Mbl tell me how bad this was

[BRUTALITOPS]

Presenting... Grinds WORST CALL EVER.

I guess I'll explain all my reasoning that went into the call...

I was playing in this multi today.. I was doing alright for a while... but I was at a pretty agressive table... people were raising with everything. Normally in deep stacked tournaments I would raise back to test them or get them to fold.. but they start you off so shortstacked here that by the time the third level rolls around, you are only 15 times the big blind (blinds are going up every ten minutes).

So I'm waiting patiently and becoming a little tight, I've managed to build myself up to around 5000 (starting is 3k).. but the more I am looking at the hands at this table.... the more I see that people are playing with nothing and getting lucky. J8's and K4's are ALL over the place. There was one guy that was re raised with Ah Kh 4h on the board. He agonized for 2-3 minutes before finally laying down his hand.. and showing the 4d.. with a 10 kicker. That's right.. he agonized laying down a hand when there was a possible flush on the board and 2 overs......

So I am getting a little frustrated that I am folding and seeing all these garbage hands being turned over. After another level passes and the blinds run through me... I'm down to 3500 and I pick up AQ in the small blind.

I get two callers. One is a tight kid though someone I'm not to worried about, and then another guy who I actually know is a good player.. He's cashed in some nlhe event at the wsop in 11th place in 2000 (i think it was the 1500 or something)..... he plays a lot of hands but always seems to have a good stack and maintains it for most of the tournament, I've played him a few times before usually doing ok.

I also know that HE knows that I am very tight.... and that if I missed my flop he could put in a substansial raise to knock me off.... he's been doing it all game with middle pair. Re raising with strong draws. Bottom line is... this guy has a pretty big range.

So anyway... I have AQ... and the flop comes 234. I was like.. ugh. I check, Goodplayer moves all in for 4500ish (having me covered by 1k) tightkid folds....

I think forever and ever... I am thinking in the back of my head that he flopped trips. But then I start having flash backs of all the times I saw him re raise with nothing... and the fact that I know he perceived me as pretty tight and that he could just be trying to get me off the hand.... He could easily have AJ, KQ, K10... he had a pretty big range.

Still... I have Ace High..... could I really make the call? Without thinking... (though saying out loud that I may be beat) I put all my chips in. He turns over trips. I walk home.

I'm still pretty pissed about this call I made... yes the guy had a high range...he could have easily been bluffing and maybe his overbet was his method of making me think JUST THAT. (which would have been extremly awesome). But the more I think about it.... he's a good enough player to know that he wouldn't have to put himself entirely at risk... a raise of half his stack would have accomplished his same goal.

So in the end, terrible call but I had my reasons for being so terrible? I think I may have actually been straight up outplayed by this guy... I think he wanted me to think he was making a move knowing that I knew that he was playing a lot of hands and was agressive, and i took the bite.

MBL what's your 2 cents?

 

[Beefy]

Well, calling an all in with two overs and a gutshot is a fairly loose play, but it substantially depends on the blinds and antes relative to your stack, and what you put your opponent on. In this case, you smelled the set, but it sounds a little like you were looking for reasons to call more than you were looking for reasons to fold. That was a hole in my game that was one of the hardest to plug up, but once I did, my win/loss ration improved substantially.

That being said, you knew you couldn't be drawing totally dead at that point (unless the flop was suited), and that he had to have only one of 4 possible hands to have you crushed, pocket 2's, 3's, 4's, or Aces. With the other player's dead money in the pot, what were the pot odds you were getting?

The other guy was probably value betting as much as he was betting to protect his hand. There's a possible straight or straight draw out there, and with your bet pre-flop. he probably put you on exactly what you had.

Bottom line, it could be seen both ways from your vantage point, but I think he did outplay you. He saw that you had been card dead, he saw that crap hands were taking down pots, he probably felt like you were getting impatient, and he hit his 7-1 shot of flopping a set while holding a pair. It came together nicely for him.

Now, if you had folded that hand, what would your stack/blinds/position have been?

 

[BRUTALITOPS]

I would have had 3500 left with 200 400 blinds... and by the time the button made another trip it would have been 300 600. So, as you can see, I was pretty short. HOWEVER.... the catch is, this is a shortstacked tournament, so everyone is short.

I definitely played the hand badly.... I mean, I called with 2 overs. I almost NEVER do this type of thing... but I was getting a little frustrated and had seen a lot of other players pushing with junk.

I think their might have been a possible flush draw on the board, and if he put me on pockets AA, AK, or AQ, he knew I had my gutshot. I don't think he meant to "outplay" me consciously though... I think it was more simple than that... he knew he had the best hand, and he put his money in. Perhaps he thought I was the type of player that If I had pocket overs that I wouldn't lay them down (normally not true).. but I think he was basically just getting his money in the pot and I made a stupid call. It was actually pretty embarassing, and I go to this cardroom a lot so I think I have to work on getting my respect back after that one, lol.

The thing is though, he did have a big range. I could have easily seen him making that bet with AJ, another AQ, a strong draw...etc... but then with the whole gap concept and everything . . blah blah blah

On a happy note though he busted out not much later