Stupid? Prudent or Cowardly?

D

dumpy620_84

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I was playing a sit and go yesterday and was close to even in starting chips ($1000) and the blinds were 50/100. The table was full with nine players. The short(ish) stack in the small blind to my right goes all in for an additional 115 making it 215 to go. I'm in the big blind so I call with AQ suited. Player to my left goes all in. So I lay it down, putting at least one of them on pocket pairs, which as it turns they both do, 10s and 7s. I caught my nut flush, but what're you gonna do?

The problem which leads to my question happens two more times in the same game. Player to my right goes all in with a callable raise when I have KQ o and QJ o. Each time a player to my left goes all in, once with an A10o against my KQ and K9o against my QJ. Oddly enough I would have won those races too. But again, hindsight.

So the question is... Were the guys over the top of me ballsy or stupid? And was I cowardly or prudent? Should I have had the balls to push all in with AQs and shut everyone else out and/or take the risk it all on a coin flip?

If I had a huge stack I might have called but I'm more inclined to think I still might have folded and saved those chips to a situation where I could have "controlled" the hand versus a race. Thoughts?
 
B

BluffYou123

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I think you were right to take the conservative approach.

If you had called and hadn't won the races you'd be out.

All the hands you mentioned are easily dominated hands so your folds were correct although your hands would have won in the end.

Good folds IMO.
 
Z

zingbust

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Depends on how many chips the player to your left had in that first one, and also, whatever u may have known about him at the time.
 
FatBasset

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To me it comes down to whether folding gives you a better chance to win. In the first example the SB could have had any two cards. But, before you call you should have taken into account the other players left to act. I wouldn't call if you are concerned about a re-raise. For me with a hand like AQs your decision should have been all in or fold with players left to act. In the examples you put in your post I think the players on your left thought you were weak because you simply called a short stack all in move. After you folded the second time the only explaination for the over the top move with K9 was your repeated weakness in folding.
 
A

Aqqachar

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I go with FatBasset on this one...
 
S

Sportsmenc

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Should I have had the balls to push all in with AQs and shut everyone else out and/or take the risk it all on a coin flip?
You have had the balls to go all-in.
Poker is not only calculating game. You have to FEEL it
 
A

akaCLINT

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take alook at the FullTilt Poker Academy, they have good lessons on Sit & gos...
It depends on what kind of player you are, technically - strategically at least the first laydown was correct, i might have shoved it though...
GL
aC
 
J

j_unatrix

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aq suited def and probably the kq also

You see while I understand your thinking and also give you credit for not spazzing like a lot of other players would and just auto-pushing without really thinking about whether that is the best decision or not I think you made a couple of mistakes. This is why I have come to this decision, first off you mentioned the table was still full with 9 people, secondly you only had about 10bbs. Now you know the short could have honestly been holding any two cards and after you just called the next player saw the pot odds and figured you being a tight player with a small stack he could push you off the hand and wouldnt take that big a hit anyway even if you had a monster. I can get more in depth on the matter but i believe it may be a waste of time you as a player even with a good strategy must be able to adjust to the players around you or it you cannot truly survive AQ suited full table still only 10bbs small raise in front of you screams all in. There was no reason you ever had to make a decision on whether to call someone elses all in you be the aggressor make your own luck and it will pay dividends in the end.
 
BelgoSuisse

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I was playing a sit and go yesterday and was close to even in starting chips ($1000) and the blinds were 50/100. The table was full with nine players. The short(ish) stack in the small blind to my right goes all in for an additional 115 making it 215 to go. I'm in the big blind so I call with AQ suited.

With limpers still to act that's a very bad call, imo. You have to shove to isolate against the all-in short stack.

In essence, when you have a stack of 10bb, using the "call" button is terrible. The only good moves are folding and shoving all in. Anything else is just spew. Until you realize that, you'll be a fish at SNGs.
 
BelgoSuisse

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Should I have had the balls to push all in with AQs and shut everyone else out and/or take the risk it all on a coin flip?
You have had the balls to go all-in.
Poker is not only calculating game. You have to FEEL it

This is wrong on all kinds of ways.

Having balls or not should be irrelevant when you play poker. If you need balls to push all-in in a SNG, you're playing with scared money and that's a huge problem in itself. Move down in stakes until the results become irrelevant to you and start learning the game.

And the end-game of SNGs is strictly a calculating game and has nothing to do with how you FEEL it. ICM-based push fold decisions are pretty much automatic once the stacks are shortish compared to the blinds. If you don't play the push/fold game properly, you'll just get eaten alive by players who do.
 
jdeliverer

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Should I have had the balls to push all in with AQs and shut everyone else out and/or take the risk it all on a coin flip?
You have had the balls to go all-in.
Poker is not only calculating game. You have to FEEL it

Not sure if this is a joke or a freeroll post =P
 
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