Deep in the tournament and your tournament life is at stake

winky51 · #1 01-14-2006, 11:29 PM

I was faced with a serious decision tonight and I knew somewhere there is an article on this.

Player X is a LAG. Raises with A7s+, KQ, KJ, any pair 66+. Player X has no clue about pot odds, dominated hands, or how to bet. He is slightly tricky. He pushes on flops he hits no matter the kicker or the made hand, TP, set, 2 pair. If a player reraises him preflop he assumes a small pair and pushes all in on AJ+. If he has a pair he assumes the reraiser has AK and pushes anyways. So usually Player X is a coin flip at best vs other players.

SITUATION: Both you and player X are deep in a MTT and both of you are the chip leaders of the tournament. If you play it safe you can get to the final table.

Blinds 800/400
(25k chips) Player X raies 3x the blinds from MP1.
(25k chips) Me CO position

I have Ad Ks. Since I know that Player X will just push if I reraise I thought I would play it conservative and just flat call with position. I didnt want a confrontation with the other chip leader and wanted to keep the pot small. Player X has it in for me because I beat him in several pots earlier. He is dying get all my chips.

Flop comes Kd 7s 2d.

Player X takes 2 seconds and pushes all in for 25k. Pot is 5200 + his push of 22,600. If you call and lose your out. If you call and win your the king. If you fold you still have a lot of chips and can make the final table pretty easy.

I thought for a while on this one. And I know I read an article on this very situation somewhere. I will tell you my action and results later. What's your all thoughts.

CallYNotRaise06 · #2 01-14-2006, 11:54 PM

Well the guys such a donk, the idea of just folding and waiting for a better spot sounds great, but what if you dont get that better spot? you just lost out on an opportunity on getting a monster chip lead. IMO, tourneys arent about survival, theyre about chip accumulation.

i know most people are going to say fold becasue youve only invested 3xbb and you can sneak into the money easily.the only thing thats gonna kill you is a set of 7s/AA. If hes on the flush draw, you have the Ad, so even if he hits on the turn you still have a redraw to a higher flush.

im not really sure what id do, ill let a more experienced mtt player answer that for you.

wheatrich · #3 01-15-2006, 12:37 AM

If you're not calling this flop with AK why did you even call with AK in the first place?

I'm calling this because I think I'm ahead here. That's all.

AceofSpades · #4 01-15-2006, 01:28 AM

If he is REALLY pushing Kx, any pair on the flop, I'd call this 100% of the time with a STRONG read. I doubt that he is really doing this though so most of the time I'm folding because many players with a big stack act fishier against stacks that are nothing, but play decent against stacks that can bust them.

The only times I'd consider folding (with a read)would be if I'm within three people of the final table and have an overwhelming chip lead against the others.

BobK · #5 01-15-2006, 01:34 AM

I would ask myself; Why would this player push all-in with any hand better than mine? Wouldn't they want to bleed me for some of my chips?

I figure they might have a medium pair, flush-draw or maybe they just naturally get a high from putting all their chips at risk trying to bully the table, even with nothing.

I call. The upside is too great. A win here will likely ensure you one of the top three spots where most of the money is.

jaydoggie · #6 01-15-2006, 02:01 AM

fold if youre confident that you can make it to the final table without this pot.

Banks2334 · #7 01-15-2006, 02:08 AM

He doesn't push with a set. Maybe two pair, but I've got outs. i think he knows that I don't want to tangle with the big stack so he is pushing his one pair/draw. I call.

winky51 · #8 01-15-2006, 03:15 AM

I thought about the range of hands that beat me here and the range of hands he would raise from MP1. Then I considered the hands he played earlier and how he plays...EXAMPLE Pushing vs a reraise PF with AT vs AK. He played this hand like all his other hands... He sees top pair and pushes.

I ended up calling based on these things.

The %(@#%(*% shows me AA and I lose my stack.

Losing to this guy really really urked me. He kept knocking out players by pushing dominated hands that kept sucking out over and over. Last week this player did the same thing and took 1st place. Last week he knocked me out by one of his idiotic all in calls only because "he didnt like me". Called 2/3 of his stack with 75s vs my JJ all in PF. This week he happens to have AA and I run into it with AK and TP (about 25% to flop a pair vs AA, my luck wish I missed).

I hate losing to idiots like this guy that can't even spell "poker". ** Sorry for the rant I needed to get it out. ** I left with a wave and a smile to the other players hearing him do a victory dance and chant "you owed me, you owed me"

Thanks for the responses. I kept rolling this hand over and over in my head and the only way I could get away from it vs this LAG player is if I had ESP.

winky51 · #9 01-15-2006, 03:17 AM

Because he is an idiot. He saw 2 diamonds and thought "he might have a draw I push" He doesnt think beyond his own hand.

Mcot · #10 01-18-2006, 02:13 PM

no way jose I call this deep in a mtt.

that was a bad decision on your part. Even if he has like king queen.. he can still suck out on you and bust you.

2 things to remember deep an a mtt.

1.) If you tango with the chip leader, you better have the nuts or something close to, because he can bust you.

2.) If your one of the top chip leaders, it is really easy to bully/steal from smaller stacks than to play against the big stack. Even if you have a tempting hand PF and he shows strength, you need to think about folding it to avoid tough post flop decisions for all your chips.