I hit at least one of the ACR final tables per day. Minimum time to final table is about 2 hours and 45 minutes and I shoot for a goal of $50k to $85k when we get there.
...Why only shoot for a goal of 50K-85K? Shouldn't the goal be to end up with all of the chips?
So the common thought is that once you've got down to 15% of the field you've eliminated most of the super aggressive ultra loose players but not in this case.
...Well, common poker strategy is that when blinds go up and stacks get shallow, you need to widen your opening range more, shove/3bet shove wider, and take smaller edges than you usually would when you're deep stacked in the earlier rounds. A lot of action can be determined by stack size vs blinds and a loose-aggressive style at the later stages is not uncommon. Especially by players who know how to adjust. Maybe that's what you're seeing?
If you're still seeing 3+ people involved in all in hands than you probably shouldn't be involved in one of those unless you're a super low stack that's not likely to survive blinds to the final table.
...Well, you still need a hand to get involved in 3 way all in regardless of your stack size assuming you aren't the one open-shoving. Yes, if you're down to 1BB or so, then getting ATC in for a chance to quadruple is fine. But if you're down to 10-15BBs, you can still be somewhat selective.
So back to 2 hours and 45 minutes.
That's a long time to work for $2.50 and 10 points. Specially if you're like myself and only made it to 25th on the leader board this week. lol
So considering your stack first. All in is all in. Means end of tournament. Still hard to fold? Shouldn't be if you can't get it isolated.
...If effective stack sizes and your hand strength warrants an all in, then don't be afraid to get your chips in. Yes, it'll be really hard for me to fold if I wake up with a hand like KK, I have 20BBs, and I'm facing a 5x BB raise. And if I shove and 3 people behind me call, so be it. It happens sometimes, but my hand strength and stack size made it so easy to shove there that I would have no regrets because my goal is to get to the FT and win it and there's almost no way to do so if I'm afraid of getting KO'd in key spots like this.
It sounds to me like you're basing your decisions on some weekly leader board. Why? If you're constantly folding key spots where you should be getting your money in to build a big stack and knock players out, so you can move up in ranks, then yes, you'll stay around 25th place. Instead, try make decisions based on what is going to best get you to the 1st place spot. You win those, you finish deeper in the tournament, and you place much higher on the leader board.
Before I ramble too much: If I make it to the final table I realize there's at least 3 people sitting at this table who are a bit fishy. I'm hoping I'm not one of them and we get down to 6 seats fast. Even if I have to fold AA, KK, QQ, AKs, etc...
...Why would you fold AA or KK at the final table. Yes, it's easy to fold QQ or AKs depending on action before you and maybe you can fold KK, but that's a really big fold.
I don't care if the entire table goes all in and you're on the BB with AA, I am always calling with AA 100% of the time. There is just no reason to fold this hand here. Yes, against multiple opponents, AA has better chances of getting cracked. However, it also has the best chance out of all other types of hands to win. Vs 5 other players, AA has a 49% and vs 8 other players, it has a 31%. Compare that too a random pair like 77 and it has 21%/15%. Or to a hand like 56s which has 17%/13%. So, yes, there is a lot of risk getting it in with AA in a multiway pot, but there is very little argument for folding AA.
[I'm sure there are some ICM and satellite MTT situations where a fold might be the best play for a pay jump/to secure a seat.]
Now 6 seats left the blinds are typically what? 4k/8k? Mostly tight aggressive and those blinds are going to help and you're only likely to get one call anyway. Then you get your true 80/20 odds if you do get a caller. So now it's making more sense.
...True, the less players to act behind you, the less likely you are to get into a multiway pot with AA, but I still don't think that's a good enough reason to fold AA to avoid multiway pots.
Maybe we just approach MTTs differently. I'd rather take my chance preflop with the best starting hand possible in a multiway pot to give myself the best chance to pick up a lot of chips and enter/play the final table with a big stack. To me, that makes much more sense and is worth the risk of busting out.
Either way. I had AA cracked twice today... lol
...going to happen. Think of all the other non AA hands that held up or won a big pot with. AA aren't the only hands that is going to get you to the final table and to the win. You play them for value and it pays off when you do, but sometimes they get cracked. You said it got cracked twice. If those were in the same tournament and you got deep, think about all of the other hands you played that got you there. Honestly, how big of a roll did AA play in getting you to your last final table?
