HAND ADVICE

[JOETHEGRINDERSDAUGHTER]

I just limped in here hoping to play for a little bit bigger pot versus just stealing the blinds and when the flop came I thought....perfect. It was getting close to the money in a 100.00 rebuy which I did make but not F.t. , this would have really helped because I didn't get a hand afterwords. Was this really weak for me not to call this shove, it was really what I had hoped for until it happened and then the AJ didn't look so strong. I just couldn't pull the trigger. Really weak or was it an o.k. fold ? There was 23 players left and money started at 18. Thanks for the input.


Seat 1-16k
Seat 2 - 23k
Seat 3 - 8k
Seat 4 - 19k
Seat 5 - 31k
Seat 6 - Hero - 34,397.
Seat 7 - 17k - S.B.
Seat 8 - 29k - B.B.
Seat 9 -28k
SB-500
BB 1000
ANTE 125
FOLDED TO HERO- I CALL BB1,000
SB FOLDS
BB CKS
FLOP - 4h Ad 7s
BB BETS 2,000.
HERO BETS 4,000.
BB RAISES 27,500. ALL - IN
HERO FOLDS

[drmcboy]

you must raise pre flop and you absolutely must call on the flop as played.

Even if you had raised pre flop you are still putting your money in here, but given your BU limp the last hands he thinks you have are big Aces.

If this is actually a $100 RB you are probably playing way above your bankroll and you are certainly playing above your skill level unless this hand was live. let us know how big your roll is and we can point you to some better tournaments.

[rudefella]

You said you're point of limping was to win a bigger pot than just the blinds. The blinds and antes are a good portion of your stack here, at 2500 or so. In the end, you got what you wanted (a huge pot) and then you folded with a good hand. What were you hoping for better? If you were limping and then only willing to play for your stack (with AJ) if you flopped two pair, trips, or a straight, then you are much better off playing suited connectors than AJ.

If you don't want to be put in this situation, I suggest you raise preflop, and consider folding to a shove (which in my opinion shouldn't be an auto-fold depending on reads).

While its surely possible that he has 74, A4, A7, 44, or 77, you are just going to have to pay those hands off. He doesn't have AK or AQ, since I would expect a raise from both of those hands. He could easily have Ax, 65, any 7 or 4 here.

Lastly, what was the point of min-raising on the flop? I hope it's not "to see where you're at". If anything, you should have snap called his shove after limping and then min-raising merely because you invited a an aggresive player here - I say villlain figured your min-raise suggested you to be weak, scared, with no idea what you are doing, which turned out to be mostly right (except that you didn't have a weak hand). This is especially true because its the bubble, and you look like you don't want to risk any of your chips.

[CasalRoyal]

If you don't want to be put in this situation, I suggest you raise preflop, and consider folding to a shove (which in my opinion shouldn't be an auto-fold depending on reads).

Absolutelly right! I don´t consider auto-fold anymore just after I lost blinds for a sitting out player [what a shame!] - he was the dealer, everybody else folded - say: just a little raise and I´d have the blinds - better always read the table than auto-fold. Good point!

[CasalRoyal]

(...) There was 23 players left and money started at 18. (...)

(...)
Seat 6 - Hero - 34,397.
Seat 7 - 17k - S.B.
Seat 8 - 29k - B.B.
Seat 9 -28k
SB-500
BB 1000
ANTE 125
FOLDED TO HERO- I CALL BB1,000
SB FOLDS
BB CKS
FLOP - 4h Ad 7s
BB BETS 2,000.
HERO BETS 4,000.
BB RAISES 27,500. ALL - IN
HERO FOLDS

Let´s face this hand only, leaving other points alone: your stack is 34,397 - you are only 5 positions to get ITM - that´s very good! - but then a player enters all-in! Man, by this time you were down to about 30.000 in your stack, according to your previous bets. Despite you had a AA split pair, by the turn or river everything could happen, that includes the oppositor´s hand getting stronger than yours...

In my opinion you acted correctly! Why to risk so high leaving the tournment, and just about to get ITM? Your movement was correct!

I remember once I lost a great bonus only one position to get it because of a bad bet all-in: payment were the same for the first 9 players from the last table, and I was defeated in 10th! Terrible!

[rudefella]

If you are concerned about making the money in such tournaments so much that it gets in the way of trying to accumulate a stack that can take you to the final final table, then you are definitely playing too high for your bankroll. If you are so worried about busting out that you are going to limp, min raise the flop, and fold, then you are definitely playing above your bankroll. An aggresive, (probably not best), but not awful line, with AJ would be to shove preflop and put the pressure on the blinds to bust near the bubble. He played this hand exactly how he shouldn't around the bubble, weak weak and weaker, and by doing so he is letting other players exploit that weakness so they can accumulate stacks to ride to the final table. If all he wanted to do was make the money, then by all means he made the right choice, but it's a long term losing choice in my opinion.

[JOETHEGRINDERSDAUGHTER]

This is JOETHEGRINDERSDAUGHTER (alias). lol . When I min-raised here I was expecting a call and then I would have shoved on the turn, I really thought I was building the pot for me to take down....lol......imagine that. It was really all going exactly the way I thought it might if I limped and caught the ace on the flop, my hand strength would be unknown and could pick up a few chips. It just really caught me off guard when he shoved back at me, and agree with whoever thinks that this is a chance that I have to take. Shove back. If I would just listen to the little man upstairs ( my conscious ) and his first opinion instead of hashing it over and talking myself out of it sometimes , would be better off I think. My game needs help, no doubt about it, but it's not as bad as this hand would suggest.........probably...maybe not......lol. I'll admit, I'm a loser. I have the drive and the desire to improve ( don't mean to start babbling here but I'm at a crossroads and need some good advice to either improve or give it up and this seems like a good place to ask for it, please bear with me, I can explain where I'm at and maybe get advice on a clear path to follow up on) and I feel I'm only a couple of small adjustments away from playing winning poker and it's in the agressiveness area of the game, I'm sure of that. I'm a rock even a mouse sometimes. I have taken several first places in the 5k to 8k range and finish in the money consistently in the 15% range, mtt's only, although my R.O.I is negative, around -12 to -15% last I looked. I've been 3rd - 6th in the 50.00 and 100.00 rebuy several times, lots of 500.00-1000.00 finishes. It would be easy for me to think that it was just bad luck in a couple of key situations and had I won these key all ins would be a winning player, which although that is true, realize the problem runs deeper than just that. I can see when I'm outclassed by others (there's many) and like watching some of the talent that's out there. If I don't get cards, I'm basically out of the game. I try hard to work it out when card dead but cannot get thru that part of the game when it turns into people starting to act in desperation, and you know people are raising with trash and shoving with worse, but just can't join the fray and keep thinking I'll start getting better hands , that sometimes come, but most the time not in time. Sometimes I think I take more bad beats than the next guy, but that's probably not true and have nothing to compare mine to, although I do have dozens of hands where I was down below 20 people left and was knocked out being a 75% favorite or better, really , dozens of them. I'm assuming that's the norm after reading some of the other posts. This is probably a bit long but can only imagine there has to be thousands of other players that feel like I do sometimes. I've been in all-ins that are so absurd that the outcome is hard to believe. Just for a laugh, try being a 99.90% favorite and losing, that's what it is when you have QQ vs 33, flop a queen, go all in and your opponent grabs two threes on turn and river, or not quite as bad, have KK against QQ and QQ and still lose..lol..I know..happens to all of us, I realize that's not the real issue. I've watched video's of winning players but they all seem to just show the same thing and that is they had to ultimately show the best cards to win the tourney. I think I know (I'm not being a smart-azz here) how to play decent poker when I get cards and can see that I do make good , key lay downs when I need to and am right to do so most the time, but the others really cost me. (like the post). I can be knocked off of a hand easily enough and find it hard to play back at someone when I have absolutely nothing and the result of a call would be going out of the tourney. I do surprise myself once in a while with a good bluff, but it's an exception rather than the rule and I realize I need to be a lot more bold when I'm waiting for the few decent hands to show up , that your willing to take to a show down. This is probably the area where a lot of people get stuck on, I would imagine, and just can't seem to break thru.
Anyway, from a good "wanna be" to someone who is, any sound advice would be greatly appreciated and I would be willing to pay for some expertise and coaching if the credentials and the cost can line up. Thanks for everything, it's greatly appreciated. Best of luck.

[drmcboy]

paragraphs please! I tried to read it twice and failed.