Laugh over peoples ideas about late tournament play

So I just busted 7th out of that 90 man I mentioned last post. And the guy who called my shoved and spiked the river to knock me out asks "Why All In?" So I feel compelled to have an ego know-it-all moment.

Numbers don't mean anything late in tournaments. Stack size and fold equity is EVERYTHING. And for those who haven't figured it out yet: PUSHING ALL IN with a marginal hand IS ALWAYS BETTER than CALLING ALL IN.

For example I played at the Water Tank on Thursday and freaked everyone out when I started open shoving 13K with blinds at 500/1000. It was freaking people out because it THIRTEEN THOUSAND AND THAT'S SO MUCH.

NO IT'S NOT. It's 13 big blinds and taking 1500 in blinds represents more than a 10% increase in my stack size. Here's a great example:

Full Tilt Poker Game #11898871252: $3 + $0.30 KO Sit & Go (89178732), Table 10 - 1200/2400 Ante 300 - No Limit Hold'em - 11:54:21 ET - 2009/04/27
Seat 2: Dray (27,320)
Seat 3: Artemii 83 (36,652)
Seat 4: QUOVADIS37 (27,128)
Seat 5: Xblack iceX (82,540)
Seat 6: Daholyone (19,284)
Seat 7: susu56 (25,866)
Seat 8: rocktum (51,210)
Dray antes 300
Artemii 83 antes 300
QUOVADIS37 antes 300
Xblack iceX antes 300
Daholyone antes 300
susu56 antes 300
rocktum antes 300
Xblack iceX posts the small blind of 1,200
Daholyone posts the big blind of 2,400
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [As Th]
susu56 folds
rocktum folds
Dray raises to 27,020, and is all in
Artemii 83 folds
QUOVADIS37 folds
Xblack iceX folds
Daholyone folds
Uncalled bet of 24,620 returned to Dray
Dray mucks
Dray wins the pot (8,100)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 8,100 | Rake 0
Seat 2: Dray collected (8,100), mucked
Seat 3: Artemii 83 folded before the Flop
Seat 4: QUOVADIS37 (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: Xblack iceX (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: Daholyone (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: susu56 folded before the Flop
Seat 8: rocktum folded before the Flop

I have just barely over 10bbs if you're not paying attention to the antes. There's 5700 in the pot before cards are even dealt out. That's 20% of my stack! It's VERY worth it to pick up the blinds and antes.

Some people tend to think that the later the tournament and the bigger the blinds, the more "real poker" is being played. BULLSHIT. If you have 20bbs or less I'm sorry you're not playing real poker anymore. You're at the point where if you put any significant portion of your stack and fold you're making a big mistake.

In the above hand, why would I want to raise to 6000 to get called, cbet 8000 on a missed flop and fold to a raise leaving myself with 13000 and 5 bbs? Just fucking shove it and see all 5 cards. #1 there are people who will call you with hands you dominate like lower Aces, KT, QT, etc. #2 if you shove against people who barely have you covered you can make them fold better hands that are marginal such as AJ, or pocket pairs like 66, 77, or 88 because they're afraid you might have a big one. #3 If they call you with a pair like that, you're guaranteed to see all 5 cards and you can't get pushed off a flop you miss. When you're so low on chips you should be happy to race for 50% equity instead of being stuck lower pair vs higher pair for 20% or being dominated by a higher kicker like AT vs AK for 30%.

Finally I'll say this because I've spent too long on this anyway. When you're shoving consistently without anyone calling you, someone's going to want to take a stand because you have a maniac image. Meaning, they're going to start calling you with weaker and weaker hands. And if you just shove your big hands exactly like you would your others, they're going to pay you off and you'll build a stack so that you CAN play real poker. (I'd say 50bbs at least in tournament play)

I'm not really complaining because I want people to play bad and have totally skewed poker theories that translate into money for me. I've completely stopped the whole know-it-all strategy talk stuff when I'm at a table though. It's stupid and everyone thinks they're right even if they're completely wrong.

But I will reserve the right away from the table to talk strategy and learn from other players who actually care to think about the game, and also to make fun of the bizarre retarded things that people who don't care do and say at the table.

And seriously if you haven't read Harrington on Holdem v.2. You really should.

Here's my last hand from the tourney:


Full Tilt Poker Game #11898914745: $3 + $0.30 KO Sit & Go (89178732), Table 10 - 1500/3000 Ante 400 - No Limit Hold'em - 11:58:30 ET - 2009/04/27
Seat 2: Dray (38,520)
Seat 4: QUOVADIS37 (32,428)
Seat 5: Xblack iceX (73,640)
Seat 6: Daholyone (23,170)
Seat 7: susu56 (57,832)
Seat 8: rocktum (44,410)
Dray antes 400
QUOVADIS37 antes 400
Xblack iceX antes 400
Daholyone antes 400
susu56 antes 400
rocktum antes 400
susu56 posts the small blind of 1,500
rocktum posts the big blind of 3,000
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [Jd Qs]
Dray raises to 38,120, and is all in
QUOVADIS37 folds
Xblack iceX folds
Daholyone folds
susu56 calls 36,620
rocktum folds
Dray shows [Jd Qs]
susu56 shows [3d 3s]
*** FLOP *** [8h Js Td]
*** TURN *** [8h Js Td] [Kd]
*** RIVER *** [8h Js Td Kd] [3c]
Dray shows a pair of Jacks
susu56 shows three of a kind, Threes
susu56 wins the pot (81,640) with three of a kind, Threes
Dray stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 81,640 | Rake 0
Board: [8h Js Td Kd 3c]
Seat 2: Dray showed [Jd Qs] and lost with a pair of Jacks
Seat 4: QUOVADIS37 folded before the Flop
Seat 5: Xblack iceX folded before the Flop
Seat 6: Daholyone (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: susu56 (small blind) showed [3d 3s] and won (81,640) with three of a kind, Threes
Seat 8: rocktum (big blind) folded before the Flop