Just back from Vegas and bitter!

Hi,

I was introduced to this forum recently by a friend who posts on here (Hopelesglory). I have seen some of the great feedback he has received so thought I would post an interesting hand I played recently.

I have been playing poker for about a year and have just come back from Vegas where I played a few MTTs. This particular hand lost me my whole stack and left me particularly bitter so I recorded the details after the tournament. I would love to hear your thoughts on how I played it and how I might have player it better.

Tournament: $160 freeze-out
Starting players 60, down to 40
Starting Stack: 10,000
Blinds: 400-200

I have just joined a new table so don't really have any background information on my opponents. I joined on BB, folded my first raggy hand to a mid-position raise to 1,200. Second hand the same player raises to 1,600 and I fold another weak hand.

Third hand I look down at As Kd.
Position 1: Call
Position 2: Call
Position 3-5: Fold
Position 6: Raises to 1,200. (This is not the guy who raised twice previously)
Me: Call
SB & BB: Fold
Position 1: Fold
Position 2: Fold

The other player in the hand has around 25k. I have around 16k.

(In a similar situation in a previous tournament I made a big mistake. A mid-position had bet 3xBB, I had re-raised with AK o/s. Everyone else folded, original bet called. I missed the flop J29, he checked, I continuation bet making me pot-committed. Opponent bet the turn which was a 4 and I call losing all my chips. He had A9)

So with that in mind I just call the original raise.


Flop: 9S 4S AH

Position 6: Bet 6,000
Me: All-in

At this point I think he has either an Ace with a strong kicker, A-J to A-k. It would be a bit risky to bet here if he has something like JJ QQ or KK. Unlikely he has AA with one A on the flop and one in my hand, also the potentially strong hands in early positions could have had an ace. If he is on a flush draw I don't want him to get the chance to hit it. And with the Ace of spades I will win the hand if 2 more clubs follow.

Position 6: Call, shows 99.

There are no miracles on the turn or river and my pair of Aces with K kicker lose to his trip 9s.

Any thoughts on how I might have played this differently, or was I just unfortunate?

Thanks,

Ally

Hiya

My first instinct it to say you should still be re-raising with AK to clear out the limpers, and also to 1) take control of the hand for pre-flop action, and 2) to try and define his hand. His raising range there could be vast - especially as you know nothing about him.

HOWEVER, considering he had 99, you probably would have ended up with it all in anyway as I imagine he would shove to a 4-bet pre and you'd call.

I think it's a basic cooler and neither of you did anything wrong or questionable.

Better luck next time - and welcome to the forum!

MB

$160 bucks obviously too high stakes for you, maybe try the online $5 turbo games first to the learn the game / rules.

haha just kidding buddy, I remember the hand and think it was just unlucky.

seems a fairly standard set up to me, and you stack off pretty much however you play it, unless its slow played by both of you, and turn and river are uber-scary for you.

You have the button so i dont mind the flat call pre, tho i think you're in a good position to reraise and define your hand.

Most interesting part of the hand to me is that after raising and getting called, guy flops set and overbets the pot str8 off, sick.

ul set up imo

TheWaster wrote:Hiya

My first instinct it to say you should still be re-raising with AK to clear out the limpers, and also to 1) take control of the hand for pre-flop action, and 2) to try and define his hand. His raising range there could be vast - especially as you know nothing about him.

HOWEVER, considering he had 99, you probably would have ended up with it all in anyway as I imagine he would shove to a 4-bet pre and you'd call.

I think it's a basic cooler and neither of you did anything wrong or questionable.

Better luck next time - and welcome to the forum!

MB

Concur, AK is hand to reraise with in this situation, flatting for deception is for the early levels.

More than likely all the chips were going in, the Gods just punished you for a previous misdeed.

Thanks very much for the feedback guys, I really appreciate it. My bitterness has been eased a little!

I was just a bit weary about over-comitting myself to the pot by re-raising pre-flop without a 'made' hand. However I suppose the outcome would most likely have been the same either way.

I have another hand that you may be able to pick apart a bit more, but that is for another day!

Thanks again,

Ally