Idiots that try to bluff when a 3rd player in hand is all in, in tournament play.

Have you ever run into this in tourney play? 3 players in a pot, 3rd player is all in pre-flop. 1st players comes out bluffing, making a huge c bet. 2nd player ends up folding - 1st player turns over j-10 off on a K-7-3 board....Q-turn, river 8 - All in player shows QJ, takes the pot and wins hand. 2nd player says in chatbox, thanks, you made me fold pocket 88's.

Doesn't that just get under your skin???

In a cash game, anything goes but in tourney play, your goal is to ELIMINATE the other players! I would say that is one of the biggest tabboos in tourney play - to try to c-bet, bluff when 3rd player is all in - pure stupidity.

i been saying that for 4 1/2 years here now, if theres 2 players and an Allin player, Check it Down, its just as important to Eliminate players in a tournament, every player you eliminate is closer to the money for you, Sadly no one listens to that,,so i agree with you king,, buck

*sigh*

This has been done so many times if you wanna look up some of the old threads. The short version of my view on it though:

It's not always in everyone's best interests to eliminate the player. Often, but not always and if you can't see that you really need to be taking a wider view.

What if it's the bubble, you've got a big stack and the rest of your table is playing scared? It's in your interests to prolong the bubble as long as possible and keep accumulating chips.

There's also potential benefits to be had from tilting the kind of players who have a coronary when someone bluffs a dry side pot.

If those are the only reasons you can come up with to defend someone that does that, then I rest my case.

Pure donk move, plain and simple.

I am specifically talking about BLUFFING - not betting if you actually have a hand....starting a side pot is fine as long as you have a hand.

IMO the only acceptable move is to go all in yourself if you plan on starting a side pot. Anything less and you should be shot, pissed on, and killed.

This is so funny, and it happens time and again. I play quite a lot of low buy-in satellite tourneys, and people do this on the bubble, every day of the week.
Only thing you can do is to laugh about it.

Granted, there's pretty much nothing to gain in a tournament with a flat payout structure (like a satellite or a DoN).

I am always amazed at a dry side pot bluff, it makes no sense at all. I have been the guy with the 88 before. Especially on the river and there is still a dry side pot.

When their all in and are short stacked it doesnt make no sense to get another hand in not see to the end. You have given then a chance to triple up on heads up play. Check the hand until the end and may best hand win.

Betfair sent me $20 usd free so I've been playing in their SnG ($2.70 & $5.50) and I've seen lots of guys bluff just like the OP stated and the funniest is when a guy calls my all-in bluffing. Never seen that before on other sites.

If somebody is all-in unless you have a solid hand to get somebody else to call. I agree with checking it out. why waste the chips

Got to agree here...the only time to bet is if you have the absolute nuts. I have also seen this creeping in to game play more and more often.

However I have seen bluffs at the pot being made when the side pot is actually quite large in proportion to the all-in.

Cant seem to find the Hand History but as I remember it it went something like this - 4 left
UTG 450
SB 2600
BB 3250
Hero 2700

UTG went all in for a total of 450 when the blinds were 1K / 2K. SB called and BB checked. Post flop ,SB was short stacked and bet out 400 (out of about 600 left) and BB folded. The hands turned out that UTG had A10 and SB had A8 or something similar.The actual hands not important however as after the pot although UTG had tripled up to 1350 SB had won the side pot and increased thier chip count to 3100 while the BB was on 1250.

I must stress that I recreated this hand from what I remember about this and the chip counts are fictional but illustrate the point. (I just hope i got the maths right :P).

When it's a straight bluff it is just dumb, however their money their chips they can do what they want. It might actually be a good thing as it creates the 'that guy is a complete bellend' image. When you have a hand thats vulnerable like TP or middle pair you should play it normally. If you have a set you should play for value.

People who say that they should check it down unless they have the nuts are the true idiots. If i want to protect my top-pair and make you fold something that turned into a set, well at least i'll win the side pot and I might have the best hand anyways.

Actually if theres any side pot at all then i'm gonna play normally anyway. If I make you fold i know i'm gonna win something. Tournies are about accumulation iirc, not about knocking people out (FT situations are obviously a bit different.)

Yes this is very annoying but I guess if they make a wierd play and it works for them you really cant blame them I dont know lol. I mean at low limits not everyone knows the correct plays in these late stages of tournaments in the first place so you cant put yourself on tilt from these type of things but yea once again it is a bit annoying.

If I have the nuts in this situation I will usually put out small bets to encourage a side pot. Otherwise I will check it down and etiqette tells us that most peope should be doing this. If you push people out and then lose the hand it just makes you look weaker than you really are. But like people that go all in first hand in a tourney with any 2 (or 4) you will always run into people that don't know or care that this play is wrong

Don't we want to look weaker? Should that encourage us to do it then?

The +'s of betting are image, we win a side pot if there is one, we protect our hand, we can get value for our hand.

+'s of not betting. The all in oponent is more likely to go out. Though if our checking buddy doesn't have a strong hand he'll check and it won't make a difference.

Personally I don't give a shit about either of them. I want chips.

EDIT: I admit that if it's a stole cold bluff with no outs then it's stupid but people that don't wanna protect top pair are more stupid.

Its stupid when the payout structure would jump if the person was eliminated, deep in the tournament check it down for sure. I don't see the point in bluffing at a board at anytime during a tournament with three or more in the pot and one all in though. Sounds like a donk.