One of my favorite quotes is, "Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal", according to science fiction writer, Robert Heinlein. I am thinking that this explains my poker game. Am I a good player who is often unlucky or a bad player who thinks he is good but actually makes some pretty bad plays. Maybe the truth is somewhere inbetween. I do know that I often play too fast despite telling myself before every tournament, "slow down, especially when going all-in". Or, am I some kind of mad poker genius who can analzye previous actions by a player, subtle tells, and make decisions in a nanosecond?
Yesterday I was knocked out of the Joker's tournament when I called a raise from the small blind in my big blind with A/10 offsuit. The flop was 5/5/10 and when the player shoved (had me well covered) I so instantly called with all my chips that she immediately said, "so you have a 5". No, just top pair top kicker. I am eliminated in 8th place. In thinking about the hand, I definitely could have thrown away my top pair given the action and my chip count. Subconsciously (or if genius applies) I remembered her raising a top pair hand off a big pot with an under-pair. I also may have factored in (too quickly) the overbet. Upon reflection (the rationalizing part of me), I think that she would have acted like that with an underpair to the 10 figuring the flop missed me. That would be the following hands:
9/9, 8/8,7/7, 6/6 (not 5/5 as she would slow play this monster), 4/4, 3/3, and 2/2. She would also slow play the flopped boat with 10/10, so that hand is eliminated. She would also shove to protect her hand with J/J, Q/Q and K/K, but unlikely she has A/A, since I have one in my hand. Also protective shoves if she is aggressive (which she is) with raising hands like K/J, K/Q, Q/J, A/K, A/Q, A/J, or even the same hand as mine A/10. So, in short, given previous action, aggression factor, and raise/shove range I think not a horrible call, but perhaps so given my stack size....another factor.
Tell me what you think she had. Will add a comment in a couple of days to let you know.
Yesterday I was knocked out of the Joker's tournament when I called a raise from the small blind in my big blind with A/10 offsuit. The flop was 5/5/10 and when the player shoved (had me well covered) I so instantly called with all my chips that she immediately said, "so you have a 5". No, just top pair top kicker. I am eliminated in 8th place. In thinking about the hand, I definitely could have thrown away my top pair given the action and my chip count. Subconsciously (or if genius applies) I remembered her raising a top pair hand off a big pot with an under-pair. I also may have factored in (too quickly) the overbet. Upon reflection (the rationalizing part of me), I think that she would have acted like that with an underpair to the 10 figuring the flop missed me. That would be the following hands:
9/9, 8/8,7/7, 6/6 (not 5/5 as she would slow play this monster), 4/4, 3/3, and 2/2. She would also slow play the flopped boat with 10/10, so that hand is eliminated. She would also shove to protect her hand with J/J, Q/Q and K/K, but unlikely she has A/A, since I have one in my hand. Also protective shoves if she is aggressive (which she is) with raising hands like K/J, K/Q, Q/J, A/K, A/Q, A/J, or even the same hand as mine A/10. So, in short, given previous action, aggression factor, and raise/shove range I think not a horrible call, but perhaps so given my stack size....another factor.
Tell me what you think she had. Will add a comment in a couple of days to let you know.
4 comments:
forgot to say my chip size, probably around starting chip stack, 10K or so. Not the short stack at table but close.
You also neglected to indicate what the blinds were - bad boy! Anyway I was hoping while reading that you would finally tell me what she had but you did not - phooey. It sounds like an overpair to me, jacks or queens maybe. She may also have raised with a lot of other hands. I think you need to follow Lynne's Rule #1 which is NEVER call a raise when holding A-10 unless you are 99% positive you have the best hand. I will stick with my guess of an overpair. Too bad you didn't have a five!
She had pocket aces......the overbet threw me off. Read my newest blog for an interesting tournament.
Aha! I was right to guess an overpair, but I set my sights too low. Don't forget my Rule #1!!
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