How bad did I screw this up?

[BamaRaised]

I am relatively new to playing MTT's, so I am still trying to figure out how to navigate later stages with my limited experience. Last night I found myself in this position. Picked up AJ on the button with around 20BB left, everyone folds around to me, I raise 40k, SB goes all in, with around 16 BB's left I call and end up being dominated by AQ. Blinds were 10/5k at the time. I had the feeling that the guy in the SB position had been using his stack to push people around, which factored into my decision to call. Some feedback on how I could have played this hand better would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[deyvsonflp]

A classic example of steal and resteal. I think there is no error in the call. With this stack AJs it's easy to call. But know that you will always be in flip. But I consider it a good call. I just don't like the 4x pre flop. If you open 4x you cannot fold. I prefer to shove straight on the pre flop or mini raise.

 

[gravac]

Classic blind steal and no luck. Since the tournament is getting in the bubble or ahead you must play more hands which you don't like so much, because if you sit and wait for rockets or KK to come maybe you wouldn't have a chance to meet them.
From my point of view you did not do anything wrong, you simple didn't have luck to win this hand.

 

[Airles17]

I found the normal hand hehe
you did nothing wrong.

GG

 

[partz]

Thats a unlucky hand mate, I cant find any major mistake in your game. It happens so many times, i guess!

 

[swerdnase]

You had a read on your opponent and decided to gamble with a reasonable hand. No real error here, especially if you believed you were ahead.

 

[300HPGOD]

I don't understand the 4x raise pre. Did you think that 2.5x did not have fold equity but 4x would have fold equity? That could be the case and could be a read you had so I am not shooting you down just trying to figure out the 4x angle. I think as played with raising 4x this is a call especially with the way you describe the villain.

I do believe though this hand plays a lot differently if you 2.25x or so pre flop. For one thing, even though I dont like doing it with 20 BB we can more easily raise fold here. I am not saying that would be our intention when we are making the bet but it at least allows us to have more options if we are jammed on and more options usually is a good thing. Secondly, the perception of the raise by the SB might change if you 2.25x vs 4x. No way of knowing but the SB might have saw 4x and instantly thought no way his range is what it is but is something way weaker (probably does not matter in this hand since villain had AQ but for future hands in this spot I mention it). With a smaller bet sizing pre your hand looks stronger and may detract future villains from jamming. Just a thought which may not hold up to be true but usually when I see a bigger raise later in position in times like this my default thinking is he is stealing.

 

[BamaRaised]

I don't understand the 4x raise pre. Did you think that 2.5x did not have fold equity but 4x would have fold equity? That could be the case and could be a read you had so I am not shooting you down just trying to figure out the 4x angle. I think as played with raising 4x this is a call especially with the way you describe the villain.

I do believe though this hand plays a lot differently if you 2.25x or so pre flop. For one thing, even though I dont like doing it with 20 BB we can more easily raise fold here. I am not saying that would be our intention when we are making the bet but it at least allows us to have more options if we are jammed on and more options usually is a good thing. Secondly, the perception of the raise by the SB might change if you 2.25x vs 4x. No way of knowing but the SB might have saw 4x and instantly thought no way his range is what it is but is something way weaker (probably does not matter in this hand since villain had AQ but for future hands in this spot I mention it). With a smaller bet sizing pre your hand looks stronger and may detract future villains from jamming. Just a thought which may not hold up to be true but usually when I see a bigger raise later in position in times like this my default thinking is he is stealing.

To be completely honest, I don't know what I was thinking at the time. I appreciate the advice though, what you are saying makes sense. I'm a newer player so I lack experience in these situations. I'll take note of what you said.

 

[BamaRaised]

I appreciate the responses and words of support. I'll be taking note of the advice received.

 

[LFC_yllnwa]

A good raise, I agree, is not a mistake. It's not often you see a good hand in the blinds for stealing. He was lucky. But you might have considered whether to risk all in,or play some more.. I think there was a chance to fold, for sure! The all-in game is not a mistake of course, but the fold had a chance.. The result of the hand, a very offensive departure, it really is. Don't worry, poker is luck, and good luck to you

 

[Dmitrij32]

In this situation, I probably dropped on the flop since any pair absolutely beats my senior ACE. And there is no point in remaining in this distribution. But this is strictly my opinion.

 

[ROYALROAD]

AJ by such situation is very weak.

An enemy has almost all AQ or AK.

And there are almost no cases that Q and K don't go out and go out of only J at the place.

 

[fundiver199]

As many others have said, with a 20BB stack you should decrease the size of your open raise to lose less, when you fold to a 3-bet. And you should do that even, when you intent to call off, because otherwise you are turning your range face up against any thinking opponent. Most good tournament players will mini-raise or go to 2,2BB, when the effective stack is 20BB.

And yes AJs is a call against a resteal from SB. You are supposed to be stealing wide, and SB is supposed to be restealing wide. Sure he will have JJ+ and AK/AQ in his range, but he will also have many other AX hands, that you dominate, and he will have KQ/KJ and some suited connectors. He will also have 22-TT, which you are "flipping" against, and even after mini-raising there are some dead chips in the pot, which you need to fight for.

Basically a situation like this is, what a program like ICMizer is designed for. It can tell you exactly, what hands you are supposed to call or fold given the stack sizes off all players, the payout structure etc. I have not made the investment yet, so I can not give you the exact answer, but I am pretty sure, AJs is well within the calling range. You are not thrilled, that he jammed on you, but the least bad choise is to call him off.

So basically this hand was just a standard cooler spot, which happen over and over in tournament. And in the long run they are just a wash, because just as often they will be the one with AJs, and you will be the one with AQ, and they will also get it in bad against you.