You've got to know when to Fold 'Em

[Brian McDonald]

How good am I. I've read the books, played the computers, played lots of 'live' games, played heaps of Internet Poker. Not a complete muppet you might think, not complete anyway.Here I am playing on Party in a decent sized tournament, early days and I'm slightly down on my starting bank with $710 in chips.Seat 1: rabbit143 (710) .........(the muppet)Seat 2: rjbones (340)Seat 3: drewhd18 (2425)Seat 4: Bogey5800 (955)Seat 5: sdub55 (1875)Seat 6: ROCKYV65 (1325)Seat 7: walevi (915)Seat 8: MrsTax (945)Seat 9: JohnGordon13 (1320)Seat 10: menneci (1165)Dealt to rabbit143 [ Ac, Qh ]ROCKYV65 folds.walevi folds.MrsTax folds.JohnGordon13 folds.menneci calls (20)rabbit143 raises (125) to 125rjbones folds.drewhd18 raises (700) to 700Bogey5800 folds.sdub55 folds.menneci raises (1145) to 1165menneci is all-InI'm now looking at some guy with heaps of chips reraising my $125 to $700 and another reraises himself all in to $1165.As I said before I'm not a COMPLETE muppet. I understand there are better hands out there than AQos. If there's not at least an AK out there as well as a big pair, I'll be a monkeys uncle.rabbit143 folds.The original raiser drewhd18 calls the extra $465 and rolls over Ks Kc. OK I say to myself, thats what I expected.The guy who went all-in rolls over....7c 2c, work that one out. Obviously smoking the same stuff as JK and joethepeanut.Now the piece de resistance. (drum roll) ** Dealing Flop ** : [ Ad, Qs, Jh ] ** Dealing Turn ** : [ Ah ] ** Dealing River ** : [ As ]Flopped 2 pair.Turned a full house.Rivered quads.Maybe this is not my game?

[Sedda]

Bad luck Rabbit. I probably would have folded as well. The same type of thing has happened to me in the Noble Poker Tourneys.I Hate Tourneys!!! I'm also starting to hate freerolls which just goes to show how much I hate tourneys. Just can't make it to the 2nd hour and when I do my AA is cracked by some moron holding T6os.

[yoyo]

See, where you've gone wrong Brian is thinking that laying down AQo is a good move against KK. Sure, on the face of it, KK *looks* better than AQo - but looks can be deceiving, as I'm sure you're aware. All you have to do is hit one A, and bob's your uncle. (You even have 5 shots at hitting it!!) Failing that, two Q's will do the trick or even KJT. You have some distant back-up options with 4-card flushes but, frankly, you don't want to rely on them and usually you won't need to. I, too, used to fold AQo to big all-in raises before I worked out it's really much stronger than it looks. Of course, calling with AQo after someone puts you all in makes you a look like a bit of a donkey - so I advise to just push all-in with it as soon as you see it. This seems to work for Gaz and some of the other QPN 'rounders'. If anyone tries to give you crap for going all in for 1200 to win a 30-chip pot, just roll your eyes at them and laugh softly. Monkeys like that are simply not capable of understanding complex strategy, so no point trying to even justify your high-level plays to them!yoyo

[Brian McDonald]

Dear donkey (nee yoyo),You sound like a sick puppy, I like you already.The only flaw I can see in your entire treatise is however rather glaring.I don't have an Uncle Bob.

[Blu3B3ar]

Your hand is over after you folded the hand. Never mind what the board comes out, who knows how the random number generator works, maybe it would be different if you played your hand. We should not be results-orientated and just focus on playing the best poker possible.Folding AQ offsuit in your situation is most definitely 1000% correct.

[yoyo]

Everyone is results orientated BlueBear! You never hear about the guy that played the best WSOP tourney - you just hear about the guy that won it. I'm appalled and dismayed to hear that you don't have an Uncle Bob, Brian. You should go out and get one immediately. yoyo

[Spikey]

It's glaringly obvious to me too that you are playing like a chicken.drewhd, with a good hand, was not scared of calling someone who plays 7c 2c, but you were.I suggest you go to the play money tables for a while and practice calling with hands such as AQos. It will do you good and you will see how your bank can go through the roof with such hands.

[JK.]

Well said Spikey,you have described Brians' game to a tee.He now plays on the Net every day and his his game has degenerated.Rabbit is perfect name for him now.He now has nightmares about his cards and gets very sick when he sees the flop after he folds.Having four Aces after you pass is about the same as seeing four 2 when you fold with 2 7 off suit.We have all seen this happen.You don't cry about it,just continue to play correctly.And remember,getting involved in an early position with AQ,you must expect raises.If you intend folding after a raise,what the hell are you doing in the pot?

[nuftoby]

Normally I wouldn't defend a player unless I thought they really deserve it.In this case, Brian really does.He is a GREAT player. Pretty darn good backgammon player too.Easy laydown here mate.PS. When are you coming back to OZ?PPS. You still owe me $300 bucks! :P hehehhehe

[liquidradio]

Nuftoby, $300 only ?You got off cheaply.Hurry back, rabbit143