Help With This Situation

[Muzza86 2]

Hi, i play tournaments online alot.. and as you all know its quite a donkey fest out there... So theres a particular situation that comes up alot which i wanted to discuss to see whether is was playing it correctly and just getting unlucky or whether I should not get invloved..The blinds are relatively small, 100/200 with stacks of 3000-4000... and I wake up with AQo middle position.. im first to enter pot, so i raised 3x BB .. all fold except big stack who immediately pushes all in with nearly double my stack.. I KNOW hes making a move with Ace rag or some hand weaker than mine.. so i call.. and im right. he has KJs.. and obviously he hits flush and knocks me out..my question is.. i feel i am a capable player and have one tournys and had many final tables at my stake. so am i making the right play with this situation, following the theory "i got it in with the best" or should i fold here KNOWING im slight favourite and wait to risk my chips in a better situation... All opinions greatfully recieved, as i find this is the situation i find myself being knocked out tournys the most... thankyou

[Zach6668 513]

Paul Phillips and Greg Raymer beleive they aren't good enough to pass up any edge in a tournament. I don't believe you are either.There are some who disagree though.

[Yahkin 0]

60% of the time you double up there. I'll take those odds.And if he was actually pushing with Ace rag in that situ, you are a huge favorite.Good read, well played, sorry about your bad beat.

[sabes99 0]

if you know you are a favorite, get your money in...there are extremely few players good enough to pass on a hand where they know they have an edge (cough:phil hellmuth:cough)

[Al Smooth 0]

I'll gamble early (before Ante's come into play), and you're right at the end of the "Gamble section" of the tournament and actually with 3000 chips are right at the death stack of 15bb's (according to Sheets/Bax) and are in a perfect spot to gamble. That being said, I keep going back to what was told to me a few days ago, "There are so many 'free chip' opportunities, why would you be so eager to gamble your whole stack?", but that really pertains to the next opportunity like this one after you get build a 30-40 BB stack.

[Niezels 0]

I tend to fold this hand at the middle stage of a Tourney. With doubling your stack at this stage you don't double your chances to win the tourney or even make FT. The chipleader might not even have 3% of all the chips yet. I will only start to put all my money in with this hand when i have around 10 BB or less at the middle stage of a tourney. Delaying the time where you do go all in icreases the change of going deep more than playing longball here. For the two simple reasons. Other players knock them self out.In multiple all ins you are always a dog to surviveThere will be a better situation to pick up the blinds or make a play, and get the 600 chips back. Tourney is a game of survival more than it's a game where you make the mathimatical correct play. And at the Middle Stage of a tourney a there is lot gambling an chipleaders push around. That is the moment for me to play like a rock if you don't have the chips to make moves. For me there only four reason to go all in:Your committed to the potYou will be committed if you just callYou are pretty sure you can push out a better handyour short stacked and want the blinds (BB < 10)For me to call myself all in I need to have AA KK or AK. where I would folde KK and AK on heavy preflop action. The AQ or AJ are very risky since you will be only a small favorite against a hand holding a K. To illustrate this:Yesterday in the 4$ 180 player S&G I took a big beat with my KK versus 9Ts where the villian reppoped me all in during the battle between the blinds. Going from chipleader to an average stack. From that point I only went in cheap pots and try and pick on the weak tight players. or the players that weren't eager to defend the blinds. Mostly the mediumstacks. I think I had to fold about 8 times after an attempt to steal the blinds. which was well compensated in succesfull steal attempts and c-bets on the flop or when I hit the set on the flop. Also I made notes on the players that pushed me around. Only at the FT I went all in for the first time coming in as the lowest stack. With very good notes on this oppenent that had shown down any two cards in a all in so I felt the TT where good and I had only 9BB left. This was at the point where there were 7 players left. This all brought me to 2nd place. Not the win since I didn't find the spots anymore to get a big enough stack. Started the HU as a 7 to 1 dog to loose the coinflip with JJ against AKoAnd of the people that pushed me around only 1 made FT. This is not for bragging but to illustrate the importance of survival.

[YBravo 0]

If you have a solid read that you have the best hand, and think A-rag(!!!) is in his range, you have to call given the odds you are getting. Having chips to play with in the middle part of the tournament is a gigantic asset, one that most players will not have. If you can steal/resteal while everyone else is waiting for cards, your chances of making the final table go way up.