Being an all-in maniac late in STT is a strategy that has worked well for some very successful players, but I just witnessed a textbook case of how not to apply it.
There are five players left in the tourney and blinds have just been raised to 100/200. The chipleader, is on the button and the shortstack, who has less than 3 blig blinds left, is immediately to his left in the small blind.
Play folds to the button and he goes all-in. Not surprisingly the small blind calls. I fold the big blind. Both players turn over rags, but the small blind's hand is slightly better and it holds up. Interestingly, if I hadn't been forced out, I would have knocked the small blind out of the tourney, saving the chipleader, henceforth refered to as the maniac, a world of hurt.
The next hand the maniac goes all-in with rags again, and the short stack, who is still in trouble again calls with rags. The short stack, here after refered to as the benefactor, wins again.
The maniac goes all-in and is called by the benfactor two more hands in a row after this, though benefactor shows somewhat better hands each of these times. Now the benefactor is the chipleader and the maniac is just barely ahead of the new short stack.
The maniac then win a couple of hand by everyone folding to his all-in bets, then doubles up, then loses half his stack before finally going out.
All told he went all-in nine hands in a row and was called seven times. Of the seven times he was called not once did his opponent have a monster, yet only once was he the favorite. Near the end the whole table was clearly aware that he was going all-in with anything, as everyone took a turn calling him.
If this was just a case of being on tilt, then it serves him right for pushing me out of the first hand when he just had rags. If this was an attempt to utilize the popular strategy of going all-in like crazy near the end of tourneys, then I hope for his sake he can see why sometimes you need to change your strategy mid-game.
© Copyright 2008
6 comments
Similar to those who don't understand how to check it down.
Button min raised. SB went all-in. It was only a few more to call than the min raise. I had KTo. I called. Button called. Flop was rainbow low cards. Button went all-in. I folded. Button had nothing. SB had nothing much either. If button would've just checked it down instead of firing his whole stack into a pointless side pot, I would've taken the SB out by the river when a King landed. As it stood, SB tripled up. Such a moron.
Liz I know exactly what you mean... the check down is best for all in a tourney... one less player means one closer to the money.
Now if you have a K or an A and the turn or river hits your card...then I expect you to bet.
But not with trash in an attempt to bluff me out of the check-down to the pot.
Ya I agree....I don't get it when 2 people call someone's all-in.....and then 1 of them bluffs at the side pot, and usually loses the main pot doubling the all-in. It's just silly.
People that goe all-in a lot are just saying to the whole table "I can't play post-flop to save my life, I am gonna try to get lucky."
I read something in a book that relates to this. Say you are the chip leader with 4 people left in a STT SNG. 3 get paid. It is a good idea to leave the short stack alone; as in their blinds and raises, so that the other player will have to worry about knocking the short stack themselves, and they will have to let you steal alot more, fearing the bubble. I see alot of people with chip leads in this situation push all-in alot just trying to get into the money quickly and end up busting in 4th themselves.
Just some thoughts.....
People that goe all-in a lot are just saying to the whole table "I can't play post-flop to save my life, I am gonna try to get lucky."
This is so quotable Funzo.
IceH2o --
Even then I won't necessarily bet. Depending on the texture of the flop and what my holding is, betting one pair or top pair by the river isn't always viable. Don't want to get someone off a straight if a potential flush is showing if I only have one pair, only to have shortstack win it with two low pair. See what I mean? It's not ALWAYS like that, but... If I flop boat, then yeah I'm definitely betting.