I was in a poker tournament last night and went out on only the 2nd hand. I'm not a great poker player but I'm not the worst either. So, for you experts out there, what should I have done differently (lol, other than not playing the hand at all) or did I play it correct and just got a bad beat?
I was on the button and dealt A4 offsuit.
About 5 people total had called the big blind and I called as well. No raises pre-flop.
Flop is A 4 10 different suits.
Again about 5 or 6 folks are in the hand. The guy right before me gives a small raise and I call.
Next card is a 5.
Everyone bets the blind until it gets to the same guy that raised before. He bets $750 which is about half his stack. I go All-in. Everyone drops out of the hand except the same guy. He turns over 44 which clearly beat my 2 pair.
Any advice?
Kyle2010-03-15T09:42:40Z
Favorite Answer
Like you stated you should have folded preflop. On the flop you have two pair, good but not great hand. What has you beat on the turn? AA, 44, 55, TT, AT, A5, & 23 with 5-6 players limping in they could have any of those even the AA because there are players out there that don't raise with them. I know you said this was only the second hand, but have you played with this person before? Does he bluff a lot, is he will to push his stack on the second hand of a tournament with an Ax or even a bluff? What were the starting stacks? What were the blinds? These are a few things to take into consideration besides just what your cards are.
With the information you gave I would fold here. Since it was the beginning of the tournament I'd guess the blinds were somewhere around 25/50 or lower. So you have 5-6 players calling a 50 bet and then someone makes a raise on the flop. Then on the turn everyone puts out another 50 bet and then the same player that raised on the flop is now raising big again on the turn. I'd probably think about it for a split second, but easily fold my two pair. At this point if the blinds were 25/50 you've only lost a little bit of money, so you still have plenty of chips and plenty of time to play.
Also, all you were doing was calling. You never put in a raise to see where you were at in the hand, checker and caller don't win tournaments, bettors and raisers do.
Hope this was helpful and Good Luck at the Tables, thisguy
Sometimes, no matter what you do, the circumstances of the cards will make you lose money, but you shouldn't have lost all your chips in that hand.
This is how you should have played it: Since you had the button and 5 callers in front of you, you should have made a raise about 3 times the big blind. This would have knocked out a few players before the flop and put you in position after the flop to make a continuation bet if you so choose. Chances are, since you were the raiser, everyone would have checked to you, including the set of 4's (who would probably slow play). I would have than made a big bet, hoping to take the pot right there. The set of 4's would either smooth call you or reraise you, either way I assume at that point that he has me beat (think about it, if he called you all the way, either he has A-10 or a set). I would have checked it down or called him if he made a bet but definitely not raised him. Yes, you would have dropped a lot of chips, but at least you wouldn't have lost everything.
trips are horrible because they're difficult to spot. The only thing I would have done differently is perhaps raised on the button as you were probably the only one holding an ace or there might have neen a raise before you. But it would take a significant raise for a pocket pair to fold and many players will pay to see a flop. Instead of calling the bet after the flop I may have reraised to see where I was and to save chips in the long run but when someone has hit trips and you have 2 pair its just unlucky and you're going to suffer nomatter what you do. I'd say it wasn't a bad beat just unlucky and unfortunate timing. Good luck :)
there wasn't much you could do to get out of that one......
only thing would have been to raise pre flop. but hard to do when 5 people already have called the blind someone could of Been waiting for a raise.....
but still it would of have to been a big raise cause if it wasn't the pocket 4s would of still called. and stilled hit... the other thing is seems you didn't care what else was on the board cause you like the look of your 2 pair to much.......... A 4 10 5
6 people in the hand all just called the blind pre flop. and only second hand easily could be a 2-3 there
second thing is he bets 750 half his stack........ id be thinking then...... cause you don't know yet how he plays bluffer or ..tight
well we all learn from are mistakes cant win them all..
It's the second hand of the tourney, I don't know if you know this guy at all, but there are a lot of people in the hand, someone made a small bet, you've got callers, and he makes a huge raise.
What do you think he has?
This is based on the player, but do you think he makes a huge raise there with A-K? (without raising preflop?). Do you think he'd make such a huge bluff on the 2nd hand of the tourney? If he bets half his stack, you know he's calling your raise.
Without knowing something about the player, I assume my A-4 is beat there.