did i make the right move??

[sharKKiller]

i think so... but here we go

late in a 800 person tournament, about 140 players remain, top 70-some get paid

blinds are 100/200 w/25 antes

my stack: 4200
opponents stack: 6200

on the button i hold 10s10d

my opponent behind me raises to 500, he's been very aggressive through the whole tourney, like me, raising EVERY TIME the board folds to him.. the blinds behind us are tight as heck and not doing much...

he raises to 500, i reraise him to 1750... i haven't seen anything but garbage when he tries to steal the blinds so i'm glad i finally caught something... he thinks about it and raises all-in.. after reviewing my odds and position i decide its time to make my move and i call, he turns over AJ off and flop comes 55J/blank/blank

after reviewing everything, is there any other way i could of played it?? should i of just called his 500 and seen a flop? (i don't think so) or should i of folded.........

what do you think

[pedro07312]

I think you were in a good position to call here, essentially you got what you wanted, a coinflip all-in preflop. No one was a significant favorite here and whoever wins has a great shot at going far in this tournament. In big tournament play you need to take some chances, you're not gonna win every time, but neither will a very solid, fold anything but HUGE starting hands, player. Even if you just called the 500 here it sounds like he would have moved anyways after the flop, and you have to ask yourself if you would have given him credit for that Jack? I think you did the right thing here, its what I would have done.

[Vandal99]

The only real concern I have is with 140 people left, top 70 get paid, how fast was the field being dimenished versus your stack? Assuming everyone started with 1000 chips the average stack would have been about 5700. (if they started with 800 chips, average is about 4600) which puts a little, but not alot, below the average. I think this close to the money, it might have been good to try and lean more on the short stacks and avoid playing in pots with those who can bankrupt you, at least with a hand which if called will likely be a coin flip, or 4-1 underdog if it gets a call. I'm told at least, that the riskier plays should be made in the middle when trying to gain chips, or after you reach the money.
Then again, I'm not much of a big tourney player.
-Nick

[znamenacek]

I think your opponent played A-J poorly, because 10-10 is at or near the very bottom of the range of hands that he should expect you to have. He should be thinking you may have AA, KK, QQ, JJ, 10-10, AK, AQ, maybe even a lower pair than tens. Either way, his best case scenario is probably for you to be a slight favorite. While I don't know how you were playing prior to this hand, I think a better player would have folded his AJ to your raise. On the other hand, just because he is being aggresive doesn't mean he won't get good hands every now and then. For all you know this guy who likes to raise could have AA, and in that case you want to be able to get away from your 10-10 without losing all your chips. Before the cards are dealt, there is about 550 on the table (Antex10+SB+BB). He raises to 500 (betting almost the pot) bringing it to 1055. Now you raise to 1750, betting nearly 2x the pot. I think if the aggresive player is trying to pick up the blinds and you raise it to 1000 you stand a good chance of winning the pot before the flop. On the other hand, if he does have a real hand and puts you all in you haven't commited so many chips to the pot and maybe you can still get away from this hand. I think your biggest mistake was putting too much money into the pot with a good but not great hand, forcing you to call his all in raise.

[ctswpt76]

If he's playing that crazy/aggressive, then would that flop really scare you off, I mean to put him on a J or a 5 is pretty difficult......

I'd say at least you got the money in with the best hand and that's all you can do. :what:

Tough beat though

:jedi:

[NthingToLose]

I would of considered one other strat although you would have prob. ended up in the same result this time. But, knowing you were willing to move in and knowing you would get a call preflop i would of considered taking the call and the flop. Than moving all in on the flop regardless. Puts a lot more pressure on ur opp.

[tjholdem]

Gotta stay away from those situations where you are going against the big stack and could be put out. clearly, if you would have avoided the situation you would have continued on in the tourney. 10/10 is a risky hand against the big stack. There are too many other possibilities that could beat you. Remember, a good poker player can throw away a great hand.

Similar situation in one of my home games when player 1 threw away a huge hand (Ace high straight) to a hand that could have taken him out. He threw his str8 away and the other player showed the boat. He would have been out early, but instead he played on and won some cash!!