Opinion if this was the right play

Recently I played in a tourney with about 130 people. At this point, 40 people left, blinds 150-300 - 50 ante. I have about 10k in chips. I'm the Big Blind with AJ of clubs. 4 people call until the small blind makes it 800. I call. Fold, Fold, Fold, ALL IN with 4500 in chips. Small Blind calls with 2500 in chips. I end up calling. Small blind has 9 10 spades. other guy has 10 Q offsuit. Flop comed two clubs and a Jack. Turn rag. River.....QUEEN ! He got lucky but it left me with half my stack. I personally think it was the right thing to do because I had a chance to lose 4500 but win 7000 and really have a commanding chip lead. Any thought? Thanks.

[lpro]

Personally, not the right play although you failed to mention the size of your stack and the size of the other players which could make a difference. You have to figure you are beat by at least one of the other players. The fact that you had the best hand is pure luck.

With the blinds so small compared to your stack you were in no way close to "desperation mode". There were going to be much better opportunities to get your money in. To risk 50% of your stack on a hand where at BEST you are a coin flip and probably buried with AQ or AK or even worse - a big pair in my opinion is not a good play. A J suited is a good hand to bet your money with, not call after 2 players are all in.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but this seems like an extremely loose and fishy tournament. You have 4 of the first 6 or 7 people at a full table flat calling the BB, and then a small blind making a substandard raise of LESS than 3x the BB, with suited connectors. Then, after you flat call, someone with Q-10 off, a terrible hand, goes all in? And the guy with 10-9 suited calls? This seems very bizarre play to me, extremely loose, and if you knew that this play was atypical of the rest of the tournament, calling with AJs really isn't that bad. However, in a normal tournament setting, I'd have laid this down in a heartbeat. You're too likely to be dominated and don't want to play this hand with 2 others anyway.

[bbh]

was this a freeroll tourney or something? This hand sounds like a joke. I probably would have mucked aj with the 800 raise. You have 10k in chips, why risk half your stack with the worst hand in poker, aj?

[Locohombre]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Recently I played in a tourney with about 130 people. At this point, 40 people left, blinds 150-300 - 50 ante. I have about 10k in chips. I'm the Big Blind with AJ of clubs. 4 people call until the small blind makes it 800. I call. Fold, Fold, Fold, ALL IN with 4500 in chips. Small Blind calls with 2500 in chips. I end up calling. Small blind has 9 10 spades. other guy has 10 Q offsuit. Flop comed two clubs and a Jack. Turn rag. River.....QUEEN ! He got lucky but it left me with half my stack. I personally think it was the right thing to do because I had a chance to lose 4500 but win 7000 and really have a commanding chip lead. Any thought? Thanks.

However, I don't think it was worth half of your stack to bet on. I would have mucked that after 2 all ins with just 2 suited overcards. It's strong, but not all in strong. You weren't desperate for chips, so I wouldn't have called.

[dbdbarry]

I agree with the other posters. If you're going to call allins for half your stack with AJ, you're not going to make it very far in multi tables.

[Iceman37]

It was a poor call. In fact, quite a lot of "experts" would advise that it's not even a very strong hand, and they'd be right. Many of them wouldn't play it into a raised pot period (depending on their position) and certainly not into a pot raised as significantly as this.

The poster who mentioned that the all-ins were "fishy" is right too, though determining exactly what creates the "fishiness" is difficult. For instance, it could easily be one of those guys who prefers to slowplay monsters into the flop (why, I have no idea, but there are those who do). Once he sees that there are a lot of callers, he may reraise hard to try and pare the field. Or he may see that now there's a sufficient pot for him to make a move right there. Or, he may just suck. Problem is, there's no way to tell exactly what it is.

As previous posters have already mentioned though, the proper play is to choose your battle a little more wisely. It's simply too big a risk for too little likelihood of reward. You'll have better opportunities later. Don't fall into the trap of believing that just because you went in with the best hand, it must have been the right call. It wasn't. You were just in a hand with morons.

[brofriend]

Not enough info Need to know other chip stacks in the tournament and how many places get paid

[AdamWolf]

You can really only be hoping for rainbow broadway, or pick up a big pair on the flop wiht a nice kcker. Either one is too shaky and dangerous to go in for close to half your stack, especially when two others are all-in, and several people have shown initiative into the hand (the callers), and the other two have both shown aggresivenes (sb on the intial re-raise, and the all-in guy on that move, as well as a 2nd show by the sb wiht the all-in of his own...if someone calls an all-in with an all-in..its a warning to the table 995 times out of 1000...)

[royal boy]

This is the part of the game and at that time you have to take the decision fast. Its nice that you are seeking for advice so that you wont repeat the same mistake again. But giving advice in front of computer is totally different issue and playing game and taking deciosn instantly is different issue.

[msleo]

all of the sudden everyones a bracelet winner or something.
listen, A K would have lost as well. however,stack size and
previous play should determine your call. next time you'll
wait but it wasn't the worse play ever.


PS dont put so much emphasis on suited hole
cards. you'll go broke chasing flushes.