First of all, before someone tells me I’m the stupid one for playing a hand two players away from the money, you don’t win tournaments by passing up opportunities.
That said, I’m in the big blind, 8th of 11, in a 100k tournament, sitting on 12 big blinds, and waking up with 7-2 off. Ugh. But the cutoff limps when he should raise (wait to see his hand), button folds, small blind calls, and I check.
Flop is 8-7-2. No one ever puts you on bottom two, not even Daniel Negreanu, so I lead out half pot. Cut off comes over the top and small blind folds. My biggest worry is 87, given he didn’t raise, but otherwise I feel like I should be ahead and shove.
Cut off calls with A8, so top pair and five outs. Turn doesn’t help him, but of course the river is an ace. That’s poker, you play the hand well, and the dumbass wins.
I don’t like leading out here. Aside from bottom two pair, what other hands would you lead with? Any bluffs? Better to check-raise, or evaluate turn if it checks through.
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How does that make him dumb? Half pot bet and someone has top pair top kicker…Not everyone plays the same way. A8 doesn’t need to raise. 5 or 6 handed it is a good idea, but I don’t even raise with AK half the time anymore with how much I lose with it here. Some people play off feel. And you got suckered into a suckout lol.
He limped preflop with an ace with a decent kicker from one off the button. If he had raised, I would have folded.
Yeah and he limped and won way more than had he raised. So good on his part
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It would have been dumb had he not raised and had the winner till the river and you won. But again, not everyone plays like whatever book you read that you based your strategy on. It’s free poker there’s no need to call people names over losing free tokens.
I understand, but if I check, does he bet? He’s just limped from great position with almost certainly the best hand. I didn’t see any aggression in him and felt I was going to have to squeeze chips from him.
From there, he’s raising with top pair when I’ve shown strength by leading out from the big blind on a board I’ve likely hit from that position. If I’m him and take a moment to think about my range, 87 and 72 are front and center in that situation, just as likely as an eight with a smaller kicker than his or a bluff, not to mention I could have checked with sevens or nines. A raise could and should have been expensive. Plus, he’s seen me take down a few hands with good cards, fold when I don’t have it, and not seen my bluffs.
All his information should tell him he could be behind and that I’m just as likely to shove as fold if he comes over the top. If he stays in character rather than panicking, he can call me down and check-raise on the river. I’d bet anything that his thought process, if you can call it that, was that his top pair was good whatever I had, never mind it’s only the second-best winning hand, behind a high card. So, he gambles and has to be bailed out on the river.
There’s a difference between good and lucky, which is the point of the story.
If you think it’s better to limp with a strong hand in position with no action behind just bc you’ve had some bad luck, I can’t help you. I’ve had a sh*t ton of bad luck with monsters, but I don’t wear a tin foil cap while I play as a result. I overbet with them preflop early in tournaments, which, when the fish bite, more often than not gets me off to a good start. Meanwhile, I watch more slow players hit the rail than spring their trap. The more people in the hand, the less equity for your AK/AQ. The rags will persistently run them down.
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Three quarters of the time he loses a stack to 72o though. Just because it worked out this time doesn’t mean that limping a hand that doesn’t play well muli-way is a good idea.
In the immortal words of Paul Reiser, “this is what I’m saying!”
Again, he’s the cut off. Everyone has folded behind him, leaving only the buttons and the blinds. Why would you want to play all four of them with A8 off? If it were me, I wouldn’t want to play any. It’s probably the best hand pre-flop, but I would need four cards to make a flush or straight, and two for trips or two pair. Not a lot of potential for me beyond top pair. That’s why I’d raise with a pot bet and take the blinds if they let me.
Now, my 7-2 off is the worst hand in poker for a) the same reasoning I just applied to his hand, and b) because 7 is a lousy high card. I’m not going to volunteer chips to play it out of position, and no one should give me the opportunity to play it for free. Further, I’m going to assume that the small blind was just as grateful to be given the chance to see a flop for half a big blind even though they didn’t hit it.
You see videos online in which people let donkeys, goats, and the like into their house without a second thought. It’s all fun and games until they break something, chew up the upholstery, or relieve themselves on the carpet. Much the same as letting the blinds team up on your A8 off suit.