Talk to people, I'd like your help in one hand. I've known the game for a few years but I've actually played, in fact, for about a month, reading books and looking for a coach where I live. I played my second live tournament and I wondered if I did a lot of shit in my elimination hand.


The blinds were 1000-500, I was 30BB and the villain 55BB + -. I left with AJ in the hijack, had a call before me and I gave 4k bet. Villain was BB, he paid, the limper folded. Flop came 35J, he betou 1/2 pot and I shoved.


My main difficulty comes from analyzing range of hands after the flop, that's where I'm studying. I gave him all in for him to fold, and I had the pot that was big. He called with QQ.


I know he played right and my question is if I did wrong coming back from shove. Thanks in advance.

Yes tough hand to play when you hit your Jack you could be winning or losing the best move here is fold preflop forget about it and do not get in to these tricky spots in raised pot but in a limped pot it might pay off for you as opponents probably have KJ/
QJ / and 10 J good luck in future.

I agree with Hugh, Its a tricky hand. It really depends on who you are playing against. He could have had 35, 33, 55, JJ, all hands that could have smooth called. I would suspect QQ, KK, AA, would raise, but a call with any of those wouldn't be a bad play either.

It all comes down to are you willing to put your whole tournament on the line with just top pair? Top pair is overplayed a lot and we've all done it. Just chalk it up as a learning experience.

Hello, welcome to the forum. I think the mistake was that you just played your game ie level of thinking 1 and your question clear what do I have here?

it happened to me last night. but i had the pocket AQ. i raised the guy called. flop came Qxx i move all in and the guy calls. he had AA.

There is no correct answer for when you face those hands, it all depends on your intuition and the data obtained from your rivals while the game is over, if you analyze the replay correctly you will realize at what moment you should stop or use another bet strategy, but as I say no nay a presidential answer for this.

When you shove here the villain gets to play perfectly only calling when you are beat and folding everything else. The villain's lead here is a little strange. In this spot with Top Top I would probably just call down here depending on the board run out.

Sorry, translation is failing. On the flop, he first put 1/2 of the pot? If so, you can think about making a pass, but it's very difficult. And this is a typical cooler and there will be a lot of such distributions. So do not worry and improve your game) Good luck

I prefer QQ

Originally Posted by xexeu

Talk to people, I'd like your help in one hand. I've known the game for a few years but I've actually played, in fact, for about a month, reading books and looking for a coach where I live. I played my second live tournament and I wondered if I did a lot of shit in my elimination hand.


The blinds were 1000-500, I was 30BB and the villain 55BB + -. I left with AJ in the hijack, had a call before me and I gave 4k bet. Villain was BB, he paid, the limper folded. Flop came 35J, he betou 1/2 pot and I shoved.


My main difficulty comes from analyzing range of hands after the flop, that's where I'm studying. I gave him all in for him to fold, and I had the pot that was big. He called with QQ.


I know he played right and my question is if I did wrong coming back from shove. Thanks in advance.

I have had those same experience but the one thing I have learned is only risk your whole chip stack when you have the nuts on five card hand such as straights and flushes.

Too many times you think AJ is a good hand but it gets beat by a high pocket pair or big slick.

AJ is a good hand, but it is not premium... In tourneys once blinds force play sometimes AJ will be your best hand and you may have to hope it holds; there is no avoiding coin flips sometimes especially in tournaments. Normally I like to play AJ as slowly as possible and not try to commit too much to it. Unless I am trying to steal the blind I will not even bet pre-flop with it which means I will only bet preflop with it if I have decent position or I am desperate. I fold AJ a lot pre flop. QQ on the other hand is great and can be played premium like above case.

You shoved on a single pair. I don't agree with this. It was a good flop if it was rainbow. Still with TPTK your hand is below 55, 33, KK, QQ. Like any hand you want to hit the flop hard. TPTK can be good enough but he did call your raise. I would re-raised with QQ here preflop. I also don't like his call of the all-in here. He too has only a pair. He is losing also to JJ, 55, 33, AA, KK. He is above 70% throughout the hand to win and even increases after you hit your J. Your only outs are A or J, or 5 outs.

Originally Posted by karl coakley

I agree with Hugh, Its a tricky hand. It really depends on who you are playing against. He could have had 35, 33, 55, JJ, all hands that could have smooth called. I would suspect QQ, KK, AA, would raise, but a call with any of those wouldn't be a bad play either.

It all comes down to are you willing to put your whole tournament on the line with just top pair? Top pair is overplayed a lot and we've all done it. Just chalk it up as a learning experience.

I would also gather the villain would call with any pocket pair, Ax, or even big broadway cards (AK, KQ, KJ, KT, AQ, QJ, even maybe JT.)

AJ polar solution

Today i have two aces and lose 3 and 5 (with straight). I prefer QQ