[cssamerican]

I was playing in my weekly home NL Hold’em tournament this past weekend and I went out uncharacteristically early.

There were eight people still in the game and the blinds were 50 – 100. I was the big blind with 2500 in chips, and I was holding AQ suited. Player A, the chip leader with approximately 8000 in chips, limped in after two players folded. Player B, in the small blind limped in as well. I then raised to 300, and Player A called while Player B folded. Player A plays fairly loose and I felt pretty good about my hole cards, so I felt this was a good opportunity to take some of his chips away and I was happy how the hand had turned out at this point.

The Flop: A – K – 10 Rainbow
I felt really good about this flop. I didn’t feel Player A had an AA, KK, or AK hand because he always raises monster hands pre-flop, so I bet 600. Player A then paused for a minute then called.

The Turn: 10
Player A bets 1400 which will put me all in if I call. At this point I am caught a little off guard. So, I start to replay the hand in my mind. I came to the conclusion that Player A had either an A or K with some other useless card. He called two raises with one raise coming with an A and a K on the board, yet never reraised. So I decide to call the bet hoping he has the K which would explain his slight pause and I will win, but if he has the A I am looking at a split since the kicker K is on the board. We flip our hands over and Player A is holding 10-3!!!

The River: Freak’n Irrelevant!!

Should I have gone all in after the Flop? Did I make a mistake in calling his bet after the Turn? Is this just one of those cases were my opponent made bad calls but got lucky? Or did I just screw up this whole hand?

[KYBill]

I dont think you did anything wrong, maybe raise a little higher after the flop but a fish will always be a fish. He just happned to hit his card.

He got LUCKY.

[jojobinks]

Originally Posted by KYBill

I dont think you did anything wrong, maybe raise a little higher after the flop but a fish will always be a fish. He just happned to hit his card.

He got LUCKY.

what you did wrong; call the all in. you knew the guy was loose, and that he didn't have a big preflop hand. he limped in from the small blind, which could mean anything from a guy like this. hands he could have, not raise, and have you killed here:

Tx
QJ
KT

with your stack, it's kinda your responsibility to not go broke with one pair and a dangerous board. AKTT is a dangerous board.

kybill was right in that the guy's a fish and got really lucky. as a better player, it's your responsibility to not pay a fish off every time that happens.

my two cents...

[dad604]

The decision to call the all in was the wrong one. Bet on the flop was right. You don't want to scare him away, just bad luck that the ten came pair up.

[cssamerican]

Originally Posted by dad604

The decision to call the all in was the wrong one. Bet on the flop was right. You don't want to scare him away, just bad luck that the ten came pair up.

That is what I kinda thought. I just never put him on a 10 for some reason. I'm chalking that up to tunnel vision on my part.

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally Posted by jojobinks

with your stack, it's kinda your responsibility to not go broke with one pair and a dangerous board. AKTT is a dangerous board.

Bingo. I see a lot of people complain about "playing it right" against a big stack in a tournament, and then get so angry when they send themselves packing by making an ill advised call against a known loose big stack.

Yes, to a certain degree it's good to go against big stacks because you're looking to double up an certain points. But it's also a double edged sword as that huge stack can also wipe you out in one hand. Jojo got it right, and I don't think it's said enough (or at least it's not followed enough): It's your responsibility to not go broke with one pair and a dangerous board.

But I'm not picking on the OP here, just making a comment on a general tournament play that I notice. The OP played it right until the turn.

[Darius]

I think most of the people here have it right but I'll add my .02.

Thats a highly dangerous flop. In HoHv2, Dan say sthe flops you should be most afraid of are the ones that hold an A and a T. This had both plus a K. If my math is right there was only 650 in the pot. I think you're better served here with a little feeler bet. Somewhere between 200-300. If he raises you can probably let the hand go since there are any number of hands that he would have played in that exact way that have barried. If he calls it and then the T comes and he bets enough to put you all in. let him have it. Take your 600 chip loss, lick your wounds and go onto the next hand.

When he puts you all in there is no way that you can call this. Only if his cards were flipped up could you even consider it. If he slow played a pair and now has a set he's got a boat now and you're dead. Having what he did you were drawing to only a J or a Q. its one thing to bet all your chips and lose. Its another to call all your chips off and lose.

I know I've done the exact same thing, AQ can be a dangerous hand.

[pager23]

I'll add my two cents using what I know of Caro's Book of Tells.

You've marked Player A as 'fairly loose', so being the big stack he could be playing with anything - I think that's already been noted.

The hesitation to call your bet on the flop is HUGE, especially if this guy is not much of an actor. It tells me that the guy was summoning his courage to gamble. After reading your post to that point, I put him on a K or T (maybe a small pp). Adding to that, with him being the chip leader his long pause would move me more toward the T (say 70%-T and 30%-K). When the second T comes and he pushes you all-in, it's a fold. It sounds simple in words, but I know it's not.

In future, if you want some REALLY thoughful responses to a "What should I do" post, leave out the result.