Would you go ALL-IN early in a tournament w a good hand?

[edruok]

Hi all. This is a really cool site. I've been going through it these past few days. So much to learn. Thanks to everyone who contributes. Anyway, on to the situation.

I personally would rather not go all-in too early in a tournament, but I was confident that I had this guy's hand beat. He looked like he was trying to steal the ... what ... $45 posted blinds on the table ... with $1,000, hehehe.

So I was playing a freeroll at pokerchamps, and the guy in front of me, I think first-to-act, went all in. At this early stage, we all pretty much had the same amount of chips.

I had KK, and I know that it is very beatable on the flop-turn-river, but I figured I had a much better pre-flop hand than anyone on the table, so I called, thinking I could easily double up from him, at least. Then about 6 other people called after me, going all-in.

The guy who started it all had nothing (as I suspected). There were about 2 on the table who had at least an ace in the hole, one of which was suited, while another had pocket jacks. So pre-flop, I had the best hand.

Then the flop came and the turn, and no aces, nor jacks, set, or anything else that could beat me came, except there was a flush draw. And wouldn't you know it, the guy with the suited ace hit the flush on the river.

Knowing I had bad possition, was it a reckless call to make? I know I would've thought twice if I saw that many coming in and I was in late possition, even with these good hole cards, considering the stack I had. Then again, knowing there was that much money in, that could make me quadruple up, so that's very enticing.

Would you make the call in early possition (2nd to act), with so many behind you who could potentially beat you? Or is it a no-brainer call? Would you have folded it and waited for a situation where you have more control and possition?

[dan]

call him u got the 2nd best hand, if UTG has aces so be it...play decision poker not results poker.

[Iwind]

Sure you'd call an all in with kings in a freeroll at any time, when none of the people had aces you were clearly ahead in the hand. And when it comes to position, it doesn't really matter when you have kings, if someone has aces, too bad, but that doesn't happen often, and against any other random hand you're a huge favourite And I guess those people had all kinds of crappy hands, right?

Position and all ins matters most at later stage when you might have to push weaker hands to steal blinds to stay alive, then there are some hands you should fold in early position but clearly push all in with in late position.

[Halv]

I will NEVER lay down my kings pre flop. Ever. I don't think I have ever made a successfull laydown of my queens either, but I am willing to do it if reads tell me to.

[edruok]

Cool. Thanks for the replies guys. I guess it's a consensus.

One of my problems is that I have a hard time folding really good hands, so I've been practicing letting go of extremely good hands if I think I'm beat. Most of the time, I know I'm beat, yet I can't throw away the good cards often enough.

But I guess in this case I'm overthinking it. Pocket kings are pocket kings, and if I get beat, then I get beat.

Maybe I've been watching tv poker too much, hehe. I saw this guy fold pocket kings when the highest thing on the flop was a queen. Yet his opponent who raised him actually had pocket queens ... it's almost like the guy had esp. Incredible.

[Pelion]

Freerolls are great like that because there is nothing to lose and everything to gain. I like to get a huge stack fast or double up and spend the rest of my evening doing something productive. You have the best hand preflop and If you win the hand you are in a position to do some serious bullying (once the first hour is up and the maniacs have been knocked out). Call everytime and if you go out then either play in a different freeroll or go to the pub or something

[Lidius]

KK doesnt get folded preflop, In a tournamant I dont fold QQ preflop vs 1 opponents all in. Cash game im never all in with QQ without a very good read.

[edruok]

Interesting.

Just wondering, are there a lot of maniacs in a cash game?

Interesting comment also about the cash game QQ. Thanks

[Pelion]

depends which how much cash and which site. I find that $2 paradise is pretty crazy (but not as much as a freeroll) but even at $5 stars the game is FAR more sensible than a freeroll.

The early stages of a freeroll are like play money. Its only after the first hour or 2 that it actually settles down into real poker

[edruok]

Thanks for the info. I'll try to keep that in mind the next time.

[Xanadu]

You mentioned position factoring into your decision. If you are all-in, position is meaningless the rest of the hand, so your bad position will have no effect on winning after the flop. Actually your position is ideal to go all-in because you are first to act after the all-in player. This means it is more likely that people will decide to gambool it up with weak hands and try to triple, quadruple, quintuple up. If Aces are out there, so be it, but every extra all-in call gives you a higher expected value for the hand. Good chance you'll be busted out if it ends up 4way or more, but odds are you will be a huge favorite to get a big stack.

Online tournaments move fast ... the blinds escalate quickly. You must take every good opportunity to accumulate a lot of chips.

[TLR]

You mentioned position factoring into your decision. If you are all-in, position is meaningless the rest of the hand, so your bad position will have no effect on winning after the flop.

Position does matter when you go all in as it affects the amount of people who are still left to act after you.

In this case he had KK so the push is correct from all position, but assume his read was correct and this guy has any 2 random cards.
From the button my calling range for this is very wide - 99-AA, AK, AQ maybe even AJ.
However from early position my calling range is much naarower - AA-KK