$Freeroll NLHE MTT: Did I play this optimally??

888 Poker - $0+$0|350/700 Ante 85 NL - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: 8,817 (VPIP: 22.47, PFR: 17.44, 3Bet Preflop: 18.18, hands: 91)
CO: 33,793 (VPIP: 28.92, PFR: 19.51, 3Bet Preflop: 3.70, Hands: 87)
BTN: 4,535 (VPIP: 11.76, PFR: 10.39, 3Bet Preflop: 6.67, Hands: 85)
SB: 18,422 (VPIP: 24.78, PFR: 17.43, 3Bet Preflop: 7.50, Hands: 117)
Hero (BB): 15,317

5 players post ante of 85, SB posts SB 350, Hero posts BB 700

Pre Flop: (pot: 1,475) Hero has 2♦ A♦

fold, fold, fold, SB raises to 1,400, Hero raises to 15,232 and is all-in

This depends on what you know/think about your opponents. It's also important how you've played so far. If they/you've been loose or aggressive or not.
Also, what is your goal here, to just take blinds and antes, live for another hand or do you expect him to call. Only you know the answer.

I honestly think I played it correctly, but I am having an argument with my tracker, and I would like to see what other people think.

I personally had vill on a SB steal - Vill steal in SB is 33%

According to tracker it says fold even though it puts me as a 58% favourite, equilab puts vill as the 54% favourite.

Tracker is based on ICM and could be a wrong suggestion, considering this is not a FT

Actually putting my range in vs vills range I am now a 54% favourite, which makes me happy with my play

yeah without the risk of going broke I would say that's a fine play.. its common for any ace to be all in!

Snap shove, you have tons of FE here and can get villain to fold worse.

because it is a freeroll I would not play a direct allin because i don't know in which range put it, but then I may be wrong about it

trent32la said:

Snap shove, you have tons of FE here and can get villain to fold worse.

Click to expand...

WRONG !

She has "tons of fold equity" when the effective stack is many times bigger than the pot.

Here, both stacks are small relative to the pot size.

Yes, there is fold equity - only if her opponent was raising with sh*t.

But if he is raising with A-x or pocket pair - oops, he is the favourite. And he is calling... Even KQ, KJ, etc. are not that bad against A2.

ANY combination of non-paired cards without A or 2 behaves like KQ or KJ for example - if Villain hits a pair, she needs exactly A, because 2 is not good enough. And hitting a 2 does not change anything - her opponent needs 1 pair, as he would need if she didn't hit it.

In fact, she is huge underdog among the most popular allin hands (A-x and pairs) and she is just a slight 60/40 favourite against KQ, KJ and any other unpaired cards like that.

And also - her opponent will fold a pathetic hand. She wins 1400 chips. Not a big deal that will not change her situation dramatically.

Her opponent will CALL with a good hand - and she can lose ALL her chips.

And remember - at the final table prizes don't grow by small % - thay grow exponentially ! So, the difference if you bust 6th or 3rd is not like the difference between 26th and 23rd.

So, why risk the entire stack and the possible much higher prices for 2 BBs that will not improve significantly your tournament future ???

I think the maximum here is call. See the flop and re-evaluate.
The flop will also reveal if her "suited connectors" had any flush or straight draw potential. And the price to see it was only 700...

EvertonGirl said:

Actually putting my range in vs vills range I am now a 54% favourite, which makes me happy with my play

Click to expand...

The concept of poker software is that the % is calculated assuming that your opponent accepts the allin and calls.

The software evaluates how your hand fares against a pre-defined or user-set range of opponent's hands by individually calculating your A2s against each hand of the opponent's range.

So, 54% favourite means... nothing !!! Why ?

Because your opponent will FOLD with a weak hand. So, a big part of those 54% is based on WRONG assumption - that your opponent will always call.

If he folds - you win uncontested. But you win 1400, not 15000.

The % when you win 15000 is thus much lower than 54%.

And the risk to lose all your chips, if your opponent calls, is significant.

In my previous post, I explained how A2s fares against A-x, pairs and any non-paired cards.

I was happy to win the $1400.

The whole point of my shove was to see if SB was stealing, which I believed he was as his SB steal is 33%

I only checked to see if I was a slight favourite against his range as I can't work it out at the table, I just go on information a player gives me at the table. As trent was saying I do have FE and could get vill to throw a hand like Q8s in the muck

Yeah I am shoving here... you a lot of the good stuff and eve against pockets you got 30-35%... it is not a hand that is great for post flop here as you'll usually win a small pot or lose a big one... Always all in here so yes played perfectly.

bushy_lufc said:

Yeah I am shoving here... you a lot of the good stuff and eve against pockets you got 30-35%... it is not a hand that is great for post flop here as you'll usually win a small pot or lose a big one... Always all in here so yes played perfectly.

Click to expand...

Thank you

I would not play all-in... thats freeroll. That kind of tournaments are very specyfic. There is a lot of players who don't know anything about strategy.
With A2 I don't want to play all-in vs bigger stack and I want to resteal. But because that is freeroll than opponent will call You too often.

I think better here will be a call and good play postflop (freeroll players often don't know what to do when community cards are on the table)

everything depends on the user being on the small blind . but lyubm case, I would not have dropped .

Edson said:

I would not play all-in... thats freeroll. That kind of tournaments are very specyfic. There is a lot of players who don't know anything about strategy.
With A2 I don't want to play all-in vs bigger stack and I want to resteal. But because that is freeroll than opponent will call You too often.

I think better here will be a call and good play postflop (freeroll players often don't know what to do when community cards are on the table)

Click to expand...

I agree with a normal freeroll but as this is a CC freeroll, a lot of these players play strategic poker.

EvertonGirl said:

I was happy to win the $1400.

The whole point of my shove was to see if SB was stealing, which I believed he was as his SB steal is 33%

I only checked to see if I was a slight favourite against his range as I can't work it out at the table, I just go on information a player gives me at the table. As trent was saying I do have FE and could get vill to throw a hand like Q8s in the muck

Click to expand...

First, in your initial question, you did NOT mention anything about the % of Villain's SB steal.

Second, you evaluate your play by the specific outcome in this situation, which you did NOT mention in your initial post (the outcome that Villain folded and you were "happy to win the 1400").

Considering the 33% SB steal, I would re-evaluate the probabilities and scenarios, and going all-in would seem as a very good move.

Not knowing that SB steal is at 33%, I would NOT go all-in, because risking 15 000 chips (and a great tournament prize !) for just 1400 is not a good move.

Again, the Devil is in the details...

EvertonGirl

Although I am a fan of Liverpool myself (ouch, don't throw bottles at me !), I like the motto of Everton.

And since "Nothing but the best will satisfy you" - it is good that you try to reflect and analyze whether your play was the best possible one or not.