I like your raise, but I think I would fold to the SBs limp/raise. But that also depends on yours and your opponent's table image. Have you seen your opp. make similar moves with junk hands and/or being a LAGtard? Have you been raising a lot PF...maybe even punishing limpers?

Statiscly, like you said, in a cash game, it would have been a good call.

given the pot odds were like 2.5 to 1 (slightly higher) and the odds AT to 88 (or any other low pair) is 46 to 54, almost equal. so that means, chipwise, it's a good call if you have at least 1:1 pot odds. However if your read was wrong and he did have a high pocket pair (TT or higher) that would give you a lot less chances (cuz a T on the flop is not gunna save you then) so any TT+ hand would give you only 30% to win the hand (which is against the odds btw) the same odds apply for AJ or higher. that's a lot of hands he could have that would give you the wrong odds. but even if your read was good (which is was in this case) still there is another point you should take into considation.

since you was in a tourny playing that hand, and since you were chipleader, there was no reason playing that hand, even tho chipwise it would be a good call, there is still a 54% chance you'd lose about half of your chips, losing your position as a chipleader, while all you had to do to stay in the lead was to fold (and wait for another good hand).

so when you are in a tournament, you should also look at the 'tournament odds' in adition of the pot odds and your outs. If you are in the lead there is nothing wrong with playing aggresive, however be cautious not to give away your position if you don't have to.

Hope that helps.

Just let it go.

No reason to risk half your stack against his push. A10 looks nice but in reality it's unwired and only halfway kicked.

Everyone folded to the small blind you say. Which means there was a whopping 225 at stake. I wouldn't have raised against an average stacker. A leaner stack can have the small blind stolen with a min-raise, which limits your contribution in case he calls and you hit no piece of the flop. At the same time a fat stack might fold to 3xBB because there's no reason to get involved for him with anything but a premium hand.

OF COURSE table image and stats come into play. This is just my general feeling given no details of the players I'm with.

Hope that makes sense.

This could be simply good play by the small blind imho. Give him some credits for it and fold. As others have pointed out, this simply isn't your spot. I would only call him down with +KQs, but even that would depend on how this guy has behaved throughout the tournament. If he has been very very tight, I would only call with +QQ

well basically. i disagree with most of the people. I dont like ur raise if u are not going to go with it, A10 is a good hand blind v blind. Alot of the time he puts you on a steal and the rest of the time you arent much of a dog against anything except AA, AK, AJ, AQ. ur about 38% against everything else. id say call after your initial raise.

might seem like a joke to some of u but i highly recommend checking preflop.

I want to see a cheap flop in position here. By raising u push hands out u dominate like JT which would be hard to fold in an unraised heads-up pot when u both hit. If u miss the flop and he bets u can get away easily. Otherwise just bet for value.

U turn ur hand into a bluff if u get shoved, calling is not an option here. U just pray for A2-9 if u do. Even if i somehow see he has K9 i would consider folding given my good chip-position and the low blinds which both give me enough space and time to find better spots against people who need to shove ATC in later rounds or push into my big pair. With higher blinds i tend to shove preflop to max my FE.

The only hands i would raise here are rags i can fold easily on a shove, or hands i can easily call with.

In this special spot u raise pretty big imo. If i raise mostly raise 2,5BB here since ur in position having a big advantage postflop. If villain does not have a hand he will fold anyway since he was raised from a player in position. Calling ur raise is mostly no option for a villain with a brain, so ur bigger raise has no benefit at all, since he will push or fold 95% of the time, 5% will be slowplays with big hands. The only situation i raise bigger is against a notorious calling-station.

Aggression is key in this stage of a sng, especially in blind vs. blind confrontations. But if u raise u need a plan just in case villain plays back at u. with AT ur in a situation where folding and calling both can be a major mistake, so avoid these spots.

gl at the tables

Frank

can u explain why or is this just eternal truth? u raise every hand better than average here cos fancy poker does not work in stt´s?

i play like i said all the time, it´s a cheap chance to play a good pot.

raising in this situation has exactly which benefit? make better hands fold? worse hands call? both will rarely be the case imo.

u raise as a bluff induce but don´t call a push?

u want to create a big pot preflop to commit u both in the hand?

explain please, i don´t get it

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I guess you prefer the passive aggressive approach huh? I should have guessed as much.
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nope i just think that is not a spot where aggression benefits u. my opponents definitely percieve me as aggressive, and i raise lots of hands here.

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If you play like you said all the time you are a very predictable player and very exploitable. That answers that.
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can u explain that? what hand will villain have me on after checking? how can he exploit my check? is raising here not even more exploitable and in fact exploited here? u raise all the time here, how can this be less predictable?

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Raising in this spot with a very above avg. for the situation allows you to play a big pot in position against what would amount to weaker player. You must not play a lot of stt if you think worse hands wont call you here. Should he call you, you would be in pretty good shape against his range. Raising is +cEV in this spot.
"

well still i think a villain with a brain cant call here. would u? with which hand?
by raising u take ur postflop edge if u got one. positional advantage often gets u nowhere with a big portion af villains stack already committed.

raisin is +cEV in this spot, no doubt. villain will often fold here, again no doubt. but is checking -cEV for that reason? it obv. isn´t. maybe it wins u slightly less pots, but many of them will be bigger. In this particular spot u even win the pot by checking preflop and betting/raising the flop many times.

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You are raising for value. Its pretty obvious. But when villain comes in for an all in reraise you have to stop and think why. It smells very much like a trap and A10 wouldnt stand up well against his range. Therefore you should fold.
"

since villain is unknown, u should fold, AT performs poorly against any somewhat reasonable 3bet- range.

that´s exactly the "u turn ur hand into a bluff" thing i mentioned. i hardly see myself valuebet/fold if villain isn´t ridiculous tight. how exploitable is this?

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You do want to create a big pot preflop. This is a SINGLE TABLE TOURNAMENT. I dont know if you get that at all. They are played primarily preflop. Thats the nature of the game.
"

given the hero´s (>25BB) and villain´s (>13BB) i can´t really see why exclude postflop play. no one is desperate in any way now. does hero really want to play a big pot with a tricky hand like AT here? if villain does, how do u do against his range, even if he plays Ax oop?

i prefer keeping the pot small here. u got position, if u check u can often easily take the pot on any flop. a pot size bet on the flop asks him if he wants to get his hole stack involved, but is just 1/13 of ur stack. that is the situation i want to have him in. will he fold the flop if u raised preflop? with more than 30% of his stack already in?

since i prefer to analyze a hand regarding the actual stacksizes given the actual blinds the type of tourney is not really relevant. rising blinds often are an issue. here there are well... not really. u just paid a big blind. if blinds rise, u still have nearly 20BB. does that put any pressure on u? compared to the smaller stacks, has ur situation got any worse or did theirs?

rising blinds are an issue u always have to factor in in any type of tournament. i did that.

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Your thinking works best in cash games where you play deep or deep stacked tournaments. If you had 100bbs then yes, just flat and play accordingly. It makes perfect sense. But here, you sitting with a much smaller stack and blinds that elevate fairly quickly. You dont have time to make these kinds of elaborate plays. If you cant get that than you shouldnt play them. Stick to games where you play with deeper stacks. I know its hard to adjust to different types of games, but you need to to survive. GL I hope you can do it.
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I obv. raise it in a cash game. different story.

i already played some tourneys and did survive.

My play differs from urs, and that´s ok. i give quite some reasons for my play. ur reasoning pretty much is "u gotta raise it´s a stt". in a forum like this discussions should be about the hand and not about someone´s potentially limited insight. show me where i´m wrong - everything is kind of discussable, isn´t it? i wanna learn from the experts here! "That´s the nature of the game" gets me or anyone else reading this nowhere.

so if u or anyone else have kind of deeper thoughts about the hand, i´m looking forward to read them.

franxic