One (or two) satellite question

speedgun · #1 07-22-2007, 10:37 AM

During the latest two weeks I have been trying to qualify for an offline tournament through online satellites. The main sat takes place every Sunday. The seat is worth $5,000.

The following hand is from the first week. 11 left, 8 qualify. Median stack for the qualification would be around $25,000 and the hero is currently ranked at 10. Button has been aggresively stealing, but folded when meet resist. I also thought he was on the line now as to whether he could fold (other than monster) into the money.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t600 (5 handed) internettexasholdem.com

saw flop|saw showdown

UTG (t17265)
MP (t11840)
Button (t20230)
SB (t14048)
Hero (t12922)

Preflop: Hero is BB with T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
2 folds, Button raises to t2400, 1 fold, Hero raises to t12872,.

The second hand is from the second week of same satellite, 12 left 8 qualify. Hero is ranked at 12. The SB in this hand has been aggresively stealing, so my read about his range is pretty wide. Also, his hand seems weaker because of the shove, probably can rule out AA or KK.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t400 (6 handed) internettexasholdem.com

saw flop|saw showdown

MP (t5999)
CO (t23060)
Button (t12405)
SB (t14597)
Hero (t5385)
UTG (t32609)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
4 folds, SB raises to t8400, Hero calls t4960 (All-In).

Do you like or hate my moves here. Please comment.

MelchyBeau · #2 07-22-2007, 10:48 AM

for hand 1, I'd rather not be trying to bully the big stack. Every other stack is vulnerable to you, Attack those instead.

For hand 2, I would want to be first in the pot. I don't like calling off my whole stack with ATo, but I can see your reasoning for it. However the vast majority of hands you are ahead here, you aren't ahead by much

betgo · #3 07-22-2007, 01:07 PM

I think hand 1 is good. Big stack is the best to bully, particularly since you can really hurt him.

Hand 2, you have to be calling in a satellite, but you are probably ahead.

MJBuddy · #4 07-22-2007, 01:09 PM

I'm ok with both; seem pretty solid.

jlmcrna · #5 07-22-2007, 03:53 PM

Hand #1: I probably fold here.
If roles were reversed, Ato would be within my range on the button to open raise, but to call or push, no.
Secondly, your M and Q say you can wait and pick a better spot. Patience.
You have the time to wait for an acceptable hand to open with or a stronger calling hand. Meanwhile,you keep yourself alive with steals from those middle to middle large stackes.

Hand #2: Some simularities to first hand,but different table read here.
First, the simularities:
Even though you are SS, if I read this correctly, T400, no ante, you have 10+ rounds left, so you can afford to be more conservative and patient.
Nearly 70% of the remaing field gets in. Is this your one and only spot? Something to consider.
Now the differences:
IMO sb is in obvious steal position with wide range of hands, so a push here is arguably the correct play.

8Adam8 · #6 07-22-2007, 03:55 PM

both are standard

anything else sucks

speedgun · #7 07-22-2007, 09:01 PM

OK, I can see some split in the opinion here, so at least I didn't make a completely stupid move there. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I am trying not to be result oriented, but now one thing I regret is given the previous actions of the button in hand 1, which was bet and fold to raise a few times when he already had a relatively comfortable stack, I probably over-esitimated my FE. He was doing it like every other hand and I was thinking he was dumb, but I had to also notice that he could by then be in some sort of self-created tilt there.

I asked this to the board because yesterday someone told me my raise in hand 1 was not good, and on the same day I ran into another tough decision with basically same hand, sick. I still don't know, but I don't know if I would do that again with A10o. A9 maybe.. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Just for fun, in hand 1 the button called my push with A5s. The board was xx5Ax and I was done. (Now I believe this was a bad call.)

In hand 2, the SB had K10o, and the flop was xxK. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] Goodbye, my seat.

Dominating hands suck.

speedgun · #8 07-22-2007, 09:05 PM

Not a big deal, but there was ante in both hands so my M was lower than what you assume. Also both were short handed tables so the effective M was even lower.