66 Midway in a MTT.

gocall01

Just got knocked out of a 40+ field live MTT.

Villain had just joined table (7 players) with about 11.5K
I covered with 13.5 K.
Blinds were 500/1K.
Average stacks in the region of 18K-20K.

Villain raised to 4K from UTG+1, folded to me.
I thought for 5 seconds and pushed all in.
BB folded and villain called.

Now, I knew that the villain would probably call and I was probably in a race (at best).

AQ v 66, Q first card, end of story.

Should I have waited for a better spot?

I would be considered a reasonably tight, patient, ABC poker player.
Going down to this game I decided to loosen my game a little as I had been blinded out on a few occasions in the recent past.

My major motivation for going all in was that you need to win your share of races in a tourney to win it.
I would have been in good shape had the 66 stood up to the AQ.

Want I really want to know is, is this the correct play at this point and time in the tourney?
I can easily go back to really tight if that is the more correct way to get the job done.

All feedback, criticism appreciated...:o

a-k-47

it all depends if you want to race or not.. you played the hand well and just got unlucky.. i take it you were in LP which is best for the re raise push with mid pair in this situation to isolate the blinds. Nothing wrong with your play was just a time to gamble which you wanted to take.

Mellor

Well you knew you were in a race at best so, thats what you got. Coinflip at best.
He was in the same situation as you, and if you needed to make a move soon. It can only work half the time

opr

I am not a big fan of this move.

Ok so he has 11.5k blinds are 1k,2k and you push covering the 11.5k so the pot is now 17.5 and is back to the original raiser who is calling 6.5 to win a pot of 26K. I don't think he is folding many hands here.

So your essentially calling off your stack for what is at best a race ? Your not terminal so why would you want to do this ?

I would much prefer to wait and raise an unopened or unraised pot or use button,c/o steals etc to keep me in this thing. In other words i think you can find a better spot.

Opr

MacStacked

I would take more than 6 seconds to decide...

As opr points out you are definitely not getting a fold from him. So then you need to decide if you want to push considering you will get called by an unknown UTG raiser. His range most likely is all pairs above 66 and AT+. At very best you are racing and quite likely dominated. I fold.

As played you are happy enough to end up against AQ and have a good shot at getting your stack up to a level where you are not playing all-in poker.

I do see the merit in taking coin-flip situations, but i dont think this the situation here.

gocall01

MacStacked wrote:

I would take more than 6 seconds to decide...

As opr points out you are definitely not getting a fold from him. So then you need to decide if you want to push considering you will get called by an unknown UTG raiser. His range most likely is all pairs above 66 and AT+. At very best you are racing and quite likely dominated. I fold.

As played you are happy enough to end up against AQ and have a good shot at getting your stack up to a level where you are not playing all-in poker.

I do see the merit in taking coin-flip situations, but i dont think this the situation here.

Yes, while driving home this was going through my mind.
I think a better spot could have been found.

I was was very aware of being blinded out in the past and made the decision to make a stand (expecting a call) and be what may.

opr made the point that an all-in raise into an unopened pot would be a better move, I see the merits of possibly taking down the blinds from time to time.
Other than that you will usually find yourself in the race again or totally dominated.

Thanks for the replies.:)
Till next week to try and find a better spot!

MacStacked

Yeh you have it spot on really. I think you probably just got caught up in the heat of the moment, never be afraid to think for a minute or two especially if it is your tournament on the line. Pushing in an unraised pot has a far higher chance of getting through. Best of luck

a-k-47

hes not looking to push him off the hand.

MacStacked

a-k-47 wrote:

hes not looking to push him off the hand.

Yes and that is why it is bad to push in this spot.

You will not get him off his hand and at best you are 50/50 and very often 80/20.

gocall01

MacStacked wrote:

Yes and that is why it is bad to push in this spot.

You will not get him of his hand and at best you are 50/50 and very often 80/20.

Thinking...
It would obviously been a much better spot to push with say JJ as I would have gotten rid of the 77 to JJ issues and really been an almost certain coin flip.

I was looking for the 50/50 but obviously the 80/20 was an as likely situation pushing with 66.

A better spot will be found at next weeks game.

Ya see Ma, I am learning!