[pritz]

I'm playing in a no-limit tournament. Out of 200 players we are down to about 60. I have 8000 in chips, which I consider to be a little short stacked for where I am in the tournament. Add to that, there are a couple of monster stacks at my table. A new player comes in right on the big blind. I'm in early position, so I have 5 players acting after me (not including BB). I have the A-5s and I call the 600 BB. Everyone else folds, and the big blind checks. Now the flop comes down A-5-10 rainbow. I made two pair, and since BB checked pre-flop. I figured I had the best of it. The BB has the shortest stack at the table, and since it's heads-up, I decide to put the BB all in for 3000. There was some hesitation, so I figured I was just going to steal the blind with an ace scare card. Even if BB had an ace as well, I had the pair of fives. What really burned me most was the BB comment, something like "I've been pretty lucky so far today, so why not." When the cards were flipped over, I was relieved to see K-6d, but it didn't last long. The turn was a king, but I was still a favorite. The only thing that would bust me was the 45 to 1 set draw, and wouldn't you just know it, the river was a king. Shot down by runner-runner. I was now the shortest stack, and I lasted about another 20 minutes of the tournament. Although I personally feel I played it right, where I went wrong was emotionally. Up to this point, I felt like I was playing solid poker. I put three people out of the tournament, and the best hand I ever had was three nines. I never paid anyone off at all. I was a rock. This bad beat shook me up hard. I doubled an opponent up and lost almost half my chips in the process. Furthermore, I get a feeling that the better players picked up on my emotional weakness and just killed me. I have no problem laying down hands or being beat by a legitimate better hands, but when someone calls my big bets with crap and then makes a miracle hand on the river I tend to get angry, and since I was already a little nervous, this being my first tournament, I was wrecked by this bad beat. I was so angered that I stayed around to watch the tournament until this person went out. My only consolation is they didn't finish in the money either.

[pritz]

By this point in a tournament, I'll rarely limp in EP, especially with less that 15 BB in my stack. A5s I fold unless I'm going to steal with it two or less off the button.

If you're going to play it, make your standard raise.

That being said, his call of your all-in was horrendous.

[johnf]

Now that I think about what you are saying, in the position I was in, the correct action would have probably been to fold the A-5 and forget about it (especially in that early of a position). The big lesson I learned from the tournament is that I can play solid against novices, but I'm still mostly a hack. I tend to play loose, but still tighter than most of my opponents. I quickly learned that when you are playing "for real" that many of my home poker tricks don't fly. In a low-limit game, my playing that hand EP would have been cheap to get out of if I had raisers behind me , or my flop didn't improve. The way I always justified playing ace kickers is that if someone is betting a pocket pair (unless it's aces), even though they are a favorite now, my odds of pairing up my ace are better than their odds of making a set.

In the high stakes tournament setting where I was at a level of expensive blinds, chasing that hand doesn't seem right. If someone raised behind me (whether they had a hand or not) I would be put in a bad situation. Even with callers behind me, I may be in trouble. If the flop didn't hit, I would be forced to fold, giving up nearly 7% of my chips.

Would the decision to play this hand be different if I were the overwhelming chip leader? The funny thing is that almost the exact hand busted me out of the tournament. I had pocket kings and I raised 1000 with about 2500 more in my stack from EP. Everyone folded behind me, but when the bet got to the chip leader, I got a bad feeling. I'm guessing that at this point he must have had about 20000. He had A-9s and raised me all in. I called with the kings (still not sure if I should have or not). Even when he saw my pocket kings, I'm sure he didn't care since paying me off wouldn't make a dent in his stack. Anyway, he pairs up the nine on the flop, and the ace on the turn, and of course, there was no miracle king for me on the river, only defeat.

It seems his play was more correct because he had only a finite (small) amount to lose to me, AND being in a later position, he didn't have to worry about too many later callers that would break him. However, I feel that if I had a few grand more, and he raised the 2000, that I could have probably made him fold with a big re-raise. But with no chips left, what was I to do. So in summary, my observation is that sometimes it is correct to make a less than correct play if you can potentially drive out someone who has a fraction of your chip count. In my first scenario, acting with that hand in EP could have been a disaster (completely disregarding the poor all -in call).

[norshvind]

Many inexperienced players overvalue suited aces. A5s is fine if there are other limpers early in a tournament and you have the chance to see the flop cheaply. When the blinds get big, it's a steal-only hand, especially if you're the big stack. The exception might be if there's a small all-in from a very short stack & you're in one of the blinds and it doesn't cost you more than 10-12% of your chips to call.

In your situation, you could afford to be patient and wait for good cards/decent steal situations. Remember, you have to steal in tournamments, so pay attention to who the players are at your table who seem hesitant to defend their blinds and attack them. For example, where you were, look for someone with a stack + or - a thousand or two from yours who's been playing tight and make it a point to steal the next time he's on the BB regardless of your cards. If it works, do it the next time if you have good cards. The key at NL is to pick up small amounts of chips here and there to pad your position so when you finally get that premium hand, or get a flop that hits you when you're stealing, you have enough chips to win a big pot.

Also remember that it's better not to steal from the button or SB without solid cards. Your raise will look too suspicious. But stealing with worse cards is easier one or two spots off the button because those raises get more respect.

[ballen]

you played it right that guy never deserved your money and was an idiot for calling

[chris]

I don't know if I would say you did everything right, but that other guy certaintly made a bad play for calling...