (CST)
Table "Lava $20K 40" (MTT) -- Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: chardrian (1,186,156 in chips)
Seat 2: williamkao77 (1,136,344 in chips)
williamkao77: Ante (2,000)
chardrian: Ante (2,000)
williamkao77: Post Small Blind (20,000)
chardrian: Post Big Blind (40,000)
Dealt to chardrian [ Qs ]
Dealt to chardrian [ As ]
williamkao77: Raise (990,000)
chardrian: Raise All-in (1,144,156)
williamkao77: Call All-in (124,344)
*** FLOP *** : [ Ts 9h 7h ]
*** TURN *** : [ Ts 9h 7h ] [ Qd ]
*** RIVER *** : [ Ts 9h 7h Qd ] [ 3c ]
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 2,272,688 | Board: [ Ts 9h 7h Qd 3c ]
chardrian bet 1,186,156, collected 2,322,500, net +1,136,344 (showed hand) [ Qs
As ] (a pair of queens)
williamkao77 lost 1,136,344 (showed hand) [ 4d 4h ] (a pair of fours)

Yay AQ!!

That's because you're so goot!

[chardrian]

I showed my wife this hand history because she always tells me after I complain about losing with AQ or AK that those hands are not as good as pocket pairs so I get what I deserve.

I had told her that I won the tourney and she almost had a heart attack when she saw this because she didn't realize that the chips were just chips and not real dollars. For a second she thought I had won over $2 million.

The amount I really did win, suddenly seemed insignificant after that.

[Sprayed]

I showed my wife this hand history because she always tells me after I complain about losing with AQ or AK that those hands are not as good as pocket pairs so I get what I deserve.

I had told her that I won the tourney and she almost had a heart attack when she saw this because she didn't realize that the chips were just chips and not real dollars. For a second seh thought I had won over $2 million.

The amount I really did win, suddenly seemed insignificant after that.

That's hilarious. Sounds like my wife.

[Cava72]

Danuts....thank you. You made it very clear. Now I feel much better and I am ready to give this tournament another shot.

[Renton]

Looks like AQ is a piece of shit for everybody.

I got 8500 25NL hands in poker tracker and AQo is my most profitable hand. I have had it 75 times and won $89.


Yay AQ

[Sprayed]

Looks like AQ is a piece of shit for everybody.

I got 8500 25NL hands in poker tracker and AQo is my most profitable hand. I have had it 75 times and won $89.


Yay AQ

That's because you're a luckbox!