Every tournament has some key hands where you have to make decisions that can make or break you. I played in a live MTT last night, with 200 players. Here are two hands that came up for me that were pivotal. I'd like to set them up and see how you guys might approach them.

First hand: it's just after the first break in play, and the blinds are 75/150. You've got about 5,000 chips, which is below average. You're UTG and dealt AA. You come in for 450. A solid player who's UTG + 2 reraises you to 1000. A fairly good player in late position calls, and another solid player in the BB calls as well. The action is now back to you. All the players have about the same amount of chips. What is your bet?

Second hand: it's much later in the game. There are about 45 players left, and the top 18 will pay. You've got about 9,000 chips, which is below average. The blinds are 500/1000, and you're in the BB with A7o. The action folds to the button, who is a new player at the table with about 8,000 chips. He calls. The SB is a passive/weak player who has less than 5,000 chips. He completes the bet. Now the action is to you. Would you raise to try to take this pot now, or would you check and see what the flop brings? (I'll post more about the later streets here after people weigh in on this initial decision).

Okay, I'm usually wrong but I'll give it a shot.

Hand 1: Push all-in. There's enough in the pot that taking it down here isn't a bad thing, but I'm guessing that the UTG + 2 might call and the late position player could well fold.

Hand 2: This is a tough call for me. I think I just check. If you raise you have to push, and if the SB is passive/weak it seems to me he's be likely to call, and you don't know WHAT to expect from the button. This isn't a hand I'm ready to go all-in with yet, and certianly not in a 3-way pot. Since your in the blinds now, you've got some time until they come back, so check and hope you hit the flop hard. If not, you you live to fight another day and hope you get a pocket pair or at least a suited A before you get to the blinds again.

Hand one is a definite push situation for me...the amount in the pot is almost enough to double you up already so you don't mind taking the pot down here by re-raising all-in. And since you're holding AA, you're really not too upset if anyone calls your all-in re-raise either...you'd just like to try to ensure its not EVERYONE still in the pot that does the calling.

Hand 2 has danger written all over it. I don't like just checking because there's a host of ways you can get in trouble on the flop (if an ace hits, you're in the same position you are now...do you have the best hand or not?...if the seven hits, are you losing to an overpair?). The call from the button is EITHER a sign of a marginal hand hoping to see a flop cheap or its a trap bet by someone with a major holding trying to get action, and since he's new you've really got no way other than his stack size of even beginning to guesstimate what he might have. And he's got position on you.

You don't mention an ante, so I'm assuming the only times I'm forced to put money into the pot is from the blinds. If that's the case, I'm knocking to check (hey, I said I didn't LIKE it, not that I wouldn't DO it!), seeing a flop and probably releasing this to fight another time, another day. There will be better chances to double up than with this hand (unless the flop mugs me, in which case I'll claim divine destiny and take the shot now). This is definitely one of those situations where a poker player earns their living and absent having my butt in a chair at the table its a hard decision to make.

I wouldn't fault anyone for pushing all in here since you have both other players covered, especially if there are antes at this stage as well. Its just not a strong enough ace for me to feel safe making this play in most conditions...that minimum bet by the button has the red danger light in the corner of my right eye blinking.

Hand 1 is an automatic all in. if they all fold you almost double up, but you'll get at least 1 call.

hand 2 is a push for me. if you check you are basically conceding the pot unless a miracle flops and will be down to 7,500 chips after the small blind and will either have to push all in or fold if you decide to play a hand..

both players have shown weakness, one of them is the button the other is the small blind. taking down this pot brings you up to 11K and allows you to raise without putting your entire stack in danger. Time to take a stand, the hands that the button would limp with are not hands that dominate you, he would more than likely raise AT,AJ,AQ,AK, so if he does decide to call (unlikely in my mind unless he is getting tricky with AA or KK) you should have outs with the Ace.

Originally Posted by Steve-O

Time to take a stand, the hands that the button would limp with are not hands that dominate you, he would more than likely raise AT,AJ,AQ,AK, so if he does decide to call (unlikely in my mind unless he is getting tricky with AA or KK) you should have outs with the Ace.

What if he's got a mid pair, like 8's or 10's? Then your ONLY outs are the aces.

He fact, though, that the button just limps desipte being short stacked makes me wonder if he's slowplaying a big pair.

Thanks for the input so far. At least it seems like I was thinking some of the same things you guys have raised here. Now let me tell you how things worked out.

Hand 1: I decided to push in. I wanted to extract the maximum amount of chips here, and I was worried that by pushing all in, everyone would put me on Aces and fold. However, just calling would have sent me to the flop with 3 others, and I definately did not want to do that. And re-raising would have just about put me all in anyway.

As it turned out, I was in the middle of the perfect storm. UTG +2 folded, but he later told me that he had AK. The late caller folded (and I never learned what he had). The BB called, and he also had AK. The flop came down K high. That's what got me to thinking as I analyzed my play for the night that, if I had not played the hand as fast I did, I might have tripled up here. Still, the hand vaulted to an above-average stack.

I then went into a fairly extended dry spell of cards. I went through several levels of blinds without having more than about 3 playable hands in total. After the second break, the blinds jumped from 300/600 to 500/1000, and at the next level, antes were going to start to kick in.

My stack dwindled from about 13,000 chips to around 9,000 when the A7 hand came up. With less than 10 big bets, I knew I had to find a hand to play soon.

When the action got to me on Hand 2, I felt like there was a good chance that I had the best hand. I did not think that either of the other players had a strong A or a big pair because I think that they would have raised (and I'm sure that the SB would have pushed in preflop with that kind of hand). However, I did not want to push in with this hand for fear that the button in particular was in fact slowplaying a pair, and I didn't think that any other kind of raise would have any effect. Thus, I decided to check.

The flop came down A 8 6 rainbow. The SB checked to me. With 3000 in the pot, I bet 2000 into it. The amount just seemed right to me. It signaled that I had a strong hand, but if one of the others came over the top of me, I was prepared to get away from it and look for another starting hand to go all in with my remaining 6000 chips.

The button thought briefly, and then he just called. His body language suggested to me that he was not strong. The SB folded.

The turn was a blank, except that it was the second club to hit the board. At this point, I was feeling more confident that I was ahead. However, my chip stack was now such that I couldn't just throw out a bet to get the button to define his hand, and I definitely did not want to give him a free card. So I decided to put the button all in. He called.

When we flipped the cards, he was playing the Qc6c, the bottom pair with a flush draw. So at least my read was right.

Then the Kc hit on the river, completing his flush and crippling me. I busted out of the tourny on the next hand (w/ AK incidentally).

I've been replaying this hand in my head over and over trying to figure out if I could have won it by playing it differently. Maybe pushes either preflop or on the flop would have done it, but I just don't think that my hand and position justified that kind of play. Alternatively, I've also been trying to figure out if I should have played it less aggressively, perhaps by checking the flop and folding to a big bet. However, that just seems too weak and passive.

As always, I'd appreciate any critiques. Thanks!