$Freeroll NLHE MTT: AI against Maniac?

[sweepnet]

Should I have gone All In here. This I was about twice the average stack at the time, so I was doing okay. Villian had gone crazy and was going All in with anything, SInce this was a freeroll, I figure the move was still good, but do you do the same thing in a tournament you pay for? The problem I am having is playing too tight, so am trying to figure out how to loosen up.

pokerstars No-Limit Hold'em, 0 Tournament, 50/100 Blinds 10 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com
Button (t5700)
SB (t5820)
BB (t1420)
UTG (t15710)
Hero (UTG+1) (t6915)
MP1 (t1035)
MP2 (t1130)
MP3 (t13398)
CO (t920)
Hero's M: 28.81
Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with Q♣, K♣
1 fold, Hero bets t300, 2 folds, MP3 raises to t13388 (All-In), 4 folds, Hero calls t6605 (All-In)
Flop: (t14050) A♦, 10♠, 5♣ (2 players, 2 all-in)
Turn: (t14050) 10♦ (2 players, 2 all-in)
River: (t14050) 3♦ (2 players, 2 all-in)
Total pot: t14050

 

[-Phil Ivey27]

Personally KQ is pretty much an automatic muck in this situation, KQ is easily dominated by AQ and AK and that's how you get yourself in trouble.. So the problem is not calling the maniac's bet, but being involved in the hand in the first place. On top of that your idea that "you should loosen up" is very wrong lol

 

[sweepnet]

Shouldnt we be calling with what beats the range of the bettor? He had gone AI with Q7, T6, 98s, and 77.

And the reason I say I need to loosen up is that I am only playing premium hands, and end up going out either early when my premium hand doesnt hold up, or around the bubble, before and after, when I get blinded out.

The last tournament I played, a 90 man sng had 171 hands before I was out in 9th. I had only 2 pocket pair TT+, 1 was AA which I lost with. I had AT+ only 3 times. So with only 5 hands to play, about 4%, I need to look for other hands. I am tired of being blinded out.

 

[-Phil Ivey27]

Personally my hand range is, without acknowledging position here, pocket pairs, AK, and AQ.

If I get down to 10 BB or so I don't keep waiting for these hands and get blinded out, but rather make the necessary moves to try and put myself in a positive equity all-in situation.

Don't become looser trust me. I know that you lost with some good hands, but that's just being unlucky and the way that you will succeed in poker is by continuously putting yourself in a position where you have the best hand, and in the long run it will pay off, GREATLY.

Most of the time that AA will hold up and you'll have a nice stack and then you go from there.

At the same time, you do have to adjust your play to position and to players around you, so make good poker plays.

PS: AT and AJ are very dangerous hands to lose all your chips, so I would not consider those playable.

 

[sweepnet]

I am sorry, maybe I was not being clear. In this freeroll at this stage I am usually playing this tight. I really opened with the KQ just to call this guy. It turned out he went AI with 42, which I dominated, and then he hit the straight.

But I Usually play tight right up until the end, and that just isnt working.

I am not worried about the aspect of good hands loosing. It is frustrating at the time, but I understand the aspect of them loosing some of the time.

But using that opening range, in the last Sit and Go I played, of the 171 hands, I had no AK and only 1 AQ, and 6 or so pocket pairs, so you would it there not playing a hand until less than 10 big blinds, then hope to win and all in, then sit there again. Then small pockets only win if they hit trips. That doesnt seem like a winning strategy. At some point I know you need to open the range, at higher blinds. That is the problem I am having.

 

[ManicLombax]

You do need to loosen up when stacks get shorter, no doubt. I don't think we're at that point here though. If there were no big stacks to act behind you, you can be abusing the small stacks at this point, and KQs is certainly above average for that purpose. Your M here is very high (near 30) and you have other big stacks to act behind you, so most times I'd just open fold KQs here from early position. Google "Harrington M zones" and read a bit about that if you haven't already.

All that said, I think calling the AI from the maniac was fine. Just realize that KQs is only 67% to win against 42o, meaning he's going to win 1/3 of the time. Sucks but true.

Edit: one more comment. It's really frustrating to see a maniac like this with a big stack. Makes you think about playing that style. The thing to remember is that for every tournament this guy plays where he gets a big stack like this, he busts out really early 10 other times. This is not a profitable strategy.

 

[sweepnet]

If anyone else had decided to go play with this guy, I would have folded. I understand I dont want to play All in multiway pots. My hand was too weak for that. And I realize his way of playing is not a winning style.

I am just wondering if we just leave this guy alone to let someone else bust out, or can we take advantage of the chips he is willing to give away. Obviously in this hand, even AA would have lost in the end, but is that the only hand we do tackle him with, or can we take the top 10% and call.

 

[TylerN]

KQ doesn't dominate 42. If u won this hand u wouldnt of posted this

 

[sweepnet]

Maybe not, but it does illustate a question I have. As I pointed out, I would have lost with AA, and doesnt that dominate it? Do we ever play with these guys, and take advantage of the poor play or just let them go.

 

[Worak]

I think you shouldn't have played KQs from UTG+1 regardless of the maniac sitting behind you, there are other players having position on you, too.

UTG+1 KQs is an easy fold in the early stages.

With KQs you are basically 63:37 favourite against a random hand.

Given the maniac does not shove but just standard 3bets and gets a late position caller - are you ready to call and play a 3bet pot oop against two opponents?

I would play AQ+, 77+ here fwiw - that would make you a 72:28 fav, given you don't get other callers.

Another point: In the early stages of freerolls a x3 BB bet doesn't get much credit if any anyway - if you decide to bet make it bigger imo.

 

[sweepnet]

With other players raising or calling I would have folded. My initial raise was just to keep the casual limper out. ANd I figured it was small enough that I would have no trouble folding if things didnt go the way I wanted, the maniac shoving and no other callers.

 

[liguolong]

I personally don't like to go all in with KQ. Since only 2 people were in the game, anything with A beats KQ preflop and you can be dominated by AK, AQ, AA, KK, QQ. Even against 2 random cards, KQ suited wins only about 62 percent of the time:
http://www.caniwin.com/texasholdem/preflop/heads-up.php
have a look at the link to know which hand you should call against someone who goes all in every hand.

 

[sweepnet]

Thanks for the link. I see that KQs is 62% and AKo s 64%. So where do you normally draw the line? I understand the KQs is dominated by a lot of premium hands, but against someone going in every hand, arent we figuring they usually dont have those? It sounds like you are saying you dont loosen up at all against this person, and if so, I can understand that. That is my question. AA KK and AK I might call All In against the tightest player, is that my same standard against the loosest player also?

I am sorry to keep harping on this, but with playing Freerolls and microstakes this is a situation I am in a lot.

 

[ManicLombax]

I think calling with a hand that has 63.4% equity against a random hand is fine. As you said if someone else had called, you fold, but heads up against this guy it's fine. Of course you could get unlucky and have him wake up with a real hand, or have him suck out. Doubling up nearly 2 times out of 3 is good though.

As everyone else has said, opening with KQs here is somewhat questionable, but it sounds like you're more interested in whether the call was ok.