I put the low stacks in front of me on any pair, any A high, or Q10+. I had just taken 3k from chefmendes, and figured he would be all in with almost atc, and was ready to see his raise. I'm not a huge fan of AJ, and if the others had more money I would have folded in a heart beat. What would others have done here?

Poker Stars $25.00+$2.50 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t30/t60 Blinds + t5 - 9 players

xande_br (BTN): t3006 M = 22.27
JSC187 (SB): t5536 M = 41.01
Czartza (BB): t5333 M = 39.50
anth0nypappa (UTG): t705 M = 5.22
teyde2012 (UTG+1): t669 M = 4.96
Hero (UTG+2): t7590 M = 56.22
sirgenutz (MP1): t2401 M = 17.79
Speed2008 (MP2): t6717 M = 49.76
chefmendes (CO): t1223 M = 9.06

Pre Flop: (t135) Hero is UTG+2 with A J
anth0nypappa raises to t700 all in, teyde2012 calls t664 all in, Hero calls t700, 2 folds, chefmendes raises to t1218 all in, 3 folds, Hero calls t518

Flop: (t3935) 2 8 6 (4 players - 3 are all in)

Turn: (t3935) 5 (4 players - 3 are all in)

River: (t3935) K (4 players - 3 are all in)

Final Pot: t3935
anth0nypappa shows T T (a pair of Tens)
teyde2012 shows 5 5 (three of a kind, Fives)
Hero shows A J (high card Ace)
chefmendes shows Q 9 (high card King)
Hero wins t1036
anth0nypappa wins t108
teyde2012 wins t2791

For the record, I'm happy with the results of the hand, would have been happier to win, but was very glad I had 2 overs which is as good as I could expect. Should I have just folded and let the others play it out?

I'm not great at MTTs at all but I find them to be good fun. lol I will give you my thoughts but you have to filter them through your own criticism.

I think that whilst AJ blatantly isn't a premium etc that those players on the small MS should be pushing SO wide that AJ is almost a monster compared to their likely ranges - it is certainly good enough to call the shorties IMO even if it is just a race as you have a chance to take alll of their chips for an amount of M that won't harm you much.

The only problem I have with it all is that you are quite healthy in your M zone and you are in early position giving everyone else who wakes up with a hand the freedom to three bet you. The thing is I think you can still fold here if one of the bigger stacks starts gettting nasty so its not so bad + you have the ability to be a bit scary even just calling as why would anyone want to attack the big stack randomly even if they do look a bit weak just calling.

I guess its probably better to do if you the last person to act as obv you have no chance of getting 3 b by the 40m stacks.

I think overall if because you can afford to lose 5 m if you get three bet by biggy and you are big stacked etc this wasn't a bad spot to call as it turns out you are risking 5 m to take 10 intitially with a hand that is likely at least 50 50 vs their ranges and often enough has them crushed. When chefmnendes shoves to you are still getting decent odds on his stack and again likely ahead of him enough.

I think your play is pretty standard there and don't blame you for calling them you knew their ranges were weak and you could still afford to fold off 5m if big stacks shove against you which is unlikely as you are currently the biggest stack why get into a three betting war with you?

My question here is is it a good play to flat AA etc in this spot in the hope that a big has seen you do this with AJ and decides to pressurise you?

Those are snap-calls for me, and I'm more than happy that a tilty player is creating a side pot here.

Let me qualify what I am about to say by telling you that I do not play online, and have never really played significant volume online. But I have played THOUSANDS of live MTTs.

I love spots like these... You are in a break even spot against 1 player and on some what of a free roll against 3. Even if you lose the pot and just beat chef than you lose nothing and if you win the pot you pick up like a 40% stack increase. I am never folding in these spots and most of the time AJ isn't even needed....

I will bomb pots with far worse if people are willing to just stick like 3 or 4-1 out there

Anyone prefer pushing, rather than calling? When I did just call, which stacks am I folding to their push since I'd likely dominated with AK or QQ+

I think with a hand like AJ just calling gave you the opportunity to fold here + I think your villains would need a pretty strong hand to want to shove over you here as the big stack.

I guess they could do it as a last shout but then I think you're right just to let them. I would fold to a shove from any of the stacks other than those you were involved with here. 5 ms recoverable 20 less so.

Also as you are on the same table you will get to see if someone does shove and you fold what sort of holdings they will do it with. I think though even if they did it with two 3s you can't call here for 3x as much of your stack.

I think shoving might fold out some stuff that would call you but then if you do shove and something like AK QQ still isn't folding then you have a horrible spot against the 40m etc and an unpleasant one against the 20ms. I think the only stacks that might call rather than shoving are the SB BB and the MP2 stacks.

I think that the ones you are least worried about are the blinds and so you're really only worried about MP2 calling. As MP2 probably isn't going to want to tangle with the only stack that can take his whole stack and doesn't know what you hold- whether you are trapping or not calling is best I would say.

All the 20m stacks are going to call with whatever they shove over you with anyway so shoving doesn't achieve a great deal IMO. I get that they could 3 bet light but it wouldn't make a lot of sense as they have to go to showdown vs several other stacks so I guess I fold to all of them if they shove over.

Originally Posted by Pinguaq

Anyone prefer pushing, rather than calling? When I did just call, which stacks am I folding to their push since I'd likely dominated with AK or QQ+

I was actually thinking a min-raise here when I first looked at it, but considering the blinds are at 30/60 and the raise is over 10x that amount I don't think you are going to get any serious takers from a bigger stack unless they have a really strong hand with two all-ins + your call. So I think the initial raise is more than adequeate to keep other players out of the pot. If the blinds were say 50/100 then I probably min-raise just to make sure everyone knows I mena business and to keep a player with 66 or something out of the pot.

Haha these post are terrible having a heater in cash and its going to end up in MTTs I just know it. I think MTTS are really good fun though.