today i was playing a final table. large stack goes all in ... im in good shape 5th with 10,000 chips. i have queens. kept telling myself to fold but some reason i called. it looks good. he has 3's and hits his 3. WTF puts me. didnt cash

another thing happend today when i rased the other guy called. it comes out jack 44. i have jack king and think fuck it push all in. guy calls with a pair of pocket 8's and hits it on the turn.

these people are being rewarded for bad play.

question aswell just after the big blind u have ace king. do u go all in with it or fold it cause really its an ace high with a king kicker ...

Hi Daniel

Sorry to hear about the donkings shows you that they aren't constant that you got to the final table. Unfortunately they are a reality of playing poker though and not much any of us can do about them. The problem is that many hands that are considered monsters are not all that strong in the hierachy of things. For example AA is the strongest starting hand but it is beaten by 22 33 or any other two pair which in turn is beaten by a set. It is hard to hit these two pairs and sets, straights and flushes but they do happen and say straights and flushes totally dwarf one pair. However because of the fast paced high stakes action of a final table every hand counts you played QQ correctly so what if there had been AA or KK it is probabilities wise very unlikely and also worth remembering that weak players often willl not go all in on AA in fact and I have seen this more often than not they will think about their cards and then min raise. They are hoping for a re-raise where they are likely to raise again but not by too much so your call wth QQ is good here. Yes AQ or AK would likely go all in but you are ahead of these two if you are decided to wait for a better spot then fold but when the blinds are high on a final table then QQ is a good bet for a double up here. Many people will go all in on any pair to make it look stronger than it is, it is the same for raising the blinds more often than not A9 is an all in bet to steal whereas AA KK is still a min raise. If you have watched your opponent and their betting style and patterns you can use this to work out their likely range. So although a high pair is strong and you were a 4:1 advantage it is worth remembering that they are not unbreakable and not to worry too much when they are beat. As for the AK question definately fold AK before going all in with it. AK is, especially in the early stages of a tourney or against loose players a disaster all in early position. Remember going all in does not scare fish if they like their cards for whatever reason they will call, a fish with 22 will easiy make this call and 22 is ahead of AK in a race believe it or not, not by much but by enough for it to be a terrible thing to go all in with AK. However AK is a strong enough hand to play from early and it is worth playing aggressively pre-flop with a raise, although you can slow play it too. I think it is worth betting aggressively as even a fish might think twice about calling a raise with K7 although don't count on this but against tight aggressive players it will cause them to fold marginal hands that might put you in trouble after the flop.Also raising helps you get money in with a good hand to make a decent pot and helps you represent a good handb with betting post-flop. Knowing the player is important and knowing what they are capable of is important how they bet if they hit is very important because if you watch these actions you can gauge hand strength. For example there are many players who will call a raise to hit a low flop and take bets from people unwilling to fold AK AQ etc. This doesn't mean that you should just fold if you don't hit but be careful as to who is calling your raises how fast and why they are calling them. Ask yourself does the board have draws etc. An example of this was I was playing AK and the board comes down with two clubs and checked to me there is a queen on the board and this guy usually calls raises so to me I think if he calls this raise he could have a pair probably not the queen or a flush draw etc. And so as he misses a club and I bet the second street he folds. If you get a tight aggressive player calling heavy bets or re-raising you the likelihood is they have a set or somesuch or an overpair. You should basically be able to dump AK if you don't feel comfortable with it but in the first instance don't feel bad about being aggressive with it.

great advice. i usually play cash in the casino. usually do ok. mind u i limp with every hand so i get max value. like ak i limp. if i hit i rase big like 30 quid evin if theres 12 in the pot. i think i need to start watching other players. today iv been rasing big with ak then the flop comes. the other guy has hit a 4. i kept rasing ad he calls to the end. ur like WTF

Originally Posted by KnightofNarg

So much wrong here...

+1

And he wonders why he gets "donked".

Think you have the best idea of all by saying to watch closely what other players are doing, but also about your raising if you are over raising the pot without hitting that is a very risky strategy, okay you're representing a monster with a raise but people will start thinking he does this often I'm calling him down light. This might be why you got called with the 4s and why someone joined in a hand with you superlight they are thinking well if I hit he will raise at me and I can take a monster pot with poor holdings. Couple of questions are are you a tight aggressive player or do you often re-raise pre-flop as that might also help understand why you got called by a poor hand.

well to be honest usually quite tight. if i can limp with q9 offsuit i would limp. if someone rases no problem folding. the onlytime i 3bet is when i hit a set. my problem is i try and bluff too much on the turn so i waste alot of chips because of that but the same time i get alot of chips because i bluff the turn. i never show ether witch i would imagine is good

last night i deposited 20 dollers and got it upto 60 dollers. lost it all the smorning due to bluffing. online seems to be so easy to try and bluff but live in a tourney is im more sensable. i play to win not to bluff.

Loads of calling stations online bluffing is tough. I don't play live but I imagine is easier to work out by tells who bluffing. I think online there are tells in bet timing etc so careful no-one has worked this out with you they will also watch your betting patterns too, anything irregular may lead to an unwanted call.

Whatever you think is tight pre-flop, magnify it 10 times and you will be much closer to playing an optimal range of hands. Part of defeating bad players is playing hands with a strong mathematical advantage over the bad player's range.