Races?

[perry519]

It's often said that to win a tournament you have to win the races. However, what if you know you're getting into one for all your money, do you still pull the trigger?

I did and lost but, I think I made the right play. I'll set the scene. 250 player's started the tournament it is now down to 60. I'm on the button with AQ suited and a player in middle position shoves all in after it is folded to him. This is not a surprise because I've seen him do it before with small to medium pocket pairs and outdraw 2 other players. Also, this same player has limped or merely doubled the BB when holding Aces or Kings. We were almost even in chips and I deciced to go ahead and enter into what I knew was a race. Sure enough up comes pocket 9's and the race was on. It was a short race b/c he flopped a full house 9 3 3. And to add insult to injury I made my flush on the river. I thought it was worth the risk to try and cripple the bastard however, I was the one that was sent to the rail. AQ comes up short again.

 

[Matt24]

what were blinds and stack sizes

 

[perry519]

Blinds 150/300
I had about 3500 and he was at 3800. We were the medium stacks with the chip leader at 7000 and short stacks around 1500.

 

[Matt24]

its a close decision, either folding or calling is pretty much the same given your read. I would lean towards folding though probably, because you still have over 10 big blinds and can wait a few rounds and hope to pick up a big hand. Patience I believe is the key to tourneys and that is my greatest asset as a tourney player. Case in point, UPC $1500 with 17 people left, I'm sitting in 16th place, with 7 people left I have more than twice as many chips as the next guy and go on to finish 2nd. That doesnt necessarily apply to your situation totally as AQs is a pretty strong hand in that spot, but just some advice, always remember to be patient in no limit tourneys.

Oh.. and why the picture of Hoyt? I sat by him for about 2.5 hours the other day. He has a girlfriend who is anywhere from 21-24. Apparently, he's a stud. LOL

 

[ProPokerPlayer]

Its a coin flip your going to probably lose more often than win...with AQ your a slight dog to sm/middle pckts and about the only hand ur +ev against is AJ...and whats the chances he's all-in with worst than that? the best u can hope for is a Q cus if he doesnt have the prs your A is counterfeit and if hes on pckt Q's or K's your dead there too....both Brunson and Ivey have said AQ has lost them more money than any other hand....although in the same conversation Ivey says he'd still play em ...Ill go with logic, brunson and now matt :muscles: and fold....

 

[Matt24]

I stuck this into Poker Stove and given your read. I put his range from QQ-55, AKs-ATs, KQs, and Ako-AJo. The ATs may be generous as could be 55-66, not sure, as I don't have the read, but your equity in that spot is 50.255% so youre slightly ahead of that range with AQs

 

[perry519]

It was a race, which I was pretty sure it was going to be, and I lost. Looking back maybe I should've put the brakes on in that situation simply b/c it was a 10 handed table and a lot of my outs could've been thrown in the muck already. Oh well, that's poker.

p.s. How can you not pull for a guy wearing a cowboy hat named Hoyt.

 

[Matt24]

I dont know, but Hoyt made the most mind boggling call in recent memory that had the whole place talking about it for the next 2 hours. Hoyt had a huge stack, chip leader with 30-25 left by far, then he started playing strange. He had about 20k while average was 12k when this hand comes up. I dont know the pf action but here is the flop action.

FLop: 55J

Guy in first position goes all in for 12k, pot had like 4k in it. Hoyt calls off 12K and turns over Q9. Yes Q high, the other guy had AQ.