A One-Table Sit-and-Go Tournament

I recently got an e-mail from Marco, one of my faithful readers. He was playing an online one-table tournament called a sit-and-go. Here's his e-mail:



I have been caught up in this rush of poker (as has the rest of the world, it seems), and have been playing online quite a bit. I love playing in no-limit hold'em tournaments, as I seem to have more success in that type of setting/structure. A little while ago, I played in a one-table tournament in which everybody started with $800 in chips and the top three cashed out. With five players left, I was third in chip count (with about $1,600). The top two were very close to each other with about $2,500 in chips apiece (give or take). The fourth- and fifth-place players had only about $500 each, so unless they got lucky, they would soon be killed by the blinds. Then, this hand came down:



I was in the big blind, which was $200, and the under-the-gun player (also one of the chip leaders) was the only one to call. I had 5-2 suited, so I checked to see the flop. The flop came A 5 2, which gave me two pair, but there was also a spade draw on the board. I bet $500, hoping to at least gain some information, if not win the pot right there.



However, my opponent called, and fourth street brought the K. I went into the tank for a while, and figured he had at least an ace, but not A-K (no preflop raise), and definitely not A-2 or A-5 (since he probably would've gone over the top and put me all in after the flop). So, I was positive I had him beat. I checked, hoping to give the illusion that I missed my spade draw. He bet $1,000 and I moved all in. He called me, and flipped over A-10 offsuit, but fifth street brought another ace and I got bounced out of the tournament and out of the cash.



My friend said that I should've waited until two players were eliminated instead of risking my chips. I disagreed, because my goal wasn't to just limp into the top three, but to make a stand and go into the top three in a position to win the whole thing. I've seen some crazy stuff happen when guys with short stacks go all in and get lucky, in which case they double up and are right on my heels. And on top of that, I made the correct read, so in my opinion I took a bad beat.

What do you think? What would you have done differently in this situation? I think the only questionable move was my $500 bet after the flop. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!

Well, Marco, you have a very interesting situation that brings up several points for discussion. When playing a one-table sit-and-go that pays three places, you obviously want to make the money, but you also want to come in first, which pays a lot more than second or third. To do that, you sometimes need to take some risks. Waiting for the two shorter stacks to go broke is not always a good strategy. If you play too tight, the blinds will start to erode your stack and the short stacks can easily double up while you are waiting, watching, and hoping they go broke. Suddenly, you're the short stack.



In the specific situation you described with 5-2 in the big blind in an unraised pot, you were quite correct to lead out with a pot-sized bet. You want to win it right there, if possible. Bottom two pair are very vulnerable, and you want to bet to try to protect your hand. The one mistake I think you made was checking on fourth street. You made the correct read on your opponent. He probably would have raised with A-K. In fact, with only five players left, he should have raised with the A-10, but that is not the point of our discussion. The point is, what is the correct play? In my opinion, you should have moved in on fourth street. If he chose to call and lost, he would have been crippled, and you had every right to believe you had the best hand at that point. Trying to check-raise was not a good idea, because if your opponent bet, which he did, you both were pot commited anyway. If you had moved in first, all the pressure would have been on him. He might have called anyway, but you would have made him pay dearly for the privilege of drawing against you. When you checked, he might not have bet, and then he would have gotten a free card to possibly beat you. The fact that there was a possible flush draw on the board also made a bet the preferable play. Your friend was incorrect in his opinion about your strategy, and you did suffer a bad beat, but not a major bad beat. Poker, especially no-limit hold'em situations like this, is all about betting properly to either protect your hand or extract maximum profit when you think you have the nuts or close to it. You needed to protect your hand on fourth street, although as I already mentioned, your opponent might have called anyway. Sometimes, you are destined to lose no matter what you do.

Tom McEvoy is a representative of PokerStars.com. He also is the voice of ProPlay, a service of My PokerBiz. For more information, go to www.Proplaylive.com/tommcevoy.