A neat trick

Consider the following tournament scenario:

1. You are in middle position with a pretty good stack (which is to say, not short stacked)

2. You get a few limpers on your right

3. You have an Ace with a middle kicker or a suited King and middle kicker

A good strategy is to go all-in. This gives you a good opportunity to steal the blinds and all those bets that limped in before you. As for the people on your left, they'll want to steer clear because the pot odds don't make it worth it unless, of course, they have a high pair or big slick. When I am considering this play, I pay attention to the people on my left, to see if there are any indications that they have a hand worth keeping. 

Suppose I'm in the fifth seat, blinds are $5-10 and two people limp in in front of me. There's $35 in the pot. Suppose I have A-9 and a $175 stack and raise all-in. The action comes to you and you're holding 8-8. 

Do you want to make that call? Sure, you're a 3:2 favorite, but is that enough for you to risk your whole stack? And besides, what if I really have a higher pair, or someone else to your left has a better pair? Then you're really in trouble.

I used this play a few times during Game 11, much to the frustration of the people on my right. People knew I didn't have a made hand, but neither the blinds nor the limpers wanted to challenge it. It just wasn't worth it.

In fact, in one instance I did this with A-9 off-suit. The all-in bet pushed Jeff H. out of the hand, and he was on the button with A-10. So, when used correctly, the system works. Give it a shot next time you have th opportunity.

Comments

[Jeff H]

I had A-9o actually, same as you. It is a good play, and the closer
you are to the button, the safer it is.

Use it too often though and someone might starting limping in with a monster just waiting to take you down.

[Chris L.]

Is it safer? You may be right. Though I suspect you have a greater chance of getting a caller since there are more people in the pot already. Pot odds get a little better if there are six callers + the blinds, as opposed to only two or three.

But on the upside, you get the benefit of knowing what the people to your left are doing.

[Sean Carroll]

Hmm. Say about 2% of the time any individual to the left of you has great hole cards (aces, kings, queens, AK, maybe jacks if they are frisky) and calls your all-in. If there are 5 people to your left, that's a 10% chance overall. To any of those hands you are a huge underdog and will likely lose your whole stack. Still a positive equity play if there is $35 in the pot and you're sure they will all fold -- but as Jeff says, if any of them are slow-playing, you're in trouble. Why not just raise to $50, and all the mediocre hands will fold?

[Ben]

I'd call you with 6-3 off-suit just because I'd hit two pair on the river and drive you crazy. Just kidding.

Seems like a good play, depending on who you are playing with. If we've got some newbies playing that like to play aggressive, you may get called. In that case, are those slight odds worth going all in. I'm with Sean's suggestion of a high bet as opposed to all-in.

[Chris L.]

Hmmm... $35 in the pot and a raise of 5x the blind ($50) gives pretty good odds to someone who wants to call, particularly one of those blinds or previous callers. I think that puts you at risk. 99, TT, JJ would call that bet. And that would be bad.

Plus, a $50 bet leaves you nowhere to maneuver if you get a caller; it's even worse if you get two callers. You'll end up getting put all in after the flop.

[Jeff H]

OK poker geeks. The odds of being dealt AA, KK, QQ or AK (s or o) is roughly 2.1% as Sean says above. But, this ignores card removal. You know you have an A (in the above scenario), so the odds that another player has one of these hands is actually lower. I get ~ 1.7%, so with 5 people left, the odds of someone having one of these premium hands is 8.5%.

Card removal effects like this matter and are one of the reasons that going all in with AK is seldom a mistake. You're not far behind against anything other than AA or KK, and the odds of someone else having one of those two hands when you have AK is half as big as it would be without including card removal.