[gwilkx]

here's the situation:

$10 MTT on pokerstars. Unlimited rebuys for the first hour. PS has this tournament every night at 10:15pm eastern time, so i'm sure that some of you are familiar with it. i played in this tournament on saturday night.

1439 entries. about 4,500 rebuys and add-ons. total prize pool is about $60,000.

Payouts (rounded):
1st = $13,700
2nd = $8,300
3rd = $5,300
4th = $3,900
5th = $3,100
6th = $2,560
7th = $1,965
8th = $1,370
9th = $893
10th - 18th = $476
19th - 27th = $268
28th - 36th = $208
...[the rest is meaningless]

i played the following hand and would like to hear some discussion on whether there was anything that you would have done differently.

we pick up the action with 30 people left (just over 5 hours into the tournament). we are in the top 3 in chips, though only about 1 BB out of the lead. we have been bouncing around between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in chips for the last 2 hours. when this hand takes place, we are 3rd in chips. the guy in 2nd is at our table as well.

blinds are $6,000/$12,000 and we are in middle position with two red Kings. we have about $430,000 in chips. most of the people at our table have between $170,000 and $250,000 chips.

we open the pot with a raise to $36,000.

3 people fold around to the guy in the cutoff seat (the villain, from here on out).

villain raises to $80,000. he has us covered by about 2,000 chips, and is currently in 2nd place. so far, we have seen him make some odd plays. he has gone all-in several times when it was clearly unnecessary to do so to steal a pot (for example). we watched him go from $400,000 in chips to $150,000 in chips, and back to $450,000 in the past 20 minutes.

button, SB, and BB fold.

it's $44,000 to us, and the pot is currently ~$137,000.

now - one important assumption to make before proceeding to the next decision: our goal is one of the top three places. we don't care about winning an extra couple hundred bucks by moving up the ladder.


what do we do:
a) fold
b) call
c) raise some amount
d) move all-in

what do you think?
gw-

[99%evil]

What are our cards?

[spicychili]

Originally Posted by gwilkx

... middle position with two red Kings. ...

......................

[gwilkx]

Originally Posted by gwilkx

blinds are $6,000/$12,000 and we are in middle position with two red Kings.

K K

gw-

[PGood]

Originally Posted by gwilkx

what do we do:
a) fold
b) call
c) raise some amount
d) move all-in

what do you think?
gw-

I reraise him. At that point, if he comes over the top for all his chips then you might expect AA and could possibly fold. If he just calls, then you can figure your hand is the best at that point. If you do put him on AA and you end up folding, you at least still have chips to try and get one of the top spots. Just my 2 cents

[99%evil]

Duh, thanks. I can't skip around I guess, so used to seeing HERO or cards.

If he's the type to call an all-in with Ax, then just call to see flop and if no aces go all-in, if he hits his ace on the flop you're dead. If you think he'll fold with Ax, then come over the top pre flop.

Man what a wuss play I'm suggesting, but if you want to stay in contention for the money and this guys a wild one. I think I'd play it safe, you want top three

[Fins]

My first thought is to reraise 150k (194k w/ the call) and hope he pushes.

[gwilkx]

here's a bit of my thought process:

pocket aces are obviously the last thing i want to see

the next to last thing i want to see is AKs, since i'm only about a 2.3:1 favorite

i'm better than a 4:1 favorite against any other pocket pair

against any other ace, i'm 5:2 or better

if i get all his chips, i'll have over $850,000 and the chip lead by more then $300,000 over the next guy. that stack would allow me to cruise into one of the top 5 spots without having to take any big risks, and put me in a fine position to win it all.

the villain's behavior so far has led me to believe that he may call a big raise (or come over the top) with AJ+, or even ATs but i don't REALLY have a solid read on the guy. i've only been at his table for about 1/2 hour. as i said, we've seen him go all-in over the top several times, but here he only raised to $80k. could that be because of my stack size, or is he trying to lure me in with a monster hand? he's giving me better than 3:1 to call his raise, but i'm not sure if he even knows that. i can't really say for sure if he'd call an all-in bet with AJ+ or not.

i also won't be too sad if i go all-in and he folds. maybe i lose a little in the long run, but here i come out of the hand with almost $600,000 chips and the chip lead with only 30 people left.

gw-

[Pavel6969]

I'd push. If I lose with pocket kings so be it. I would put him on Ace/Ten or better. Very least I would reraise, but chances are I would stick it all in.

[gmunny]

You can't be scared of his smaller type raise, you have KK and really are only worried about AA. He may only be cautious since you have a stack that can damage him.

I assume you have a decent (non-wild table image). Based on the info provided I would call the raise and see the flop. This is because we are heads up, if there were people still left to decide, I would re-raise to isolate. If there is no ace on flop, if you think he would bet, check-raise him a big amount and hope he folds. If there is an ace on the flop, I would fire a good size (maybe 3/4 to pot sized) bet into him. Here you are representing that you have an Ace with a good kicker. If he has the nads to re-raise or push after that, you should probably fold.
G$