Happy for the Christmas break I decided to play in the Gala Leicester Monday night No Limit tourney.
It was a full tourney with 52 runners, 3000 + 3000 chips and 30 minute blinds ... very good value for the small buy in. This payed to 6th with the winner taking approx £500.
I didn't get too many hands through the night but managed to survive to 14 players left with blinds at 1000/2000 and my stack sitting at about 16000 chips. That was when a very interesting hand happened ...
Having just moved to the other table (with 7 on each) I got QQ in early position. Looking at the stacks there was a shorter stack with about 8000 chips to my left, he already had them in his hands .... this was the guy I wanted in the pot. So I raised to 6000, he re raised all in to 8000; plan executed to perfection until the BB came over the top all in putting my tournament life on the line. Every one else out of the pot, I had a decision to make. Here were my reads ...
- Firstly, the guy who went all in had sat on my previous table for about two hours and had dwindled his chips away ... on one occasion he even raised pre flop and then only just about managed to call holding KK.
- Second I was so sure when I asked him if he held the monster AA that he had it. He returned the read I had twice before ignored when my opponents had in fact got AA.
I just struggled for about 3 minutes trying to get the courage to go with my reads. I was so confident I was beat. I folded.
The BB turned over AK. The small stack won but I would have taken my chips back from coming 2nd in the pot.
Should I have folded? I think given my reasoning I was so sure I was beaten I'm going with my play, however I did fail to see two important things.
1. The BB had moved from my table previously with a small stack and had obviously got lucky somewhere along the way as his chip stack had now got me covered, by a long way.
2. The fact that his stack was now a good size had led him to change his play by entering more pots more forcefully. I failed to factor in his stack size into his move.
Anyway I finished 7th and got my buy in back after my usual BBi (Bubble Boy insurance) negotiations.
Still it was a good evening.
Until next time
Keep it Tight
3 comments:
By my calcs, it is costing you 10k to win 31k, i.e. you are getting 3-1.
I cannot see how you can fold QQ in this position with almost only 8 big blinds remaining.
If you had nothing in the pot then maybe you can fold, but not here.
Hi
Thanks for your comment. I see what you are saying. It was unfortunate that I had history with the over the top player, had it been any other player at the table I would have ended up calling.
However I was certain his hand was one of the big 3 - AA, KK or AK.
AA - I lose 80%, KK I lose 80%, AK I lose 50% (this is disregarding the third player in the pot, including him possibly reduces my chances by a further 5%). This affects the calling pot odds greatly. In one situation I roughly need 2-1 pot odds in the other two I need about 4-1. The pot contains 3-1, its close!
This game is all about learning from your mistakes, and I make a great deal more than this one, I feel this is one of my borderline mistakes given the situation.
I know results orientated thinking doesn't fit with poker, but I wish an A had hit the board, then I would be saying what a hero lay down it was LOL.
I must admit I do tend to think myself into situations too much at times - but does being able to make these kind of calls correctly move you into the top ranks of poker players rather than just playing by the odds?
The Jury is out!
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