VMVarga
Rock Star
Silver Level
This is the hand that knocked me out of the nov.4 sunday CC freeroll. I just wanted to know what other think about it and whether or not they would have acted differently.
So, we are approaching the bubble, about 20 away, and I have about 17 blinds left. Im in the big blind, and UTG opens with a min raise. A very short stack (he had 1.3 blinds left) in mid position calls, moving all in with his tiny stack. I call with AT off.
The flop comes A78. I lead out with a half pot bet, which was also half of my stack. UTG raises all in. I called. He shows AQ, and the tiny stack shows A7. All four aces in play, and I have the worst of it. The turn and river didn't help me and I got knocked out.
My original read from the UTG raiser was that he had AK, or AJ at the least. I had a gut feeling to fold, but I don't usually operate on just gut feelings (even though I had the thought that this exact thing would happen; that an ace would flop and my kicker wouldn't be good enough and I wouldn't be able to fold even though I really really should). Circumstances led me to call because it was just a min raise and I had a hand perfect for defending with.
For those wondering why, if I had made a read that he had AK, would I go ahead and lead out and not go with a check/fold instead; I don't have a good answer for you. I am still wondering if I am strong enough to make a post flop check/fold on that hand. I didn't have the best kicker, but it was pretty strong, and the only aces that beat me were AK, AQ, or AJ, unless of course he had aces up, which I did not think he had because UTG preflop raisers don't often play such weak aces this late in the game. So I guess in hindsight, I could have saved myself by either folding preflop or check/folding based on my read. But that is hindsight, and I have never been a big fan of Captain Hindsight.
Should I have trusted my gut and my read, which was almost dead on, and just folded preflop, or did I make an acceptable play? I am honestly on the fence between the two. I feel like that is a spot where you shouldn't be folding to a min raise just because of a gut feeling, but that gut feeling and my read turned out to be right and the better play for that specific moment was to just fold it. At this point, I can't decide for myself if it was good, bad, or just one of those hands where sometimes it goes my way and sometimes it doesn't, and that this was just one of the times it didn't.
I appreciate any input and opinions.
So, we are approaching the bubble, about 20 away, and I have about 17 blinds left. Im in the big blind, and UTG opens with a min raise. A very short stack (he had 1.3 blinds left) in mid position calls, moving all in with his tiny stack. I call with AT off.
The flop comes A78. I lead out with a half pot bet, which was also half of my stack. UTG raises all in. I called. He shows AQ, and the tiny stack shows A7. All four aces in play, and I have the worst of it. The turn and river didn't help me and I got knocked out.
My original read from the UTG raiser was that he had AK, or AJ at the least. I had a gut feeling to fold, but I don't usually operate on just gut feelings (even though I had the thought that this exact thing would happen; that an ace would flop and my kicker wouldn't be good enough and I wouldn't be able to fold even though I really really should). Circumstances led me to call because it was just a min raise and I had a hand perfect for defending with.
For those wondering why, if I had made a read that he had AK, would I go ahead and lead out and not go with a check/fold instead; I don't have a good answer for you. I am still wondering if I am strong enough to make a post flop check/fold on that hand. I didn't have the best kicker, but it was pretty strong, and the only aces that beat me were AK, AQ, or AJ, unless of course he had aces up, which I did not think he had because UTG preflop raisers don't often play such weak aces this late in the game. So I guess in hindsight, I could have saved myself by either folding preflop or check/folding based on my read. But that is hindsight, and I have never been a big fan of Captain Hindsight.
Should I have trusted my gut and my read, which was almost dead on, and just folded preflop, or did I make an acceptable play? I am honestly on the fence between the two. I feel like that is a spot where you shouldn't be folding to a min raise just because of a gut feeling, but that gut feeling and my read turned out to be right and the better play for that specific moment was to just fold it. At this point, I can't decide for myself if it was good, bad, or just one of those hands where sometimes it goes my way and sometimes it doesn't, and that this was just one of the times it didn't.
I appreciate any input and opinions.