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Poker ArticleWhen you don't need to race in online pokerI was playing a satellite tournament to a major land based event the other day and there were 72 players left. I was just inside the top 10 chip stacks with 26,000 chips and the blinds were 600/1200. I had just been moved tables (which was a shame, because I was bullying the last table very confidently) and this hand sees me sitting on the button. The player under the gun pushed all in for 13k. Everyone folds and it's on me, I have AK off-suit.The bet is half of my stack, I don't really know the player on the table as I've just been moved here so I have to assume that the player has picked up a genuine hand. Maybe a pair of 8's, at worst they probably have AJ or A10, but I wouldn't like to bet on what they are actually holding. I have a good chip stack and so I don't need to race at his stage of the game and so I lay the hand down. If the player had had less chips, say 6000 then I would have re-raised all in to isolate and play them heads up, but I don't want to make myself the short stack by losing half of my chips. However, if I was playing this hand and I had just 6000 chips then I would definitely call the raise and race as I have a premium hand and would probably not find a better spot to double my stack and I only fear Aces and Kings at this point. As you can see it just shows you how situational the game of poker really is. I am not very keen on voluntarily racing for all of my chips - especially if I am not the first one to stick my chips in. It is always easier to make a bet than to call someone's bet. However, if I am short-stacked in an online poker tournament then Ace King may be my best shot at doubling up. Article written by James Prentice of www.2good4u.co.uk |
