Eek. I have to fold here?

[thoman8r]

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Huh? I think you've misunderstood something.

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I don't think so. What part do you think I've misunderstood?

[Graveraver84]

First of all, playing against these players ($5 sit and go)I am NEVER going to push with Queens IN THIS SITUATION. Neither will I raise, as most likely I will be re-raised all in, knowing how these guys play.

In this situation it would have worked out well, but no way do I want to be all in for all my chips with Q,Q v A,K OR Q,Q v A,x v K,x. YES I'm favourite, but not by much. And when I'm finishing in the money 55% of the time like I am doing, 55%-45% doesnt appeal to me. And we really cannot begin to talk about fold equity here - it is very VERY common for these guys to call with a,x or k,q/k,j. they do tend to feel pot commited rather easily.

It is one of those situations however where I would have made a different play if I had a larger stack or a small one.

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Post flop, I think I made the correct decision. I could have called but I wasn't to know who else may call behind me, and I already felt I was behind. If the second guy folded I think I would have called, there could be any number of hands I'm beating here (J,J A,10 K,10 smaller pair etc)


I ended up finishing second anyway so it wasn't a tradgedy but I just needed to hear what you guys said.

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Sorry for the state of the post. I was still playing when I posted. UB doesnt save hand history automatically so I had to paste it into notepad etc. In future I'll tidy it up first, sorry.

[thoman8r]

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And we really cannot begin to talk about fold equity here - it is very VERY common for these guys to call with a,x or k,q/k,j. they do tend to feel pot commited rather easily.


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You're a 2-1 favorite or better against these kind of hands. I'd burn the felt getting my chips in the center if I thought these types of hands were a large portion of my opponents' calling ranges.

EDIT: I see after stoving this that you may have been referring to the fact that you are 55-45 against two villains with a similar calling range. This is still a raise or shove for me, the times you get sucked out on will be offset by the times your now massive chip stack allows you to cruise to an easy win, not just finish ITM. YMMV.

[AKQJ10]

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no way do I want to be all in for all my chips with Q,Q v A,K OR Q,Q v A,x v K,x. YES I'm favourite, but not by much.

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The two cases are very different. OK, in the first you're close to coin-flipping. I'd take my 54% getting even money in an instant if I knew my opponent's cards unless there's something special about this tournament (it's the WSOP ME and I've been saving for years for it; opponents are much much worse than other tournaments at these stakes; etc.) If I put my money in with slightly the better of it and bust out, so what? New tournament starts in 60 seconds.

But three ways versus Ax and Kx is much different. Now you're getting paid 2:1 to flip coins, which should be an absolute no-brainer call. If you couldn't take this good a bet, then you shouldn't be gambling at all.

In reality you'll never know for sure that you're not against AA or KK, but the way you think about odds is important. If you can't see intuitively why getting 2:1 to play QQ vs. Ax and Kx is a good thing, you need to brush up on the basics.


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And when I'm finishing in the money 55% of the time like I am doing, 55%-45% doesnt appeal to me.

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And when you stop running good and are finishing in the money 10% of the time, perhaps you'll be motivated to rethink fundamental gambling theory and not turn down +EV bets.

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And we really cannot begin to talk about fold equity here - it is very VERY common for these guys to call with a,x or k,q/k,j. they do tend to feel pot commited rather easily.

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Fold equity only applies when you benefit from a fold, either by a better hand or by a hand with enough equity that it should not fold. (E.g. QQ would be delighted for AK to fold because it would leave dead money in the pot instead of flipping for it -- but of course that won't often happen.)

Neither case of fold equity applies when Ax or KQ call a reraise -- both are dominated by QQ -- and probably not when KJ calls, since KJ is at best 28%. You should reraise QQ without a second thought if all those hands will call at these stakes.

In summary, I hope that once your present run of good luck ends, instead of getting frustrated with poker you dedicate yourself to studying the fundamentals that you presently feel entitled to neglect.

[Dalek]

Pre-Flop: I agree with a big re-raise or a shove. At lower limits the person who raised could have raised with a wide variety of hands. QQ isn't good in a multiway pot.

Flop: It depends on your read but in a low stakes game i would call because players may push with overcards or 10-x as well as other holdings.