Dealing with the all in Player

I play a lot of tourney's but it seems like every tourney that I play there is always one player that goes all in. No matter where they are at in the hand or flop even pre-flop. I see this more so on low limit tourneys or some freerolls. How do you deal with this. The prob that I have is I find it late in the tourney where the blinds are alot more. Anyhelp would be great

Wait until you have a hand and call them. Donks like this are how we build out BR for later in the tourney, yes sometimes they suck out on us, thats poker.

Anytime someone has 3-5 Big blinds left and they catch a decent hand they should to go for it. I do notice a lot of players are so afraid of getting called they push. This almost always backfires on them.

This^^^^^^^

When I first started playing I would never call these even with a great hand, now I hate seeing them getting called by someone then getting knocked out. I think damn there goes some easy chips.

I'm afraid thats the way it seems to go most times, all you can do is call them if you've got it, if not sit out for a bit, they generally leave soon. I also have noticed it towards the end, alot recently, I've been holding out for a strong hand, thats my strategy atm. Recently a friend told me he heard Donald Trump say when they push, push back, I'm still thinking about that one.

If its a freeroll then i might call with a good hand but in tournys with real money buy ins i usally dont call these all ins preflop unless i have AA AKs AKo or KK.

The freerolls normally starts with an all-in Donkfest . I always wait and sit out even with QQ or KK ,caus there are always some players hitting a straight or flush with garbage-hands.
I say wait for 10-15 minutes and then start playing your game.

Wait for a premium hand AA,KK,QQ,AKs sometimes JJ thats in a freeroll. In a Tournament with a buy in AA,KK thats it. I know its tough to fold ladies and AK but if your opponent has ace king its 50/50. even if hes an idiot who goes all in with ace ten suited and you call with ladies your a favorite but its still rollin the dice preflop. You want to dominate and exterminate your opponent. You want the aces and him to hold AK or KK against his Queens. Be patient let someone else gamble.Grind.

Hehe.. this is my attitude too. I see one of those guys and I'm just praying for a calling hand so I can be the one to grab their chips.

But the previous comment is correct as well -- if you're short and the blinds are big, you've got to pick a couple of cards and ride 'em out. This doesn't mean go all-in every hand (those are the guys we love), but I hate seeing a short stack called a donkey because he goes all-in with A-5 suited in button-1. That's probably the best hand he's seen in a long time and he's gotta make a move.

patience.....then snap call with Aces

That would be really patient. I certainly couldn't count on getting a pair of Aces over the entire life of the tourny. I think I read somewhere it about i hand in 220 though I did see Sklansky get 7 pairs of Aces in one game a couple of days ago on poker superstars. He did win the match BTW but only 6 out 7 of the pairs were good.

I'm beginning to think I should just sit out when one of these all-inners is at the table. Everytime I get a hand I would like to play I have to fold because I don't want to risk it all just yet. Then it gets worse when they win with trash hands.

I start looking for this spot at 10 12 BBs left....with 3 bbs if blinds are at 100, you're talking about 300 chips...a guy with 2500 chips will call you just because he can put you out without hurting his stack should he lose.

Actually it's more like 10 M i start looking...so, when the BB is 100 and the SB is 50, I'm starting to look at 1500 chips. I may not go all in, but, if I play the hand I'm usually READY to go all in, meaning if someone pushes me after i raise 3x to 5x BB I'm calling or pushing the rest of my chips in.

I'm not real happy with just cashig in PS tourneys right now, I'm wanting to at the minimum make the final table.

I understand being tight but if you've got QQ or JJ and you put the guy on a weak Ace you've got to call there. against AT odds for QQ are the same as KK. Unless you are in very early position I say call him with QQ or JJ and let the cards fall where they may.

"The all-in" player...I think that no matter what tourny, or how much the buy-in, there will always be a few all-in players. If you play your cards, position, etc. you should beat them in the end. However, suck-outs are part of poker!

Well in my opinion, its a lot better to move all in preflop more later in tments b/c of the size of the blinds. Usually best done in late position even with marginal hand b/c odds of blinds calling are very slim. You need to be careful when pushing against players left to act who have you covered in chips. But most of those idiots in the freerolls are just trying to keep doubling up to get a big stack where they can bully. All you have to do is be patient and wait for the perfect chance to trap him b/c the opportunity will come. Good Luck

Thank you all

You know whats funny, every time I've checked...the all inners are not at the top of the leader board, maybe in the first few levels, but not where it counts. Now if I could keep from going on tilt dealing with these fools, that would be great.

Best feeling in the world. Some guy sat down at a 2/5 table on Pokerstars and just went all in every hand. About the 5th time I said to myself "c'mon, one time AA or KK" Got dealt KK the next hand and the rest is history.

Some people in this world just apparently have too much money...

ill tell you right now in this exact situation in a freeroll the person will almost ALWAYS have a small pocket pair or AQ, AJ , A 10, TRUST ME i know i go throught this every day

I advise you to save in the notebook such as ultraagresivos and players in all.
When you find any of them in a tournament takes great care with them.
And try not bluff and only go in really good hands.

just fold everyhand till some1 knoks him out, dont risk ur chip even with really good hands, they get really lucky with bad beats lol

If someone is shoving too much, don't let him get to you and do not call him with weak hands, wait for QQ,AK,KK,AA and then call his ass!

He will probally double you.

You cannot let yourself get down that low. Even if you catch a hand, get called, and doubled up your stack is still crap and your still in the same situation. That low you risk getting sucked out on if you do have a hand anyway.


Gotta start looking for a spot when down to ~7-8 BB's at worst to shove and either get the blinds, double up, or bust. CARDS DO NOT MATTER. On loose tables where its impossible to be first in, when UTG makes sure I am. Sure people look at me like I am a donk shoving 35o UTG and sucking out against a high PP, but I rather suck out or bust than be the dead one everyone is looking to bust out due to my stack being so small after getting hit with the blinds. Especially in the later stages with high blinds and ante's. I have stole my way from a 50k stack to a 300k+ stack (from short stack to 2nd chip leader) with the BB being 10k and never seeing a flop before. Every time they fold, your stack becomes more and more of a threat to theirs, so then they have to have even stronger hands to call, while I am choosing stronger and stronger hands to do it with.

I say this in reference to large MTT's where all the $$ is on the FT so you want to get to it, and folding down to 3-5 bb's waiting for good hands alone will not get you there.

This is your best bet, cowboy said all that needs to be said, i know i pull it off in a freeroll with a alliner

i agree with cowboy....wait till you have good cards and then strike.
you can easily double up off a player like this....but you may be sucked out on as well. and surprisinly i see it more in money tourneys...they must have money to burn or something

My strategy would be to play extremely tight against the player initially, get him thinking he can run you over, then call him with a hand you think has him beat and take him out.

It depends if your just trying to make the money or win the tournament. If your trying to win the tournament or if you need to double up to stay ahead of the blinds, then who better to take a shot at then the donks going all in all the time...they are just trying to use aggression to win. if your pretty comfortable with your stack then wait on a hand and challenge them then. You will win some and lose some but these guys are your ticket to the money.

Nothing too disgusting about having a player like this at my table, IMO, since I know at some point they're going to give their chips up. The only times I get disgusted are when they donk out on me once I get that big hand or if someone else at the table besides me gets their chips.

One good move is to sit out but keep en eye on your cards yet and wait when you have the hand you want sit in and go allin. did that with KK was going to win till the turn gave him a str8 and the river only kicked me even harder giving him a flush
well all i can say is thats poker he got his nuts and i missed i had 4 outs an JACK.

any pairs you should call with even 22 and yes 22 will beat and can beat AA well trips any way.....tho as you get deeper you may find one or 2 that start losseing and start back up again by that time the big stacks will call and take him out.

Early in a tourney, i am going to avoid it. After 45 min., I will go after them when I catch a strong starting hand.

I usually play safe mostly through the early stages of these kinds of tourneys. I was doing real well at bubbling or cashing small. I then started trying to see flops cheap. When the loose table limps to you its obvious that no one has anything. Then the 78 suited or 66 I've been folding all night will get raised. If flop doesn't hit fold, if it does they calling stations will reward you. This got me to higher cashes and a few final tables but no winners. Best was a third in a 10c omaha turbo. Then I tried being loose and taking chances and man did I get sucked out on. Time and time again the river was nailing me. Haven't cashed in a while and find it hard to find the rhythm I had before.

isnt the idea to wait for these guys to f up and then capitolize on their mistakes????.....

Some of them use the all in strategy to aquire chips especially around the bubble against lower stacks since they know people have to have AA or KK or AK to call.

king curtis is right. though, on a few freerolls, I have been known to gamble and try to call the donkfest... that is if I have other plans later that might interfere if I try to grind through to the last table.

just wait till you get a big hand and bust them, somtimes you don't get a chance to because they don't last long.