Dublin Poker

Played the Fitz 30 short handed on Sunday. Had a great tournament, going out in 14th to a pretty harsh cracking of my aces... but I won't bore you with that (for once!).

I writing this because of a very interesting hand which occured about halfway through the tourney. It was against another lad that posts on boards, Dom, and I've already got feedback from him on the hand. Anyway it goes like this...

I pick up JJ in late position, I think the blinds were at 100/200. I'm thinking a raise of 500 will be enough to scare off any limpers, and I'd be happy enough with the 300 in blinds. Before it gets to me Dom raises it up to 500... Now I had a fairly good idea of the type of player he was, and my read on him thought this was either 99-QQ or AK/AQ. I felt he would respect a decent raise from me, as I had only re-raised with decent hands up until that point.

So I raised it up to 1500. We both had about 5K each at the start of the hand. I could see I had put a tough decision on him, and he took a while to make his mind up. I was willing to see a flop, although I would definitely be wary of a flat call. It was looking like he was in fold or push mode. Eventually he bit the bullet and pushed.

Now the decision was on me. I felt my read was strong enough now to put him JJ-AA. I don't think he would make this move with AK. It didn't take too long for me to muck. He flips over...... JJ.

Fair play, he made the move and took me off the hand, but I feel that position was the key here. If I had been in his position I think the hand would have played out the exact same way. I had been planning on making an initial bet of 500, which I'm sure he would have raised to 1500/2000. I then would have had the same decision he put on me, all in or fold.

A very interesting hand, mainly due to the fact that I'm still not sure whether the fold was bad. My read on him was that he was playing a high pocket pair, which turned out to be correct. Because it is so hard to differentiate between JJ and QQ, I would presume it is QQ or above, mainly due to the fact that JJ is highly unlikely due to my holding.

However, I don't think he would have made this move with 10 10. It is surprising how differently most people view 10 10 and J J. Therefore, based on my read, which turned out to be correct, surely folding is the right decision?

As from Dom's point of view, he played the hand perfectly. He was thinking about the hand the same way I would have been in his place. He knows that by pushing, I can only really call with AA or KK, as he has built up a tight table image up to that point. He may even get me to drop QQ here, that would have been a very tough decision for me.

In the end, I came to my decision to fold quite easily based on the fact that he had built up a tight image, so I was almost certain he had a hand. He in turn knew that I would not raise him without a hand (most of the time!). Therefore, when he pushed I was 99% certain I was behind. Obviously the thought of him having Jacks never came into it.

What is even more interesting is the fact that I think JJ is the only hand that would surprise me in this situation. AA and KK is basically an autocall. QQ is a tough decision which would have needed some thought. Anything lower and I wouldn't have gotten myself into that situation, as I would have either folded or flat called the raise.

As it happened, this hand was only in the early stages of a small tournament, but had this happened in the later stages of a big tournament, it would be quite interesting....


EDIT: Just won a ticket into the $100K game this Sunday in a $3 feeder. I think this game is huge, and gets a few thousand people. Would have preferred the $37 for 6th, but some little fecker beat me to it!