protecting a big stack in an SNG

two questions on this one:

- should i have folded to his all-in when the 2nd 4 fell on the turn? i got sucked in but good

- being the big stack, should i have played this more conservatively and stack conscious? i could have probably coasted into the money. as it was, i got knocked out 5th.

i'd been playing and winning heads up tournies before this, so maybe i was getting cocky.

on the plus side, i do like the turbo format at Poker Stars.

*********** # 23 **************
PokerStars Game #506470239: Tournament #1915898, Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2004/06/25 - 01:32:09 (ET)
Table '1915898 1' Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: wizkid31 (1805 in chips)
Seat 2: baldeagle30 (2900 in chips)
Seat 5: fishstick666 (3435 in chips)
Seat 6: FredGarvinMP (2190 in chips)
Seat 7: HOLLYWOOD2 (2790 in chips)
Seat 9: 4Queen13 (380 in chips)
FredGarvinMP: posts small blind 75
HOLLYWOOD2: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fishstick666 [Ac Kh]
4Queen13: folds
wizkid31: folds
baldeagle30: raises 150 to 300
fishstick666: calls 300
FredGarvinMP: folds
HOLLYWOOD2: folds
*** FLOP *** [Jh Kd 4h]
baldeagle30: bets 150
fishstick666: raises 350 to 500
baldeagle30: calls 350
*** TURN *** [Jh Kd 4h] [4d]
baldeagle30: checks
fishstick666: bets 1000
baldeagle30: raises 1100 to 2100 and is all-in
fishstick666: calls 1100
*** RIVER *** [Jh Kd 4h 4d] [5c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
baldeagle30: shows [4c Ah] (three of a kind, Fours)
fishstick666: shows [Ac Kh] (two pair, Kings and Fours)
baldeagle30 collected 6025 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 6025 | Rake 0
Board [Jh Kd 4h 4d 5c]
Seat 1: wizkid31 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: baldeagle30 showed [4c Ah] and won (6025) with three of a kind, Fours
Seat 5: fishstick666 (button) showed [Ac Kh] and lost with two pair, Kings and Fours
Seat 6: FredGarvinMP (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: HOLLYWOOD2 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: 4Queen13 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

I think preflop is where you let him in. Could've given a nice reraise, and probably knocked him out of the hand. After that, he made a bad call to your reraise on the flop (obviously a pair of 4s was not good there), and got lucky on the turn. You couldn't really put him on a 4, with his preflop raise and call on the flop, so there's definitely no fault to your bet on the turn, and call to his raise after being pot committed.

When I have a big stack, I apply a lot of pressure preflop, especially when I get a big hand. He may have called anyway, but at least you'd have had a chance to take it down right there. Also, if you did make a big preflop raise and he called, the size of the pot would be a lot bigger so on the flop when you hit the K, I would've then put him all in right there. Once again, he may still make a crazy call, but you'd have to feel afterwards that you played it right, and did all you could to prevent chasing, and he just got lucky.

So, in answer to your 2nd question, I think you actually played too conservatively, preflop at least. As the big stack, I'm very aggressive preflop, and in terms of betting myself. I don't think that's where a big stack needs to play more conservatively. Where I'm really conservative is when the small stack raises me big or goes all in. Usually then, if I don't have a great hand, I'll give it to them there. Since a small stack, especially against an aggressive big stack, is always looking for that one phenominal hand to double up against the big stack.

The hard put with this hand, and with many hands that I seem to encounter in PokerStars sit and gos, is that the blinds are so large with so many people that it's a problem. Fishstick is only a 500 chip lead with a 150 chip BB, so not really that large of a lead. So for Fishstick to lay it down after the turn all in is hard, since he's already bet 1800 of his 3400 chips. This seems to be what I have run into a lot lately in PokerStars SNGs, I'm not sure why. I'll play a hand strong against a player with less chips, and then they go all in and I fold because I don't think my hand will win if they are willing to risk their tourney life, and then now I have few total chips compared to the BB.

Okay, its not a huge lead, but it was a big hand.

Here's how I'd typically play it. All he did is minimum raise preflop to 300. With AK, I'd raise that to somewhere around 800-1000 chips. If he calls, and you hit a K (or A) on the flop, shove all in. With that specific flop, if he had AA, KK, or JJ (the only hands that have you beat right now, besides 44 or KJ, both of which he probably wouldn't call your huge raise with), he'd have reraised you all in preflop, most likely, let alone raised to more than just twice the blinds originally and bet more than just 140 at the flop, with the flush draw being a possiblilty.

So now, with whatever he has, its very unlikely he'll call you, and if he does, he's in bad shape. He's likely dominated by your kicker on the king, or chasing a flush, straight, or calling on a lesser pair hoping to get lucky. But chances are, he's not calling. And since you bet big preflop, you're still picking up a nice pot here.

I agree, he was pot commited by the turn, and he had to call that all in. Its the preflop and flop betting that should've been as aggressive as his bet on the turn was.

michael and dave:

good insights and good feedback - thanks, i appreciate it.

looking at the hand again, i really blew it preflop. i should have (correctly) not put him on a large pocket pair with a 2xbb raise, and should have come back firing hard.

i think if i'd raised it to 1000 after his 2xbb preflop, and then pushed all-in (if he called the pfr reraise) on the flop, we'd have never seen the evil turn card.

ahhh, this interesting game of poker! Smile

At least you didn't play as retardedly as I did in this hand - http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1062

:-/

Pre-flop: Fine. AK is over-rated. Information leakage and being tied to the pot offset potential profit by re-raising so the re-raise or call decision really comes down to the players.

Flop: You had to raise hard. He's shown no real aggression. His actions so far scream 2nd/3rd pair, top pair weak kicker or flush draw. Pot is 825 + his bet of 150. Make it around 1k to go, for a total raise of 1100-1200ish. "Thanks for the 150 chips, now go fuck off." If he goes over the top, call. If he flat calls, I'd be inclined to check the turn.

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protecting a big stack in an SNG

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protecting a big stack in an SNG