Did I Make a Mistake on This Hand?

[Offsuit27]

OK, I'm playing in a $150 NL hold 'em tournament at Caesars. My stack is down to 3100 at a table of 10 players. The blinds are 400-800 and the ante is 75. A player in middle position limps. He has about 10,000 chips. The table has been solid, so I put him on JT+, 98s+ and 22+. It's folded to me in the big blind. I have K9o. I knew I certainly was not going to make him fold if I pushed, but for several orbits I had no opportunity to shove as my cards were truly awful, such as 85o. A push seemed marginal, but seemed like the best choice, so I went all-in. The limper called, turned over AJo and won the pot. I think I made the right choice, but wish I knew how to determine what my chance of success was against my opponent's range.

After that game ended, I felt my biggest mistake was in letting my stack get that low without taking any chances. So a few days later when I played in the same tournament again, when I had about 10,000 chips at a full table with the blinds 500-1000 with a 100 ante, I pushed all-in from early position with 99. A guy on the button called with AQo and I lost the coin flip. I was satisfied I made the right play, though.

[homedeco07]

I personally would not shove with 99 early in a tournament. Hell, I folded J-J in BB to a early position all-in for 2/3 of my stack recently. partially cause it was early in tournament, partially cause it was a tight/rock player who I had not seen play a hand in like forever. He looked at me and said "you folded that??" which basically told me he was on a draw..AK, AQ, AJ, A-10 or maybe 10's but I felt it was right to fold at that time so I did. you have to take into account the player you are facing. tight player= looser calls and c-bets. loose player = better starting hand requirements and so on...these are all generalizations but you get the idea...

[DaNutFullHouse]

Your shove here with K9 is OK considering that you have 4xBB

[Texas Tokem]

No, you made the wrong play.
(1) He limped, which meant that he was either mediocre or very strong wanting you to think he was mediocre so that you would commit your chips. (And, you did.)
(2) See a flop. K9os is only K high and a flop does not cost you anything.
(3) K or 9 does not come, be willing to fold or check it down to see what he was holding. Checking here could be strong for you because a bet would actually imply a bluff in this position because having no chips makes you look desperate regardless and making a bluff is pointless as you will probably be called w/ atc.
(4) If you have 3100 not including the posted BB (you did not clarify whether your 3100 was inclusive of the blind or not) if it wasn't fold. Assume you lose the SB too, you're down to 2625 with 2550 on the button. And, statistically if you have not gotten anything for awhile the cards will come back around to at least an A high hand or PP.

My point is that I've taken both courses of action in a tourney; one getting desperate w/ 5x or less chips and two willing to let my chips dwindle almost all the way down. The final result was that twice I came back and literally won the tournament doing the latter and only ever lost doing the former. You should be patient, because you knew when you pushed you were done.

[BigSkip]

Considering you have less than 3 BBs after that hand if you don't win, and your fold equity would be effectively 0, then you were okay to shove.
With your BB, the SB, his call and the antes, the pot is 2750, and you have 2300 behind. You will be called with just about anything he could have reasonably limped on in this situation, however, if you wait until the next hand, you will be in the SB with only 1825 not already committed.
Your K-9 was just under 40-60 to win this hand, and you couldn't reasonably expect to be in a better spot in the next few hands.

[Offsuit27]

Thank you all for the responses. Now, i will be more careful playing those kind of hands

[lawlruschang]

Don't listen to Tokem, he's an idiot. Any time you're around 5 BB or less in a tournament, your decision is all-in or fold, you still have some fold equity preflop, but zero after the flop, which means if you call you're gambling on hitting the flop HARD (top pair high kicker or better) because chances are your opponent will bet and you'll be in a bad spot.

The 99 vs AQo is questionable. The guy made a crappy call and lucked out on you, but with 10BB it's not necessary to make that gamble from early position - you're risking way too much for what will either be the blinds or a call from a hand that can beat you.

For a good equity calculator against hand ranges, try [url]http://pokerstove.com/[/url]. Obviously won't help you in live tourneys, but interesting to play around with and see how different hands should play out.

[DaNutFullHouse]

The 99 shove is fine

[JackB03]

Originally Posted by Offsuit27

OK, I'm playing in a $150 NL hold 'em tournament at Caesars. My stack is down to 3100 at a table of 10 players. The blinds are 400-800 and the ante is 75. A player in middle position limps. He has about 10,000 chips. The table has been solid, so I put him on JT+, 98s+ and 22+. It's folded to me in the big blind. I have K9o. I knew I certainly was not going to make him fold if I pushed, but for several orbits I had no opportunity to shove as my cards were truly awful, such as 85o. A push seemed marginal, but seemed like the best choice, so I went all-in. The limper called, turned over AJo and won the pot. I think I made the right choice, but wish I knew how to determine what my chance of success was against my opponent's range.

After that game ended, I felt my biggest mistake was in letting my stack get that low without taking any chances. So a few days later when I played in the same tournament again, when I had about 10,000 chips at a full table with the blinds 500-1000 with a 100 ante, I pushed all-in from early position with 99. A guy on the button called with AQo and I lost the coin flip. I was satisfied I made the right play, though.

I think the K9 hand couple go either way, I wouldve probably done the same thing but who knows. The 99 hand I think is a real good hand to talk about. I really think you need to provide more information. For example, what were the other stack sizes behind you? What type of players are these? You should probably have a good idea of this at this point of the tourn. I really don't an answer for you if 99 was good enough to just push all-in early. I guess if you wouldve won, this post wouldn't be on here. But I will say this. If the players behind you are low as well then may be best to pick a better spot. Because your at the border line of pushing all in or fold due to the antes. I think in this situation, your looking for people to fold. So if they are low on chips, there gonna be calling KQ, A10, KJ, AJ, etc... So that really hurts your percentage of winning with only 99. I'm assuming it is a full table as well. But yet not enough information to justify. Point I am trying to make is provide yourself with more information so you can make easier decisions. Folding 99 against stacks as low as yours, wouldve been a good move. Against deeper stacks, I say push it, due to the fact there gonna call you with better hands which means more of a chance for them to fold. Low stacks you have almost no fold equity. 99 in early position early in tourn, your looking for people to fold in your position.