Midstack All in on the bubble AQ vs big stack?

Would you go all in with AQ on bubble vs chip leader? He’s big blind - you’re right of dealer.

He has 360k ish.
You have 145k.

His range was relatively open (any size pair, Ax).

Just curious.

I ended up raising - reraising him before he pushed me all in. Thought he may have been defending his BB and trying to scare me off of the pot,

He ended up having KK and I lost... but wondering if it was the correct play (in most other places I would have folded)

Just curious, what were the blinds at this point of the tournament, as you are on the bubble of a tournament, with a mid-sized stack, seemingly safe to cash by the sounds of it.

Personally, I wouldn't have played the hand that way because if you are that close to a cash and you are putting yourself into a position where you are playing a hand against someone who can bust you, you should exercise some caution and try and avoid a high variance spot.

Because you have a big stack, if you are raising and they are re-raising you, that should set off some warning bells, because a big stack will fold more often than not when an opponent pushes back against them because they are probably raising a wide range pre-flop. But because they took the line they did against you, you have to start thinking of possible hands they COULD be doing this against you with.

VERY unlikely you're ahead of very much here, as it's not likely they are doing this with AJ/AT or any worse Ace. You're flipping against all pocket pairs, from 22-JJ, and while you possibly block some combinations of AK, QQ and AA, you're in pretty awful shape if they have any of those hands. So, as a whole, your hand is second best here enough of the time that you should

You ran into the top of their range here, which is unlucky, but I think you could have got away from your hand and still have plenty of chips to play the rest of the tournament and still be able to apply pressure yourself on the shorter stacks.

BB was 6k at that point.
If I folded during the all in push I would have had s out 45k chips left.

So which is better: push or raise-fold?

Axmanace said:

Would you go all in with AQ on bubble vs chip leader? He’s big blind - you’re right of dealer.

He has 360k ish.
You have 145k.

His range was relatively open (any size pair, Ax).

Just curious.

I ended up raising - reraising him before he pushed me all in. Thought he may have been defending his BB and trying to scare me off of the pot,

He ended up having KK and I lost... but wondering if it was the correct play (in most other places I would have folded)

Click to expand...

How small was your stake to a average stack? and was the allin before flop?

This belong in "tournament hand analysis", so maybe a moderator can move it? Its also much eaiser to give usefull feedback, if you find the hand history file and convert it using the free converter here on CC.

But from what, you posted, you were CO, Villain was BB, and you were the effective stack with 24BB right on the bubble of an MTT. Those 24BB was around a middling stack for the event. You opened AQ, presumably for a min-raise or something sligtly larger, and then the chip leader in BB made a 3-bet, but he did not put you all in.

This just scream strength to be honest with you, because if he had a marginal hand, why did he not just call getting a great price and closing action? Or if he wanted to use his stack to bully you on the bubble, why did he not move you all in? That would definitely be the standard play, when you only started with 24BB, and he is out of position.

So depending on his sizing I would either just call here and see a flop or let him have it. And I would be even more inclined to not get it in, if someone else was running on fumes. Like someone has 4-5BB, and within the next few hands he is going to be hit by the blinds again. In that situation there is a lot of value in getting yourself in the money, before you get involved in a situation, where you need to win at showdown to survive.

Finally if you are going to 4-bet in this situation, you need to jam. There is no point in putting in 70% of your stack, because this already commits you to the pot. Once again we are missing the crucial information about the size of his 3-bet, but if it was very small, maybe he would actually fold to a 4-bet sometimes, and then you want to jam on him to make it look as scary as possible.

But unless you had some read, that he was just a crazy fish goofing around, I dont like stacking off in this situation. I think, you are going to get shown exactly AA or KK a very high percentage of the time given, what I perceive to be a big bet sizing tell.

I would've raised and folded to a reraise. If you are on the bubble with a mid stack it's probably not worth to risk it all.

Cinhos_2000 said:

I would've raised and folded to a reraise. If you are on the bubble with a mid stack it's probably not worth to risk it all.

Click to expand...

Fully agree, it’s the perfect trap... but also depends on timing...

I don't see the point in getting into a coin flip with 145k on the bubble.

Sometimes you have to slow down.

At best you were most likely 60/40. The Re-raise should have given you pause. Easy fold.

After the bubble, not a fan, but I don't hate it.

I'm all for seeing a flop. If I'm not short usually you won't get all my chips in pre-flop unless I have AA, KK.

Look at it this way: if I put in all my chips I can win a pot, if I never put all my chips in I win a tournament.

This is the rare situations, where I miniraise or limp, after I fold for any raise. If it is AQo, perhaps do not even try it against the chipleader, especially not in the bubble.