holdemrulesreport

I am next-to short stack at the table with 6.1M - orange. Usually in this M, in this position it's an easy shove for me with AJos. All I really want is the blinds which represent about a 5th of my stack out there now. There is the option of folding, hoping for a better hand, but since most the table is orange, I think stealing is in order here, because I can still cause huge damage to a bigger stack.

Taking a closer look at Tournament Indicator stats the small blind (1) is rather a LAG player. I do not want him to see a flop that doesn't not help me, becuase I am just going to get stuck in a bad spot. So for him to call me all-in is beyond even his LAG style. The BB, (2) I know nothing of but he can surely only call with a very strong hand, top 5 at least to make it a profitable call. Again, I am 6.1M (3) and really need to make things happen, becuase 9th place in this tournament is a mere $300+, compared to 1st place which is $4,000+.

I really need these chips because the 42,000 (1) will give me some extra breathing room and put me at about 8M, moving me past a couple of other short opponents. The only good side to folding here is that I am already past the blinds and can just lose antes for a round until something better comes.

To me this is a profitable shove, so that's what I do. The pot is now 282,901 and for my opponents to call with even odds, well they would have to have a BIG hand. besides, players at this final table don't make final tables too often, and they are prone to folding errors out of sheer nervousness (like AK, AQ, TT, 99 for instance).

Man that sucks. He made NO error, and certainly figured to be ahead with QQ. However, with this being one of the hands he could call with, I could also factor in a suck-out for me here too in making my play a shove.

Looking at www.TheBackHander.com you can see that I am a 3:1 dog in this hand and need an ace, some far fetched straight cards, or a couple more jacks to take this down. I clench and watch...

Yeah, that sucks. No board help and JustinAC takes a big pot here, which was a good play by him and a great result. Now that doesn't mean I made mistake, it means I walked into an unfortunate situation, but I believe this is the right play.

Using information to make good plays is what winning is all about. That's how I got to this final table and many others. That does not mean they always work out. Poker isn't like football, or baseball. You can play perfectly in those games and you can pretty much expect to win every time. In poker, it can get very tough mentally because making the right plays could - and often does - mean going home early with nothing to show for it. When you come to grips with that fact of poker, you will understand exactly what it takes to win, long term.