I'm going to ask a hypothetical question. You're playing in a VERY exclusive tournament. In fact, only 200 people were invited and you're one of them. Three hour levels and a incredibly deep stack to start with (the buy in is $100,000 after all...)
So we are down to the final table of 10, GREAT! The bad news is that 10th pays nothing and 9th pays $250,000. First is $10,000,000 and second is $4,000,000.
Let's say you look down under-the-gun and you find Aces. You're also 8th in chips, but you're doing decent, as the blinds are incredilbly small to your stack. In fact, you have about 50x the big blind.
And you have pocket kings. You raise to 3x the blind, and not one seat down does a madman re-raise you to 10x more. Then two players with fewer chips than you go all in. Lastly, the chip leader, a aggressive, top-ranked professional who has controlled this tournament from Day 1, has also gone all in. And it's on you.
What do you do?
You see, it's not a message of laying down the second-best hand, but rather a message of deciding "Are you here to win or go broke" or "Are you here to make money?"
I'll never tell an answer because honestly, I would flip a coin first. No clue to what I would do.
Also, I just made Pinky. Great. And both freerolls last night were rough, it's amazing I lasted as long as I did. I've hovered around 15BB's the entire tournament on Spade Club and I finished out of the money... oh well. I'll be playing in 5 freerolls today on FTP.
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15 comments
The thing to keep in mind.. seeing as there's four all ins behind you, you might consider that at least two of them, maybe three have an ace. If they do, there's only one ace left in the deck to beat you. It's also possible all four have aces, which leaves the rando-straight or random trips to beat you. For sure, one has a smaller pair though - but I would tke that chance here.
Also, seeing as you're 8th.. you're going to cash after this hand anyway - presuming the two shortstacks don't win a small sidepot and you bust (very unlikely - they would have to tie and one of the other two would have to beat you too).
Thinking it through, I'd probably call. If you win, you're going to be way ahead.. if you lose, you're bound to cash anyway and at least double your buy-in. If you fold, you won't get another chance like this to take over and will probably wind up in 7th-8th anyway.
im going to assume its the AA pckt we are referring to not the KK....As much as pckt AA always seems to burn me; there are 5 going to the flop and I have to think there is a fairly good chance trips or 2 pair is going to win. I hate to do it., but i think you let the slaughter happen and move up a few slots. Fold the AA and close your eyes so the pain isnt as great . Your guess has to be that they all have decent cards to risk a multi-player all-in. The fewer at the table, the more hands become playable and your obviously a fairly strong player to make it this far.
My final thoughts for what its worth. 1 tops 2 player(s) are going to take this massive pot and it would be real nice to be that person, but you are bout to see 3 or 4 people drop out and move way up in the money. I always like my odds going heads up a lot better so 3 or 4 others at table makes me happy. I'll take the guaranteed winnings increase and bank on my ability to take their chips when the insanity is more manageable.....
Ok so I'm a wous (sp?)
To clarify: You have aces and raise, another person re-raises, 2 people go all in and the chip leader re-raises to put you all-in.
I see so there are 4 people total in this pot ? l let them knock each other out lol, I'm moving way up the pay scale already lol, and I've still got my stack to go into a better spot with !
One or two of the other hands in the pot will probably be AK or AQ, and the other two smaller pocket pairs or, at worst, KQ or a small suited connector.
Kings was a closer call, Aces is a no brainer.
Your question is confusing because at first you say that we have AA under the gun then you say KK. I'll answer this as if I have Kings. Without knowing how these guys have been playing throughout the tourney, I would tend to think that the two small stacks probably have decent drawing hands with a small to medium pocket pair or possibly any ace, king, or two face cards. The big stack is obviously trying to put you and the re-raising madman out of the hand and either has a strong ace himself or medium to high pocket pair. The “madman” may have something or nothing, and was hoping that everyone would lay down out of fear since 3 out of the 5 players in this hand are the 3 lowest stacks and one of you is not making it to the money. Your best chance is that all the aces are taken, and none of the other players has two of them! This is either a win big, or lose big hand. If either of the bigger stacks has you beat, and they chop with the small stacks, you are done with no prize money or 9th place at best. If you take it down, you’ll probably triple up to eliminate the 2 other players and move yourself up the prize ladder. As tempting as it is to call, I think I would have to get out of the way because in 5 way pots, there are a lot of hands that beat KK. If I had AA in this example, I probably would limp in expecting/hoping for a raise down the line and re-raise all in. The dollar amounts in your example are quite large, so actually being in that situation might change my answer.
With 3 people all in in front of you, the best thing to do is fold ! Everyone knows that Aces don't always win, and you are not after 9th or 8th place money, you want to win. The odds are somebody else has an Ace if not 2 people so your outs are very limited for trips, and there is no reason to get into a pot if you think that the best case senario is going to be a split pot.
Folding Aces pre flop is something that a lot of players couldn't do, but doing it here makes the most sense from a profitability point of view. You are hoping that the big stack eliminates the other 2 players, but either way, waiting this one out is your best option. If it were heads up it would be a no brainer, but against 3 people your Aces are weak if one doesn't hit the flop, and by the river there will be several hands that can have you beat. Fold and hope you get another good hand soon, one that you can win a good pot with, but goinall in pre flop isn't smart in any circumstance except if you are a short stack and have a decent hand.
..........play on ............Tc...............