An online hand

The Set-up

Playing a 45 person tournament. Early on it is a donk-fest as hand after hand after hand sees pre-flop all-in raises with absolute garbage. This meant a couple things; 1, donkeys had lots of chips. 2, it inspired patient play since Jacks were likely as good...and, in this environment, bad...as Aces. Because you can bet your bottom dollar if I got Jacks or better I would call their pre-flop mania and have a good change to double up. In fact, that is what happened...pocket queens doubled me up once, A/K did it again, lots of folding. Finally we got to the final 11. Most of the donkeys had given back their chips. I was about 4th position with almost 7K. Blinds were 2/400.

Pre-flop
from late position, 6 person table, called a 2x blind raise with K/Q. The guy two to my right had watched me push the big stack off three or four hands and been commenting on how he (the big blind) was scared. Of course, I happen to have had the nuts on those hands so I actually was far more impressed with BB play than I had been when he was pushing with nothing and sucking out on hands he should not have been in...but the two of them were still at each others throat. 4 of us in the hand.

The Flop
A/J/rag rainbow. min raise from big stack, call from his antagonist, pot odds were decent, I called, other guy folded.

The Turn:
10 of clubs. I have the nut straight but now there is a flush draw. I want to price out the flush draws so I need to raise the pot which is about 2400, maybe 2600, somewhere in there. To do that commits almost half my stack and pot commits me. I go all in. Big stack folds. His antagonist calls. And turns up J/4 clubs. He called a raise that put him all-in (I got 200 chips back) on the 4th nut flush draw. Interesting. I am pretty ecstatic that he called. He is calling about 6400 to win 8800 so he is getting less than 1.4 on his money. He has 9 outs, 8 cards are known, 44 aren't...so 9 help him, 35 help me, 35/9, I am a 3.9-1 favorite to win. Put another way, he is getting 1.4-1 on his money when he is a 3.9-1 dog. It is a terrible, terrible call. Which, of course, means...

The River
A Low club. He makes his flush and his bad call pays off. This happens sometimes in poker. He is ecstatic, pointing out, "Went to the well once too often, huh?" to which I replied, "Actually, if you check your pot odds you made a horrific donkey call with a weak draw and it paid off for you. I am fine with that, I will take that bet every time."


This caught a raft of criticism for me. So let's take a look at the play and see if perhaps I should have checked.

First off, my tournament theory is pretty basic. I have two common modes:
1) I am just here to see a few flops, could not care less whether I win or lose.
In this mode I will limp with virtually any 2 cards, check and call a lot of garbage, avoid most big confrontations, and donkey off all my chips in a time frame ranging from 2 blind levels to the final table. I have even won a tournament playing that way. But 9 times out of ten I am among the first people out.

2) I am going to play my best game and try to win.
In this mode I will raise or fold, I will play pretty much just premium hands, and I am willing to take my chances on doubling up as early as the first hand. I completely subscribe to the theory that I need to take advantage of every edge I get. If I can get them all in the middle first hand as a 60-40 favorite I will do it. 6 times I will double up and have a lot of chips, 4 times I will be out. But I am not good enough to give away 60-40 advantages because it is early.
To win the tournament you have to accumulate every chip in play. If I have pocket 10s and know my opponent has pocket 9s and he re-raised all in, I am calling whether it is first hand, last hand, or in the middle. I am not afraid of getting booted from the tournament and I am far more interested in winning the thing than I am in grinding my way to the final table and then being put out because I gave up my advantages early on. Now I might be pushing all in with something like A/J against pocket 10s. Now I am a favorite to lose...and that is assuming I even get that good a hand! Some times stack and blind considerations mean I am pushing with a marginal hand like J/9 or worse...now, which seems better? Getting all my chips in the middle as a slight favorite early on or getting them all in as a slight underdog on the bubble?
To me, winning tournament play means finding or creating opportunities to accumulate chips and it does not matter when it is.

Furthermore, I am all about helping other people make mistakes. If I get in as a prohibitive favorite, I am ecstatic even if I get taken to the cleaners on that particular hand. Example:

We were in the third blind level at the big tournament for Oregon Trail Poker. I had built a slightly larger than starting stack. I raised from early position with something like A/K, got a reluctant call from Terry in the blinds. Flop came A/9/rag. I raised. Terry came over the top all-in. I correctly put him on a non-9 medium pocket pair. I had top pair, top kicker. I still had plenty of chips left if I call...in fact, I would still have my starting stack. Should I call?

Let's go to the math of the situation. We know 7 cards; My Aces, my king, the 9, his 8s, and a rag. We don't know 45 cards; so 43 help me, 2 help him, or he could hit long-shot runner- runner for a straight. I never worry about runner-runner, if they hit it, so be it. So I am 43-2 or a 21-1/2 - 1 favorite to win the hand.

I could play with my cards face down and everyone else's face-up and never get that good of odds. I will call every time.

Of course, we all know that means he hit his 8 on the river and I was the second player out. So many people would argue I should not have called, I should have waited and gotten my money in at a better spot.

What better spot? Wait and bet the nuts and only the nuts? How many hands do you have the absolute nuts? I doubt I have had a hundred hands in my entire career where I held the stone-cold nuts. That is why the "best" players do not win every tournament. Sometimes someone calls with poor odds and makes their hand, sometimes someone mis-judges the situations and makes a call they shouldn't that works out...

My job is to get the best odds I can, regardless of the time frame, and go get those chips. If I bust out as as 23-1 favorite or a 7-3 favorite...I am fine with that. On the other hand, if I bust out as a 40-60 dog because I gave up a 60-40 advantage earlier because it was "too early"...well, I played poorly.

So was I disappointed the Jack high flush rivered me? Yeah. But I would do it again. I was not winning the tournament without doubling up almost 7 times, and being almost 4-1 favorite...well, I like those odds.