i played yesterday in a preliminary round of a tournament called onkp (open nederlands kampioenschap poker), translated means open dutch championship poker.
it’s a tournament without money prizes but you can qualify yourself for the semifinals if you get with the best 5% of a preliminary round. and if you win it you get directly to the finals and you win a trophy. if you win the finals you win a big trophy and are the dutch champion of the year.
here the situation: starting stacks are 15000. first blind level is 25/50. 39 players in this prelimary round
current stats. my stack was slightly over 9000. blind levels 300/600 (so 15 bb’s). and about 10 players are already busted. table played slightly on the loose side but more towards average, except the player on my left, he was very lag and had a big stack.
i had KhJh. and was utg+1 on an 8h table. i decided to shove it, it was folded by everyone until the SB who called with AsJs. no good card came and i got busted.
so the question: did i played well by shoving the KJ suited?
I do believe it all boils down to whether you can play your stack post flop.
For example if 6 of the 8 other stacks have ~30BBs (Like on replay, especially deep in some tournaments) then you might consider a 2x raise or a limp, because someone making a big 3-bet is going to have a pair or a Ax type hand.
But if the majority of the table has 60-65 BBs then shoving is probably the right play because if you might not be able to play with your remaining stack post flop, because the larger stacks may try to squeeze if you limp/min raise.
That said, it also depends on your table image and the players you are playing with, whether they are aggressive or tight.
JJ
P.S. This is just my opinion (and my thought process, had I been in your shoes) and it might not be the best advice because I’ve never played live poker before.
i see the advise is really different on almost everyone . but i’ll get that since it was a difficult question.
the theories posted besides the answer does also help to get why i should/shouldnt do this.
here some continuing questions to make more information:
caracal: what is your theory behind all this?
im_a_dog: your story sounds most logical according to your explanation, but when counting the possible big fold equity combined with the fact that probably ace high cards call (so less chance of domination) and that it’s suited one gapped, does this give enough equity to do this, or is it still a better fold?
orange_juice: if i do that, am i not bleeding my stack to death?
jumpingjjacks: there was’nt a blind/stack board this time, so i don’t know the exact average stack, but i’ll assume they were around 40BB’s. this leans most to the limp/minraise advise, so 1 do you still stick to that one? and 2 won’t that also bleed my stack to death?
very nice one dog, much detail in it. if you say it like that, i indeed think i should have’nt done it. but thanks for bringing to my attention. next time i know better
The way I look at it, you had 10 orbits or 80 hands before you blinded out.
You obviously can’t wait until that happens, so have to make a move at some point. The odds of being dealt pocket 10s or better are 43-1. This implies that you would probably catch a big pair before you got down to half your stack, at least statistically.
Add in AK and AQ, and this suggests you should have waited for a better spot. You would probably have caught a better hand, or at least been in better position for the weaker hands had you waited.
hey, I got wrong, I translate it wrong, sorry. Its many different types of play I have, so its too long to explain. At your game I will see who is players and what they raise, and what can I do to them, its hard to say if you was right or wrong. By the way next month I go to play sit and go hight, will you play it too? There is a lot of good players and its difficult.
Just an interjection, Chris Ferguson once told me that KJ was the hand he disliked most, saying it was just good enough to get your butt kicked. which it seems your saying but with more words. ;>)
If I where at your situation I will go all-in pre-flop.
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