PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - 1,250/2,500 (250 ante) - 9 players
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Angel Julia1 (UTG): 39,667 (16 bb)
e.Brunoo (UTG+1): 72,404 (29 bb)
stmrl0 (MP): 117,580 (47 bb)
gagauz91366 (MP+1): 338,259 (135 bb)
ksandr010 (LP): 145,691 (58 bb)
magiq1989 (CO): 53,978 (22 bb)
skaniol (BU): 15,138 (6 bb)
hgobr30 (SB): 13,066 (5 bb)
Eqdna (BB): 29,128 (12 bb)

Pre-Flop: (6,000) Hero (ksandr010) is LP with T♦ A♣
Angel Julia1 (UTG) calls 2,500, 2 players fold, gagauz91366 (MP+1) calls 2,500, ksandr010 (LP) raises to 12,500, 4 players fold, Angel Julia1 (UTG) calls 10,000, gagauz91366 (MP+1) calls 10,000

Flop: (43,500) 7♠ 4♥ T♥ (3 players)
Angel Julia1 (UTG) checks, gagauz91366 (MP+1) bets 15,000, ksandr010 (LP) raises to 45,000, Angel Julia1 (UTG) folds, gagauz91366 (MP+1) raises to 325,509 (all-in), Hero?

you played in freeroll?
What else could you expect?
Everyone is calling with almost any 2 cards and hoping to hit ...

It's a freeroll

Originally Posted by dino

you played in freeroll?
What else could you expect?
Everyone is calling with almost any 2 cards and hoping to hit ...

It's a freeroll

The question is not what you can expect in freerolls, but whether the call will be profitable at a distance. If it wasn't freerolls, how would you rate this draw?

Call range 22-TT, A9+, A2s+, K9+, Broadway cards. Against this range, I'm a 75% favorite. I thought the call would be profitable.

So I would like to hear whether I reasoned correctly, do not take into account that this is a freeroll

Preflop
This is a spot, where its very disadvantageous for you to get involved with the chip leader due to ICM concerns. So unless he has a very high VPIP, I kind of lean towards just folding here rather than going for the isolation raise. I am pretty much never limping behind with ATo, so if you are going to get involved, I like the isolation raise, and size is also fine.

Flop
You flopped top pair top kicker, and the stack to pot ratio (SPR) is a little over 3. This is a spot, where you should be happy to play for all the chips. Of course you will sometimes be behind to a set or some weird two pair, he should not have played, but he can also have a bunch of different draws, and he can have top pair with a worse kicker. You put yourself into this spot by getting involved with him preflop, and if it results in you busting, so be it.

In this spot, I would feel pretty good about getting it in on the flop.

Originally Posted by fundiver199

Preflop
This is a spot, where its very disadvantageous for you to get involved with the chip leader due to ICM concerns. So unless he has a very high VPIP, I kind of lean towards just folding here rather than going for the isolation raise. I am pretty much never limping behind with ATo, so if you are going to get involved, I like the isolation raise, and size is also fine.

Flop
You flopped top pair top kicker, and the stack to pot ratio (SPR) is a little over 3. This is a spot, where you should be happy to play for all the chips. Of course you will sometimes be behind to a set or some weird two pair, he should not have played, but he can also have a bunch of different draws, and he can have top pair with a worse kicker. You put yourself into this spot by getting involved with him preflop, and if it results in you busting, so be it.

Thanks

Hero (LP) calls 87,941 (all-in)

Turn: (309,382) 2♠ (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (309,382) A♠ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: 309,382

Showdown:
gagauz91366 (MP+1) shows 8♠ 9♠ (a flush, Ace high)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 41%, Flop: 37%, Turn: 34%, River: 100%)

ksandr010 (LP) shows T♦ A♣ (two pair, Aces and Tens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 59%, Flop: 63%, Turn: 66%, River: 0%)

gagauz91366 (MP+1) wins 309,382

The villain thus played a straight draw, and I was just unlucky in this hand. It turned out to be a really profitable call.

The only thing that was a shame, because I was in 9th place out of 100 and had all the chances to play at the final table and win the tournament


Thanks to everyone

Originally Posted by ksandr010

The only thing that was a shame, because I was in 9th place out of 100 and had all the chances to play at the final table and win the tournament

This is exactly the whole point. You got your chips in with 63% equity, but this is not a spot, you particularly wanted to be in, because you did not need to chip up at this point. So folding preflop and avoiding a big confrontation with the table chip leader would have been fine.

You can see a poker tournament as sending your chips to war, and this is not the opponent, you wanted to pick. Of course I am not folding here, if I have something really good like AK or AQ, but AT is a marginal hand to play from HJ against two limpers anyway.

Freeroll - snap call with top top. No questions asked. If you limp called with 77s or 4s or T7 and got there, good for you but players are stacking off with much worse here.

As played you could see you were way ahead of 89, he decided to shove wide with an open ended draw and backdoor flush outs and he hit. You were a huge favorite here and made the right call. What is there to discuss? You wouldn't even be posting this hand if you had won it...

Freerolls are to be treated like the lowest buy in MTTs which to me is never folding top top on the flop unless I have some sort of notes on said player. Sometimes we will run into better hands, but I think we have the best hand more often than not in these situations.

Anyhow, if you want playing advice - I wouldn't raise the flop, it'd fairly dry and I'm not getting value from much else that would call a flop raise - so since villan already bet 1/3 pot I would just call. If villan checks turn I would bet large for value, around 2/3 pot or so - if villan bets, I just call again - the river I am never folding, if they hit a back door flush so be it but I am always calling a lead bet and betting for value when checked to.

All that being said - the point i want to make is dont be so results oriented. Like I said - you wouldn't even be posting this had you held and won the hand because you would think the play was correct and your hand held. Fact is you got it in super good and still lost, it happens. Just learn from mistakes, take variance for what it is and move on.

Hello, in normal tournament for real money I probably fold Ato on this postion, because after me are 4 players and sometimes somebody wakes up with better hand than ATo, hands like QQ+ and AQ+ and then he usually pushes better hand. As played - in freeroll tournament I think you can play hand Ato from this position. There are many weak players and players will play many weak hands, often they limp even any two cards. IMO you should play bigger isolation pre flop, because opponent have bigger stack than your. I play here isolation even 7-8x. In freeroll tournament on that flop with top pair and top kicker I play like you. I think you made right decision on the flop. This time opponent win this hand.

Originally Posted by jaworek1405

Hello, in normal tournament for real money I probably fold Ato on this postion, because after me are 4 players and sometimes somebody wakes up with better hand than ATo, hands like QQ+ and AQ+ and then he usually pushes better hand. As played - in freeroll tournament I think you can play hand Ato from this position. There are many weak players and players will play many weak hands, often they limp even any two cards. IMO you should play bigger isolation pre flop, because opponent have bigger stack than your. I play here isolation even 7-8x. In freeroll tournament on that flop with top pair and top kicker I play like you. I think you made right decision on the flop. This time opponent win this hand.

That is true, but if you want to use freerolls as a way to practice for more important tournaments, then it is important to learn, that the first thing, you always need to look at before anything else, is stack sizes. And the fact, the only player, who has us covered, has entered the pot, is a good reason to not create a big pot, where its easy for us to get committed. And since I dont like limping behind with ATo, only option left is to fold.

Which is ok, because if we just thread water for a while, a lot of players will bust, and we will automatically level up or get closer to the money. Even just on our own table there were 2 players with less than 10BB and another 2 with less than 20BB. Outlasting those players is more important right now than accumulating even more chips. I am harping on about this, because I think, its the main thing to be learned from the hand.

Originally Posted by dino

you played in freeroll?
What else could you expect?
Everyone is calling with almost any 2 cards and hoping to hit ...

It's a freeroll

Thanks for the post. I agree Completely. You can't try to put normal poker decisions on these freerolls. People are usually playing unbelievably loose and it usually turns into a gambling match. Not the cards chat freerolls but for example the intertops daily workhorse or the betonline Freerolls going on currently. Don't analyze to much. I would expect you to win this more often then not. Good Luck


Good Luck To All