Hi,

What would you do in this situation? This is on the final table for a 45 man $69 SnG on FullTilt. The hand got a lot of comments as to what the correct play was:

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Full Tilt Poker Game #19273401612: $69 + $6 Sit & Go (146840028), Table 3 - 250/500 - No Limit Hold'em - 9:12:46 ET - 2010/03/15
Seat 2: sexer777 (14,273)
Seat 3: JDnCok3 (10,352)
Seat 4: TforTom (8,085)
Seat 5: rassel83 (1,171)
Seat 6: inmyboxers (9,545)
Seat 7: WestCliff21 (11,100)
Seat 8: Disco Dice Drew (6,710)
Seat 9: japani (6,264)
rassel83 posts the small blind of 250
inmyboxers posts the big blind of 500
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JDnCok3 [Kd As]
WestCliff21 folds
Disco Dice Drew folds
japani has 15 seconds left to act
japani raises to 1,171
sexer777 calls 1,171
JDnCok3 raises to 10,352, and is all in
TforTom folds
rassel83 folds
inmyboxers folds
japani folds
sexer777 has 15 seconds left to act
sexer777 has requested TIME
sexer777 calls 9,181
JDnCok3 shows [Kd As]
sexer777 shows [3c 3s]
*** FLOP *** [2h 7h Qs]
WestCliff21: LOL
*** TURN *** [2h 7h Qs] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [2h 7h Qs 3h] [4h]
JDnCok3 shows Ace King high
sexer777 shows three of a kind, Threes
sexer777 wins the pot (22,625) with three of a kind, Threes
JDnCok3 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 22,625 | Rake 0
Board: [2h 7h Qs 3h 4h]
Seat 2: sexer777 showed [3c 3s] and won (22,625) with three of a kind, Threes
Seat 3: JDnCok3 showed [Kd As] and lost with Ace King high
Seat 4: TforTom (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: rassel83 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: inmyboxers (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: WestCliff21 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: Disco Dice Drew didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: japani folded before the Flop
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6 places got paid.

My thinking behind the hand is that I was going for 1st place. I thought this was a good spot to go for the squeeze and either get a nice small pot most of the time or try and double up to become the chip leader and be in a good position to take the tourney down. Would you have done the same thing or would you have waited for a better spot?



Thanks!




Gon3Fishing (JDnCok3)

AK in this spot is the nuts. Its a must must must must must shove. I mean, i think im correct in saying theres over 3k in the pot when the action gets to you which is a third of your stack.

Your play was correct, and if anything the guys call was weak.

Thanks for the reply Matt.

After the hand some people were saying they would not have pushed in that scenario with AK and my optionion is the same as yours, i'm pushing everytime there with AK. Just makes me think what hands some people are waiting to push with lol! Just to go one further, what is your pushing range in that spot? I was more concerned with the initial raise from Japani I think it was, but I had more chips than them so worst case I run into aces and can still play a shortstack if I lose. The obvious range would probably be AA-JJ+AK but im thinking you could probably get away with less than this range too.

Also, looking forward to your HU series. I think my MTT play is quiet strong until it gets to the last 3-4 players or so and then I think I play too tight so its going to be interesting to see you play in the HU games. Also, would love to see you in the 1k MTT more for fun than anything else just to see how you would actually play at that level!

Thanks again,




Gon3Fishing.

As far as ranges in this spot go, its a tough situation. I mean you have 20 bbs so flat calling is pretty mehhhhhhhhhhhhh, but I think you could just about get away with it holding 9s and 10s, maybe also KQs. Everything above this I think is a shove, so JJ-AA, AK and AQ. You could maybe contemplate it with 10s and 9s and maybe depending on reads etc AJ too. Ie. If I knew this guy was going to call with hands like small pp's I would probably do it seeing as I'm getting a bit more value on doubling up.

The first of the heads up video's has been sent to Atta and will hopefully be up very very soon. And by request I will go through the 1k Monday as my next tournament series, however probably wont be until May time.

Just slightly something else for you to consider, is that if you are finding you are doing well in these MTT sng's, give the 45 man turbo's on stars a try. The higher stakes are pretty much full of sharks, but the $12's are ridiculously easy to beat.

Ok, thanks for your input, not too far away from what I was thinking.

Excellent news for the HU vids, good luck in getting to the next level!

Thanks for the tip, I normally play in the $10 range of MTTs so I will give em a try.





Gon3Fishing.