Midway through a 27 player 5+.50

[Ian]

Hi, I'm relatively new to poker and would appreciate any comments here. In hindsight, I acted rather rashly but I'm curious as to what would have been wiser. MP seemed to have been raising quite a bit in the hands leading up to this one.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

MP (t1945)
Hero (t3040)
Button (t4915)
SB (t4090)
BB (t3760)
UTG (t4045)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A, K.
1 fold, MP raises to t600, Hero raises to t1200, 1 fold, SB calls t1100, 1 fold, MP calls t600.

Flop: (t3800) 3, 8, J (3 players)
SB checks, MP checks, Hero bets t1840 (All-In), SB calls t1840, MP folds.

Turn: (t7480) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t7480) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: t7480

[IowaSkinsFan]

push preflop

[swiggidy]

push preflop

[Ian]

Thanks for the responses. To clarify, by "push" you mean "all-in", right?

I'll also ask about this different hand in this thread and I'd again appreciate any responses:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (7 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

Button (t1960)
Hero (t715)
BB (t2160)
UTG (t2695)
MP1 (t1850)
MP2 (t1075)
CO (t1645)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 2, T.
UTG calls t100, 4 folds, Hero completes, BB checks.

Flop: (t300) 5, 8, Q (3 players)
Hero checks, BB bets t200, UTG folds, Hero raises to t615, BB calls t415.

Turn: (t1530) K (2 players)

River: (t1530) Q (2 players)

Final Pot: t1530

[swiggidy]

Thanks for the responses. To clarify, by "push" you mean "all-in", right?

Yes

It is a 10BB rule. If you are less than 10BB you push or fold. You don't complete, so fold in this second hand.

On flop you have zero fold equity, hence pushing pre-flop. If you were BB and opening the post-flop action I think a push would be fine.

As played, meh. It's hard to say since you shouldn't be in this situation.

[silu73]

Hand 1: Yes Push pre-flop as you don't want any callers after you. A push will most likely isolate the small stack's bet. AKo is a hand I only like to play HU but not against several opp.

Hand 2: I would consider a fold here. Your stack size is so small that I would need to pick a spot to push. Sure it doesn't cost you much to complete but you will be out of position.

I would recommend reading Harrington on Hold'em Vol II here with regards to picking the right spot. In your case I would look for any suited connectors 9T+, suited face cards with 9+kicker, any pocket pairs and any suited Ace to push in a unopened pot. This hand selection is very general and just spat out from the top of my head.

[Ian]

Thanks again for all the responses.

I'll have to give in and get Harrington's second book, I've been putting it off for a while.

[Alibi]

Hi Ian,

Welcome to the boards.

The first hand, I would go all in before the flop. This hopefully gets you in the hand against only one villian, where AK stands its best chance of holding up.

The second hand is a standard preflop fold. You are too short stacked to be calling and hoping for a good flop for the exact reason that you posted the hand: it makes playing on the flop tricky.

Reading Harrington on Hold 'Em 2 is a great idea.

Keep posting hands,
Alibi