Joined: Jul '09
Location: Australia
Age: 33 (M)
Posts: 42
In a freeroll at FullTilt Poker. We both have 60k chips and then blinds are at 2.5k and 5k with an ante of 250. 27 people get paid and there were 30 left. Anyway I get dealt pocket queens. I am in the big blind. Directly to my left raises to 10k. I naturally call even though hoping for the money.
Flop comes in at J 7 3. He raises 10k. I consider the options he could have and decide that he needs pocket jacks, 7's or 3's or above queens. he raised before flop so he didnt have like jack 7 and 7 3 or jack 3. i decided to push as 27th place down to 10th place only got you $2. I thought that $2 isnt much so i decided to push all in.
He calls quickly with pocket kings. I finish in 29th place dissapointed that i could have such a bad beat.
I had the over pair and he was trying to survive aswell and so i thought that if he got a monster before flop he would go all in easily.
Did I do something wrong here or is it just a bad beat?
It was only for $2 but i have no money and well yeh i wasnt sure.......
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Australia
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 6483
you probably played it right. The thing is, in those massive freerolls, once they're are approaching bubble you really need to decide whether you want to win or if you just want to be ITM.
The thing is, tourney strategy in general dictates you should always play to win, not just be ITM since often the prize pool is heavily weighted towards the top 3 or so positions with the rest only paying money back or there abouts. So in the long run you need to win a few tourneys because just finishing ITM now and then won't balance out all the times you bust before the bubble in a large MTT
However, with a freeroll, chance are the whole reason you're playing it in the first place is because you are busto and often 1st whilst significantly more than just finishing ITM is still not a lot, FTP freerolls for example I believe are only about $14 1st when they are paying $2 for 27th, if you have $0 in your acct and after 4 hrs or whatever of playing it, you may have been better of just folding pre-flop (since it was really a push or fold moment, not a call moment) and aiming to get in the money before making any moves...
But yeah, really matters whether you're playing to win and playing to start a roll of any kind.
Joined: Apr '08
Location: Sweden
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 188
I agree that it is a push or fold moment pre flop, either you play to win and push it pre, or you play it safe and fold it, I don't really see the point in something n between.
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Australia
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 6483
Posted by aspas2: yeh i was just playing to do better than $2. $2 is not much to work with and so i thought i may aswell go for it
in that case, IMHO you did the right thing, i mean, calling the 10K and flopping nothing over a J you were basically committed. Although those hands suck cause you have a bad feeling they're gonna flip KK or AA but you just don't know and you can't sit around waiting for ever to flop the unbeatable nuts, gotta take a chance. And QQ is a reasonable hand to take a chance with. Just unlucky. Same thing happens when you get dealt KK and someone else is dealt AA, you almost always end up giving away bucket loads of chips. Just an unlucky deal really.
But I agree, if you're going for more than $2 you gotta go with those things and in a freeroll, even that deep into it, it's pretty hard to know wtf the other people have. Spew that close to money though, whenever I've played those massive freerolls I've always been chicken once it gets that close to the money, but in saying that, as I result I normally just get ITM and not much further..
So good on you for having he balls that close to the bubble, takes that to win those things I reckon
Joined: May '08
Location: Netherlands
Age: 53 (M)
Posts: 6197
QQ is 3rd best hand after AA/KK so fold to his raise preflop wud be a mistake. I wud reraise with QQ preflop in this case, KK wud problably go allin after this, then u had the option call or fold. Depends on wots ur read on the guy, however laydown is difficult.
This was a freeroll so offcourse u had to call if he pushes.
