Bluffing into a side pot

Many times I do the 2700 person 100 dollar freerolls on full tilt and countless times i see deep in the tournament people betting the flop and turn when other people are all in. I get angry and tell them no bluffing but for the most part they just ignore me. Then later when they get everyone to fold they show some crap hand with no pair and the person all in does not get eliminated.
Is it just me or does this happen all the time?
Thoughts?

I'm still quite new to poker to have a good answer for that but in most of the freeroll tourneys I play there is almost 3 different waves of what you are describing; right at the start of the game, part way through and then once in the money. I don't understand how or when the switch is thrown to change so many people into playing crazy but it really does seem to happen.

I think this is more of a phenomenon in these ultra fast all-in-festival tournaments, where some have gotten into the late stages of the tournament through luck with high stacks.

Especially later in the tournaments, most of the standard players usually stick to this unwritten law. Only when players are convinced that they can extract some extra chips from the remaining players, they will bet. So it's mostly value bets after an all in situation.

Through my experience, I've learned, if you want to get near the final table in a tournament, never go all in, in the early stages of a tournament, unless you've got the NUT hand.

Oh yes, I know exactly what you mean. It's really annoying! Sometimes I find myself sooo wanting to keep my hand, not a great hand, but I just know that the person raising/betting is doing exactly that and I mutter to myself (well the dog, but she doesn't understand) - "I really hope you can beat this guy if I fold this!"

Even worse is when someone who has been sitting out is allin, most call just to try to get him/them out - no raisers. Flop one huge bet, everyone folds and the bettor has nothing and the person we all wanted to get rid of wins the pot!

All I can assume is that they are maybe multi-tabling and not paying attention really to the fact that someone is allin?

The world of complete freerolls (not the kind you need to qualify for them in anyway) its a world without laws.
People just want to win by being agressive and making al players to fold so in the early stages i wont play a hand that i'm prepared to face a 3-bet or 4-bet and sometimes even a shove, but having patience to wait a really good spot is the key.

No space for etiquete at a poker table (I mean the playing style).

Yes it does happen all the time and it is unfortunate because not only are they taking away the chance for other players to eliminate that player but I; many times fold the winning hand thinking I am beat on the flop.

I'm a bit confused on this topic because when it comes to poker etiquette I think more about the behavior of players at the tables such as not insulting anyone at the tables or saying what cards you have in hand during a running hand. But how people play is everyone's own choice. Whether people bluff or not has nothing to do with it. And actually you should be happy if you have such ruthless all-in players at the table because they usually get thrown out of the tournament very quickly. I know it can be a little annoying having someone like that at the table but if you are patient then it shouldn't be a big problem

I am confused as well especially the part about playing on full tilt since I didn't think that poker room even exists any more

samircyber9 said:

Many times I do the 2700 person 100 dollar freerolls on full tilt and countless times i see deep in the tournament people betting the flop and turn when other people are all in. I get angry and tell them no bluffing but for the most part they just ignore me. Then later when they get everyone to fold they show some crap hand with no pair and the person all in does not get eliminated.
Is it just me or does this happen all the time?
Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Unless the villain is creating a side-pot for him to steal it makes no sense to me.

If they are betting you off a dry pot with air - then I don't think they know why they are betting.

Online it is so easy to just click bet bet bet.

I have seen this rarely in live play also - even at a final table - but at least live players have to lift chips and move them over a line - lol

Looks like most of the people itt completly missunderstood what you mean or did not take their time to read ur post properly only to answer quick.

Yes its so annoying, happens a lot in freerolls. People who do this obv not understand the situation and maybe not playing poker for a long time. I make notes about theses players so i know they are not very experienced.

Also annoying are players who stall every small decision. There are some players who are timing out everytime when its their turn. Even on final tables. They obv do this on purpose to annoy people. Such bad ettiquette imo.

samircyber9 said:

Many times I do the 2700 person 100 dollar freerolls on full tilt and countless times i see deep in the tournament people betting the flop and turn when other people are all in. I get angry and tell them no bluffing but for the most part they just ignore me. Then later when they get everyone to fold they show some crap hand with no pair and the person all in does not get eliminated.
Is it just me or does this happen all the time?
Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Weird, normally when I set down at a table the other players just seem to know how I want them to play any hand I am involved in & do their best to accommodate my wishes. It's very rare for me to even have to turn on the chat & explain how I want them to play a particular hand. Now & then mistakes are made & of course variance do happen but, hmmmm very puzzling. Maybe your playing on a rigged site.

in freerolls, there is generally a very aggressive game and there you need to be guided by the situation if some player constantly goes all in preflop with any cards, you just need to wait for good cards, preferably some kind of pocket pair

zipocool said:

in freerolls, there is generally a very aggressive game and there you need to be guided by the situation if some player constantly goes all in preflop with any cards, you just need to wait for good cards, preferably some kind of pocket pair

Click to expand...

in freerolls its just all in preflop with A3 most of the time until the bubble hits

Sunz of Beaches said:

Looks like most of the people itt completly missunderstood what you mean or did not take their time to read ur post properly only to answer quick.

Yes its so annoying, happens a lot in freerolls. People who do this obv not understand the situation and maybe not playing poker for a long time. I make notes about theses players so i know they are not very experienced.

Also annoying are players who stall every small decision. There are some players who are timing out everytime when its their turn. Even on final tables. They obv do this on purpose to annoy people. Such bad ettiquette imo.

Click to expand...

the time thing i also catch myself doing , when theres a big jump in prize money i stall my hand as much as possible. not on the final table tho

This is not an etiquette question but a strategy question. And of course you are 100% correct, that it makes no sense to bluff into a dry side pot, since you still need to beat the all-in player at showdown. However its not quite as black and white, as you make it sound, since its possible to build a side pot over multible streets and then take it down, or maybe the side pot was not dry to begin with.

Like maybe the all-in player only had 0,4BB and is only contending for a 2,7BB main pot, but there is also a 5,2BB side pot, which it then has value to take down by betting for instance a draw. The main goal in a poker tournament is to accumulate chips, not to get a short stack eliminated, at least not in a big field MTT with many players left. Its mainly on final tables, where it can sometimes make sense for player to collude a little bit to get a short stack busted and secure a payjump.

It happens all the time, especially in freerolls. Many players don't realize that when someone is already all-in, bluffing another player out can actually help the all-in player survive. If you have a decent hand, it's often better to check it down and try to eliminate the short stack. Of course, there are situations where betting still makes sense, but many freeroll players simply don't think about that and just play their own cards.

Wow, old thread (OP necros his own 4 yr old thread : P ), but the topic is still valid.

The short stack may be all-in but the rest of the players are still playing the hand and should be trying to win. Folks who think that checking around is the best strat to knock the short stack out aren't trying to win the pot. It's an error in thinking. We are no longer trying to beat the short stack. All action is done with him. It's already decided in the run out upcoming. We're playing against the other player(s) still in the hand. If we don't realize this, our focus is in the wrong place and we have a hole in our game.

Sure, if we bluff the river with air, it won't win us anything, but if the short stack is so small that him doubling up is not much problem, we could keep some chips away from our rival larger stacks. Of course bluffing a flop or turn is good because it gets us isolation with the short stack (if successful) so long as we have equity to improve it's a good move.

But basically, you play the hand just as you would normally, just ignoring the short all-in. If continuing with air/equity is a logical play without the all-in, it's still a logical play with the all-in.