Originally Posted by TheEtniesKid

I was recently playing in a 25 person tournament at my house and it was down to the final 3. I had a pretty good size stack in front of me but still had less than the two other players. I was in the small blind on this hand and the dealer folded to me.
I looked down at and limped in. The big blind checked behind me and before the flop i checked in the dark.
The flop was and the player bet 2x the big blind.
Having caught top two pair and seeing the straight draw out there i raised over the top all in.
He called and showed for the open ended straight draw. i was confused by his call as he would be crippled if i doubled up here.
But sure enough the turn was a and he made his straight. River didnt make my full house and i was out of the tournament in 3rd place. A little dissapointed at that hand but proud of my nights play i walked about with a nice profit. But should i have played this hand differently or was i correct to move all in here?

why check in the dark? did you do that at all that night? if not, that looks suspicios, and is a huge tell if you ask me. either you have a really strong hand, or you have garbage.

but, you flopped nicely. and the BB made a "i dont think this guy has anything" bet. ....so that was a good all in push since you were the low stack.

Originally Posted by TheEtniesKid

well ya i been dark checking the whole night and was throwing people off with it because when i didnt they got suspicious as opposed to when i would. i also liked putting myself in good position with a not so good hand in this particular case. but ya i agree with you about his bet i was just really upset he made the call

Checking in the dark is just stupid. To do it once vs a specific opponent (as is the asian guy vs Dn at last years NL WSOP event) is ok for tactical reasons. To do it repeatedly and blindly is just ignorant. You are leaving a lot of money on the table by doing that. There are plenty of situations where being first to act is a bigger advantage than being last.

I generally hate all-in moves when a pot size or better bet will do! Too often all-in looks weak and an attempt to steal so may encourage a call like Ace high with oesd!
But your quetion was 'Mistake or not?' -

First, if you could have won the hand without risking your entire stack but did so anyway - that would be a mistake IMO. Your bets could have been scaled to make calling to a draw a mistake - 1/2 to pot size would do. If you want early resolution - pot plus 1/2 or double would make most draws fold.

2nd - it's hard to figure the odds you were giving/getting by your all-in bet without the stack and pot sizes given but was the all-in risk worth the reward being offer by the pot? This may be a mistake.

3rd - I would also apply the odds question to your opps and on the face of it I think his was the biggest mistake of all. Pairing his ace was not going to win the pot without also pairing the 3 or 4 so these outs are practically useless but his open ended str8 gaves him 8 outs for about 2.2 to 1 with 2 draws. Was the pot offering this or better - I doubt it! I think he made a poor call and got rewarded for it - your tuf luck!