A bad all-in? Heads up in MTT

[Zarathustra]

Playing in a Party NL $30+3 multi last night. 590 entrants and I am playing a very patient solid game. Make a nice double up at final table with KK and then survive the longest 3-way action I ever saw (we were 3-handed for about 30 min with relatively similar stacks that sloshed back and forth a bit but nobody ever down much).

So, after all that its heads up but my opponent was the one who knocked out 3rd guy so has a bit of chips on me. First hand I steal the blinds. Second hand I'm BB with A5o and blinds are 7500/15000. Stacks are about 230k for me and 360k for him or thereabouts. He raises it up to 45k (3xBB). I have a lot of chips, of course, but decided to move in. Hopefully he'd fold of course. He thought for a min then called with AQo and won the tourney. I'll take the $2655, but $4200+ and a win would have been sweeter. One of the reasons I made the push was that he was getting very aggressive once 3-way, and I felt I needed to take a stand and this was as good a hand as I'd seen in a bit. Of course, its a pretty good hand heads up, too and puts him to the test if he has any non-ace non-pair or small pair.

Should I have just re-raised and folded if he pushed? If I did, I'd almost surely pot-commit myself anyway. So I can't really do that. I guess the question is whether A5o is enough to make a stand when you'll be down 2:1 in chips. I think it is. My brother who was watching sommented something to the effect that I gambled a bit hoping he had nothing -- which of course, I did, but heads up I think you have to at some point. I suppose a call could have been an option. The flop was rags and I could have moved in on the flop and he would have had to likely fold -- but isn't that just as big a gamble that the flop missed him as it is pushing preflop?

[Aisthesis]

Sounds like you do much better at these things than I do, but my $.02 anyway.

Basically, my HU strategy varies according to whether the player is too LAG-ish or too tight. If too LAG-ish, as it sounds in this case, I wait until I can make a substantive stand and let him hang himself.

I actually think I would have folded the A6o here and would wait and see what he does. HU I'm also much tighter out of position than in position. Another option would be to call and bet into him if you hit. Of course, if you hit the ace here, it's going to get ugly. That's the reason I don't really like those weak aces there.

It just seems to me like you have some time--not a lot but a little anyway. And if he starts raising you to death (on what seem to be nothing hands), you can make a stand later on an ace or even a decent K if you want. But I'd also like to find out how he's going to play the flop after these raises. I really feel like you have a little folding room here that you can use to develop an appropriate strategy against this particular player.

[Zarathustra]

Thanks for the feedback. I agree. I think a fold isn't a horrible play (even though folding an Ace heads up seems crazy to me, the fact is I'm either a slight favorite against any non-ace hand like KJ, etc. or a big dog) and a call isn't too bad either and hope to catch something. The more I think about this hand, the more I don't like my play -- I risked everything, but if he folds, I'm not going to be in a commanding position anyway, so risk was greater than reward. I tend to be super aggressive heads up though, so not sure if I wouldn't do the same thing next time.

[Gregor]

[Telemachus]

As someone else said, the acheivement of getting heads up against this field is impressive in itself.

However, even given your read of this guy as LAG and that he had been agreessive 3 handed, I would be waiting for something stronger to push it all in with. I hate getting all my money in with a weak ace- because the only hands that will call you will have you crippled- i.e. any dominating ace, or any middle pocket pair or bigger.

I take your point that you feel you need to make a stand, and I think that logic is absolutely right. I also agree that you can't smooth call the raise here as you will have no idea where you are afterwards- it is re-raise (which will probably commit you to the pot as you say) or fold. I fold here.

[TexasKowboy]

Head up any A I'm pushing. UNLESS the other player has been very aggressive any time he plays a pot preflop. Then all of a sudden he only completes. However. if he come at me with a 2X the BB raise for a steal I am pushing any A. You have to stop the bleeding. Odds of you both having A's are low enough that it is worth making the play.