What do you think?

I was playing in one of the TEC freerolls last week at UB. 75 people left and of course top 50 move on to the final. At the time I had about 47k in chips. With Blinds at 1k-2k. In first position and dealt JJ. I raise to 8k and am re-raised 40k more thus making me go all-in if I want to play. I thought about this for a minute because I know this is getting close to the end. I also know I could be up against AA or something like AK. I also know if I win this pot, I will most certainly have enough to get through to the final.

I called the bet and was up against 88, however the turn brought an 8 and I was put out. So I know there are a few pros and cons about this play. What do you think?

I would have folded that one. Usually you will be up against a bigger pair or AK, in which case at best it's a coin flip.

Unlucky that he caught an 8 tho. Tough one.

You bet out right for the Jacks, but when someone comes over me, putting me all-in, in a freezeout tournament, I want to have better than JJ to feel comfortable. You did get your money in with the best of it, but you had to think that it was at best a coin-flip and at worst, you were beaten. Why risk your tournament life in this situation?

You absolutely had to make this call, and as it turned out, you had the better hand. Why risk your tournament life? I think it was Sam Fahra who said "In order to live, you can't be afraid to die". If you were up against a higher pair, as it turns out your opponent was, that's just a risk you've got to take. If your up against AK, your still the favorite.

Meh, I'm a fairly tight player, especially in a tournament setting, except for the portion where I am chip stacking. But, during this time, I like to be the one raising. I definately don't mind playing pocket Jacks for all my chips against one person, but I want to be the one pushing, not the one being pushed. I am much more comfortable dictating the action, than being allong for the ride. Just like his opponent put him all in with pocket 8's, he was the agressor, which is the position I like to take when I am playing for all my chips. I absolutely hate playing for my tournament life on the calling end of the round.

Diablo, someday we're going to find something that we agree about.

I think you bet a bit too strong (my opinion only) in first position although I know you should bet big there if you have something. But a smaller bet of say 4000 would have given you an easier time of folding. 8000 being about 1/6th of your chips

Thing is other players think PP 8's are a big hand - and he probably thought you were bluffing since he probably wasn't the best player and didn't understand your initial bet. I've folded PP 8's more times than I'd like to say.

Four Dogs-- I doubt it, but we can always try. LOL.

Four Dogs-- I doubt it, but we can always try. LOL. JK.

I think i woulda layed that down too
considering 1st to 50th is same prize (from what i understand) i wouldnt have risked getting knocked out before the last 25 die off
then again with the kind of raise that guy put in, i'd actually suspect a weaker hand like the 88 that he had
he may have seen your bet and thought you had a marginal hand, and tried to scare you off, so maybe a call was in order
I wouldnt be surprised though if he had AK or AQ or KK etc, so i personally would have layed that one down

Even if he had AK, AQ, etc, he was still a dog to the pocket Jacks. I would have been suspect of AA, KK, or QQ.

I agree with ChuckT. 1-50 is what you want. I would've waited till I saw a lot stronger hand. It cost you nothing to fold and wait. And that amount of chips would.'ve carried you there

Well to be honest

My initial thought was to lay this down after I was re-raised. However I have been in spots where I have had 40k or so, and ended up not making it to the end for because I would run into a cold patch of cards and get close to being blinded out. I didn't want that to happen again. I won't say I didn't make a risky call because I know I did.

As for your comment Michelle, well the only reason I raised to 8000 instead of something lower is simply because of how many chips everyone else had at the table. I didn't want someone calling with rags, or some other rubbish. At the time 8000 was enough to see who was where and who had what.

If I have learned anything playing pocket pairs such as 10's or above, it is that if you either slowplay, or let people in for small amounts when holding JJ or above, you usually get burned. And I think everyone here can relate to that.

I would have played the pocket jacks. If you knew he had pocket 8s. you still would have called (right?). He just got lucky. on the other hand, as we learned from many threads, pocket jacks are very tricky. :icon_pale

With 47K and only needing 25 people to go out to make the TEC final, I would not take that kind of risk since 1st-50th place gets you the same thing. However, once I was in about the same position and thought (you know what's coming next) I had the nuts on the hand ... only to lose 1/2 my stack and then be in the bottom 25. I waited for the best times, then all-inned twice, got in a safety zone, then sat on my hands for the end of the tourney. Geez - all that JUST to qualify for the chance to win a TEC.