OK for like every tourney i play i end up being in first by staying conservative,but i always end up getting pockets A's or pocket K's and im forced to call an all in.I end up losing to a nut str8 every time!.I will still have chips left but then i get fed A's again and lose.WTF! So my question would be if you are deep in any tournament and in first do you call pocket A's and K's?
Oh yeah i fold J's and lower and depending on my stack i might call Q's.
ABSOLUTELY - I am calling every time - especially as chip leader. Those guys shoving are getting to a level of desperation (depending on stack) and you have to assume chances are good they do not have a premium hand (though still possible). You don't get sucked out "every time" - it just seems like it because it leaves quite an impression on the brain. Such as:
Me and the other chip leader go head to head on a shove - he has Cowboys and I have Rockets - he rivers a King. Everyone else went to final table - I went out the door. Never seen before or since but if he walked through my door right now I'd know who he was. This was last year.
Final table on the bubble - Rockets again versus AK and KK. Over half of the total tournament chips are in the middle. We flip over and a guy announces the Aces have it. I looked over and said "Dont be too sure." Flop brings the one out K. Poor guy with big slick threw his cards in the muck before the flop. Good thing a straight or flush didn't come up or he'd have puked. Ran in to the KK guy months later (sat down right next to me in another tourney) and I asked, "Aren't you the guy who flopped a K on my Aces at the final table and bubbled me out?" He said he didn't know - I said, "Yeah, you are - I've been looking for you." Knocked him out of that tourney, which I went on to win.
So anyway - yeah it happens - not all the time, but it leaves an impression and can seem like it. Keep calling. You will most likely lose one out of four of those, but if you lose four in a row, there's eight wins you are due for the math to hold - which, in the end, it will**. So keep calling.
BTW, since shorter stacks are shoving lesser hands than usual - their 89s actually has a better chance of cracking your AA than if they held Big Slick. You are still golden though - call those bastards :boxing:
**DISCLAIMER - Yeah I know - stupid example for the infinite continuum of math - just trying to get it down it's basest level