My Poker Journal

[Joe]

I just read your thread for the first time... as far as beats like aces or kings all in preflop... yes, they are bad beats... yes you got your money in good. However, keep in mind that a single hand is but a battle and the tourney is a war. Aces and kings are just a pair, the five cards on the board can do a world of hurt on a pair. A pair is the second weakest hand. Now if you're short stacked and the blinds are significant, yes getting your chips all in is good. However, early in a tournament or with a decent stack size, getting all in on simply a pair is not the best idea preflop. Now this doesn't mean go to limping aces, just it's no sense risking your whole stack on a pair. Aces will get cracked by kings 19 times out of 100. etc. Get smaller chipups rather than double ups and stay alive in the tournament.

I generally go all in if I have about ten big blinds or less unless I have a pair of aces.

[xwabba]

I generally go all in if I have about ten big blinds or less unless I have a pair of aces.

I would have to say that's a mistake that'll lose you many opportunities. Unless you're just playing cards and not poker. If you're purely playing the cards dealt, then I guess that'd be an appropriate action. However, if you pay attention to the table opponents nad their plays, it's not a good idea. Make a 2.5preflop bet when you're going to play a hand. Keep track of hand ranges for the rest of the table and their raising ranges. Then you'll have a chance to escape a lot of hands that you're dominated by also. 5-6 BBs is a VERY workable area. I feel extremely comfortable in that area. Just a couple days ago I didn't raise above 8bbs for 2 hours of tournament play, then came back and won it once I started getting what I needed and the right reads.