I may have played this hand too aggressively - especially given that I was second chip lead and not in an immediate need to go all in - but wanted a second opinion.

I feel like my options were either call - or come in over the top (all in).

Player had a very wide range, even while under the gun.

Opted to go all in. Analyzing the hand in retrospect to see if I could have played it better.

Would a better option have been to call?
Or because of the hyper nature of the tournament (big stack had 13 BB) all in push justified?

Appreciate your thoughts!

PokerStars, $2.82 + $0.18 - Hold'em No Limit - 40,000/80,000 (10,000 ante) - 6 players
Replay this hand on CardsChat

UTG: 1,030,607 (13 bb)
MP: 519,163 (6 bb)
CO: 872,222 (11 bb)
BU: 552,595 (7 bb)
SB (Hero): 1,023,252 (13 bb)
BB: 922,161 (12 bb)

Pre-Flop: (180,000) Hero is SB with Q♠ A♦
UTG raises to 160,000, 3 players fold, Hero 3-bets to 1,013,252 (all-in), 1 fold, UTG calls 853,252

Flop: (2,166,504) 9♠ Q♥ K♦ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (2,166,504) 6♣ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (2,166,504) 8♠ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: 2,166,504

Showdown:
SB (Hero) shows Q♠ A♦ (a pair of Queens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 59%, Flop: 4%, Turn: 0%, River: 0%)

UTG shows T♣ J♣ (a straight, Nine to King)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 41%, Flop: 96%, Turn: 100%, River: 100%)

UTG wins 2,166,504

Originally Posted by fundiver199

Nobody had more than 13BB, so this should have been a pure push-fold game. AQ is a standard call, if someone has pushed for that stack size, so there is no need to do anything other than push, just because he chose to make a min-raise. Maybe he will actually fold sometimes, which is great for you. This time he called it off with worse and got lucky. It is, what it is.

Thank you. That’s what i thought - but wasn’t sure if a final table changes that logic (of push/fold game when everyone is below 13)

If he likes to raise very wide like you said, I think you played it well. The result is just unfortunate.

I deleted my response, because I took the time to run the hand through ICMizer. If he had open jammed, you were actually supposed to fold AQ because of the ICM implications with the two of you being the biggest stacks. Against his min-raise ICMizer has you jamming AJo+, any pair, any suited ace, any suited king. This however is because, he is supposed to be folding quite a bit. He should not min-raise JTs to begin with and certainly not call a jam from the other chip leader.

However he did, so he was obviously a fish, and if I lock his ranges as opening 25% of hands and then never fold to a jam (if he call JTs what is he ever folding?), then AQ actually lose you money as a jam. So crazy as this sound, if you knew, he was this much of a calling station, AQ is actually just a fold, or you could try to call and play a small pot out of position. When you connect with the board like this, even its only second pair, I dont see any possibility to get away though. So unless you had folded, the result would have ended up being the same.

Originally Posted by fundiver199

I deleted my response, because I took the time to run the hand through ICMizer. If he had open jammed, you were actually supposed to fold AQ because of the ICM implications with the two of you being the biggest stacks. Against his min-raise ICMizer has you jamming AJo+, any pair, any suited ace, any suited king. This however is because, he is supposed to be folding quite a bit. He should not min-raise JTs to begin with and certainly not call a jam from the other chip leader.

However he did, so he was obviously a fish, and if I lock his ranges as opening 25% of hands and then never fold to a jam (if he call JTs what is he ever folding?), then AQ actually lose you money as a jam. So crazy as this sound, if you knew, he was this much of a calling station, AQ is actually just a fold, or you could try to call and play a small pot out of position. When you connect with the board like this, even its only second pair, I dont see any possibility to get away though. So unless you had folded, the result would have ended up being the same.

Thank you for the update.
That makes sense and why I asked. . Different perspective.

Folding is not something I considered in that position... but it makes sense given the situation due to ICM.

I could have tried to get involved in pots where he was not.

Originally Posted by Axmanace

I could have tried to get involved in pots where he was not.

I think, this is the right conclusion from my small ICMizer exercise. When everyone is this short, and especially with the two 6-7BB stacks at the table, you really need to look for spots to open jam and not be doing a whole lot of calling, until those short stacks are either gone or have chipped up.

However I would still not beat myself up over this, because there was probably no way for you to know, that this guy was such a "table sheriff". And even then it was not the end of the world. 60% of the time you win the "flip", and then you are in a great situation, where you can jam relentlessly at the rest of the table and also call a bit more liberally.

Originally Posted by fundiver199

I think, this is the right conclusion from my small ICMizer exercise. When everyone is this short, and especially with the two 6-7BB stacks at the table, you really need to look for spots to open jam and not be doing a whole lot of calling, until those short stacks are either gone or have chipped up.

However I would still not beat myself up over this, because there was probably no way for you to know, that this guy was such a "table sheriff". And even then it was not the end of the world. 60% of the time you win the "flip", and then you are in a great situation, where you can jam relentlessly at the rest of the table and also call a bit more liberally.

Yep. I’m not entirely upset about my decision, but in my quest to become a better poker player I’m critically analyzing every time I’m knocked out to see if I could have played differently, even if the result would have been the same.

In hindsight - at this point in the tournament every elimination represented at least 10$ more... so a little reserve probably wouldn’t have been unquestionable.

What really upsets me is the player that eliminated me only placed 4th... *how*..... lol

Originally Posted by Axmanace

What really upsets me is the player that eliminated me only placed 4th... *how*..... lol

If you consistently call jams from other players with hands like JTs, you will tend to run out of luck sooner or later

What a maaaajor donkey call after your reraise-shove!! Geez!!
There goes a very very bad player that relay only on luck and nothing more. No skills whatsoever.

Originally Posted by demesquita

What a maaaajor donkey call after your reraise-shove!! Geez!!
There goes a very very bad player that relay only on luck and nothing more. No skills whatsoever.

Yea. There are ALOT of fish/donks on the Pokerstars MI site.

Got knocked out of a tournament last night when I went all in on the flop with TT and dry board (all low cards). Got called by AQo and he hit A on the river...

What I would most like to know is how these guys make these calls with these hands.
Even though it was the final table, and worse, the other players with the stack were all smaller than his and he was in danger of being eliminated before the shorts.