Hand I thought I would share. It was in a small tournament. The Shark Cage tourney at Poker Room to be exact. There were 47 entrants and top 6 get paid. I found myself with a slightly below average chip stack and about 35 people left. My table had a good selection of fish.
Anyways, I found myself one off the button and looking at kh 6h. Two people limp to me so I limp too. Great pot odds. Button and small blind limp too. Big blind checks. So 6 of 9 players are seeing the flop.
Flop comes. 8h 7h 4d. Pot is 180.
Small blind checks. Big blind bets 400. Huge overbet. My first thought is "Is this a fish or shark?" If it is a shark I am assuming they hit a monster and are overbetting hoping that someone calls on a draw or doesn't believe them and reraises. Judging from previous table history this wouldn't be a bad play. However, I decide he is probably a fish and is trying to steal the pot.
One person calls to me. I have a choice. Call and hope to hit or reraise and see what happens. I decide to reraise. If I call and miss on the turn, I either have to fold there or go all in. I can't call on the turn because I will be crippled. I know I am probably the favorite with live cards and the flush and gutshot draws so I am going to raise. Next is the amount. I have 1400 in chips so the min reraise will leave me with 600 chips. Crippled. So instead I go all in.
Surprise. Surprise. Big blind calls quickly. The other caller thinks forever and then decides to call too. Boy am I in trouble. They show their cards and I am pleasantly surprised. Big blind has As 10s and the other guy has Qh 3h. While I wish he didn't have hearts I am still in good shape. I have a 57% chance on winning the hand and tripling up. If my odds hold up, final table here I come.
Needless to say, I lose the hand. A queen hits on the river and the guy in 3rd place knocks both of us out. Oh well, such is poker. The main point of my sharing this is two-fold. First, I want to vent. I don't like that in tournaments it is often one bad beat and out. Frustrating. Second, I think most people would call and see if they hit their draw. I think this is a mistake though. If you hit the flush draw you likely won't get paid off nearly as much (doubled up instead of tripled up in this case). Also, if you just call you are letting lesser hands hang around cheaply. Prime recipe for a suckout.
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If this were a cash game, I would agree with you. However, in a tournament, it's more important to survive than to press small statistical edges because your bankroll is not infinite. You clearly cannot fold. But I don't think it's the worst thing to just call. if the flush draw hits, then the smaller draw will definitely pay you off.
i guess what i'm saying is that in a cash game that would be smart to press that statistical edge, because you have 57% of the pot equity. play it enough times, and you come out ahead. but on the bubble of a tourney where if you bust out and get nothing, your play there doesn't give you 57% of the prize pool equity. it merely means you'll survive another hand with a larger stack, and you could easily bust out the next hand anyway against an opponent with more chips. your play was a favorite to win the hand (T-chips) but winning the hand would not necessarily make you a favorite to cash in the tourney. see what i'm saying?
i would advise, in a tourney, try to avoid drawing hands after the flop for huge pots. not saying fold them, but control pot size a little.
another thing -- in this hand you may get the ace to fold on the turn with a push, especially if it's a seemingly unthreatening card. it's a lot easier for him to make the donk move of calling with overcards with two cards to come than with only one card.
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