Going all in

[johnnyande2002]

I am sitting with a pair of bullets about an hour into the game, and I am going up against another oponent who is trying to fleece me dry. The flop is J Diamonds, Q-Spades, 8 Spades. I am forced with a decision to go all in. I chickened out and said fuck it. I didn't want to be out of the game so early in the night. was this the right move?

[HPG ADMIN]

Its hard to tell without knowing the other details (was he a tight player, how many people saw the flop, what was the action pre-flop).

There are only 2 hands here that i would be afraid of:
1. He had a pocket 8's and flopped a set or
2. He hit 2 pair with QJ.

Assuming there was no big raise by him pre-flop you dont have to worry about a set of jacks or queens because he would have bumped it alot. In my opinion, he either had:

1. KQ, and thought he had you beat (he probably put you on a weaker kicker/middle pair).
2. Or was very agressive with a draw (J-10 , or a flush draw).

[scoopin]

Not enough info in your post to completely asses the situation...

position, chip stacks, table demeanor, payout schedules

[scoopin]

Not enough info in your post to completely assess the situation...

position, chip stacks, table demeanor, payout schedules

[Chad]

If you were really low on chips, that was a terrible move reguardless of how many players were in. You should have bet the aces pretty big pre-flop to stop the bad hands from staying in. With that kind of flop, you probably folded the best hand, assuming there were only a few players still in the pot.
So yeah, bad move.

[Soyuz]

As someone pointed out, if they'd made their set of Jacks or Queens they'd have bet reasonably big pre-flop so I think you could have ruled that out. Two pair is always a possibility but you have to ask yourself what the odds of that are. In my opinion you definitely should have gone all-in with pocket Aces with that flop. The fact that you were low-stacked should have made that a no-brainer for you.

[Unregistered]

Im a tight one and i would of pushed!

[Unregistered]

I would have done it... I have done it!! You have to protect your hand, and by going all in u cut off a lot of risk, risk that if he's fishin for somethin he might catch it. don't forget u had the top pair so even if u put him on a pair of queens u'r still in good shape

[gulfport]

I didn't want to be out of the game so early in the night. was this the right move?

Horrible flaw in anyone’s tournament play is that right there.
Being 'afraid of going home'.
The only way you can EVER win tournaments is to accept the fact that you may be going home within fifteen minutes of the first deal. You must come to terms with this in your own mind.

The moment you are 'afraid of going home' you have resigned your game to protective play and you will get squashed fast.
I harvest at least a 3rd of my chip stack within the first hour of play, knowing that 90% of all the players are 'afraid of going home early' and will let me steal from them.
Has this cost me?
Yes. The occasional slowplay or the occasional brave call foils this plan, but tournament poker isn't about hands, tables, sets or even tournaments. It's about months and years, and in the long term, this strategy is winning.
It's also native to EVERY winning player NLHE save for maybe Harrington or Gray (Or Hansen who tends to be very quiet early on but blows up like a rocket once the blinds get big or the table is short handed)

This dynamic (being 'adraid of going home') is very acute in larger buy-in tourneys like WSOP or some of the larger events.

[gulfport]

PS- I know this is the ring game forum, but this element is worth commenting on.

Protective play is a flaw, no matter where you sit.

[Reedy]

Not enough information to tell.

But if you were short stacked you have pushed pre (duh)

[Offsuit27]

Need more information....still all the best

[Cypope]

I am sitting with a pair of bullets about an hour into the game, and I am going up against another oponent who is trying to fleece me dry. The flop is J Diamonds, Q-Spades, 8 Spades. I am forced with a decision to go all in. I chickened out and said fuck it. I didn't want to be out of the game so early in the night. was this the right move?

If you felt it was iffy, & you're reasonably experienced, you did well enough, especially if the fear of going out was important at that time.

I don't usually go all-in with AA, unless I have a good read on the remaining players &(most important) I'm the one putting the pressure on with the all-in bet. If a short stack shoved, & I wanted to isolate to just him & me, I'd re-shove(assuming I have more chips, of course!)

I'd have your guy, with no tells, on a flush draw(9 outs), so the odds would be fair that he'd end up missing it, especially if I had the As in my hand(then he has 8 outs only)

But ultimately it's up to your philosophy -- I recognize that AA is the lowest hand type(a pair) so I don't give it, on its own, great credence -- I need my reads & knowledge of my opponents to help me decide (& flopping that 3rd ace never hurts, of course! *LOL*)

I tell people I fold my pocket rockets preflop, for good luck. . .

[Cypope]

PS- I know this is the ring game forum, but this element is worth commenting on.

Protective play is a flaw, no matter where you sit.

Agreed!

Why fold when you can bet? (unless you know for sure you're beat, O/C!)
Why check when you can bet?
Why call when you can raise?

Always put pressure -- always control your opponents' plays. . .