It's still sick.. what should I have done?

[AZE]

I JUST got knocked out of a 45-player $20-2 buy-in in 4th place.. This is how I get knocked out, instead of doubling up and having a GREAT chance to win $300+ on this SOFT table...

Full Tilt Poker Game #2904887945: $20 + $2 Sit & Go (22162716), Table 3 - 800/1600 - No Limit Hold'em - 9:02:43 ET - 2007/07/10
Seat 1: ItsAze (10,240)
Seat 4: huntso (30,405)
Seat 7: tomastomast (16,485)
Seat 8: Chasserrrr (10,370)
huntso posts the small blind of 800
tomastomast posts the big blind of 1,600
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ItsAze [9d As]
Chasserrrr folds
ItsAze raises to 3,200
huntso folds
tomastomast calls 1,600
*** FLOP *** [Qd 7s Tc]
tomastomast bets 1,600
ItsAze raises to 3,200
tomastomast calls 1,600
*** TURN *** [Qd 7s Tc] 9♠
tomastomast bets 1,600
ItsAze has 15 seconds left to act
ItsAze raises to 3,840, and is all in
tomastomast calls 2,240
ItsAze shows [9d As]
tomastomast shows [Kh Ac]
*** RIVER *** [Qd 7s Tc 9s] J♦
ItsAze shows a pair of Nines
tomastomast shows a straight, Ace high
tomastomast wins the pot (21,280) with a straight, Ace high
ItsAze stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 21,280 | Rake 0
Board: [Qd 7s Tc 9s Jd]
Seat 1: ItsAze (button) showed [9d As] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 4: huntso (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: tomastomast (big blind) showed [Kh Ac] and won (21,280) with a straight, Ace high
Seat 8: Chasserrrr didn't bet (folded)

I know a lot of you guys play a lot better than me and have a better understanding of the game, but can someone please explain to me what was going threw this guys head? And more importantly what, if anything, should I have done different -- I respect most of your games, so I am very open to criticism.
I understand that the pot was giving him something like 4 / 4.5:1 - that might be enough, because I think he had a 20% chance to hit -- but he INSTA-called. And the way this guy plays I doubt he's even thinking about odds.. he just got married to his AK because it was an AK, IMO, even though he only had a 20% chance to have even a 2-7 beat on the riv.


He was actually only 15% to win that hand, and... of course, he catches his miracle card on that magic FTP river.

 

[premierplayer]

I JUST got knocked out of a 45-player $20-2 buy-in in 4th place.. This is how I get knocked out, instead of doubling up and having a GREAT chance to win $300+ on this SOFT table...

I know a lot of you guys play a lot better than me and have a better understanding of the game, but can someone please explain to me what was going threw this guys head? And more importantly what, if anything, should I have done different -- I respect most of your games, so I am very open to criticism.
I understand that the pot was giving him something like 4 / 4.5:1 - that might be enough, because I think he had a 20% chance to hit -- but he INSTA-called. And the way this guy plays I doubt he's even thinking about odds.. he just got married to his AK because it was an AK, IMO, even though he only had a 20% chance to have even a 2-7 beat on the riv.


He was actually only 15% to win that hand, and... of course, he catches his miracle card on that magic FTP river.

To me, he couldn't let go of AK. He tried to use it to represent a queen maybe because he thought you didn't have anything either? Either way the river was unlucky.

Tournaments have been getting to me lately, I was chip leader last night when I have KK and a guy goes all in with 33 and he hits his three. later on we battle again this time I have AK and he has 77 and he goes all in. Oh well for bad luck

 

[ChuckTs]

Well for one, you give him odds all the way here. He played AK terribly, but that doesn't mean you played your A9 well.

Minraise preflop is your first mistake - see this. With your stack, just shove. Any time you're sitting on less than 10BBs, you've got to use all the fold equity you can and try to steal those blinds. A9 is more than good enough to push here. Don't let the fact that AK was sitting behind you change your mind.

Flop: why are we raising? This is a flop that's very likely to have hit our opponent, and we have no clean outs. If we're going to run a bluff, then shove your whole stack in to get the most fold equity possible. I wouldn't even suggest it though. Minraising accomplishes nothing (see that link again).

Turn: I don't even want to continue analyzing since you've played your two previous streets so poorly that you're pretty much committed now. Look at it this way: you've got NO fold equity, and you're shoving your stack in with bottom pair vs an opponent who's shown interest in the hand from the beginning.

Again, try not to be results-oriented in thinking that you were a favourite on the turn with your A9 on the turn and that you got your money in good - villain could just have easily had QJ/QT/KQ/AT/KJ whatever, and you'd have been crushed or drawing dead.

In summary, push preflop.

 

[AZE]

^ You're absolutely right. I've had some time to cool off and I agree. I should've shoved.. he would have called and won, but that's besides the fact, I played it bad pre-flop... he played it bad post-flop and on, as I did.

Thanks for your input. Appreciated and respected. I will read that link when I get back.

 

[joeeagles]

As Premier said, he just couldn't let go of AK and maybe thought he was ahead, plus its only 2240 for him to go in a 19k pot, so he won't ever fold this.

Look, I know the difference in money is huge, but you have to take these tournies for what they are, when it comes down to the end it becomes a crapshoot just about every time because the blinds are very ugly as compared to stacks, there really is no room to play poker. Lose 1 pot and you're done and when you catch these bad breaks like getting dealt A9 on the button and the BB has AK you're screwed.

Last night I played the $16 turbo and down to the last 5 I'm chip leader. In the SB I get AT, its folded to me, I raise, BB ( the shortstack) shoves with AJ. The hand after I'm on the button, I'm dealt AKs, I raise, BB shoves with 99 and it holds. On my next SB I'm dealt 88, player shoves into me with AJ, and you guessed right, he caught his J on the river. Just for miracle I didn't bubble, and came in 4th, after being chipleader when we were down to the last 5.

A lot of times you need luck on your side in the end of these things, because the structure isn't perfect and there really is only so much you can do because with all the shoving and pot committed situations like the one your opponent was faced with, you need the best hand to win. More often than not you can only cross your fingers and hope it works.