Last night my mates and I invited five other guys over to play a small sit n go tournament in our house instead of at www.pokerstars.co.uk . 10 People started and we were paying out top three. I took some liberties in the first hour and dwindled down to $3500 (From $5000 starting chips) and decided I should start tightening up. I made a few hands on the turns and rivers and was back up to around $8200 with 5 people left when the button made a standard raise to $1200 (blinds 150-300). He was a fairly tight player that doesn't try to steal the blinds that much (fairly passive in that respect), so I knew he had a hand worth playing, I however was in the big blind and looked down at KK...
Most often I would try to play a big pot preflop with my kings and not risk having him folding after the flop if he had a hand like 55 or A10, but I've been burned enough times in my online tournaments by someone cold calling with a high pair that I decided to give it a try. I called and the UTG limper called as well. The flop came down 2 4 6 and I decided to lead into the raiser for $2200. The UTG limper shook his head and folded (later said he had 47 and didn't believe me at all, haha) and the button reraised all in. I called instantly and showed the two kings, this time it was his turn to shake his head as he showed JJ, my play had worked perfectly!
The turn gave him a flush draw but he missed on the river I had him outstacked, propping me up to 2nd place on the bubble, and later going on to win the tournament. Cold calling with a really strong hand like KK works really well late in a tournament. I know it has happened to me deep in online MTTs, because at that point the blinds are so high most of the hands end up with someone all in. The last time it happened I opened with 1010 and the SB cold called, bet into me on an 8 high flop, and I pushed, he called with QQ, so it felt good to be on the other side of the hand. However, early in a tournament dont' cold-call. At that point the blinds are low and people have plenty of play left in their stacks and it's unlikely to make a huge pot post flop, not to mention letting other limpers in the pot behind you could potentially spell diaster.
Most often I would try to play a big pot preflop with my kings and not risk having him folding after the flop if he had a hand like 55 or A10, but I've been burned enough times in my online tournaments by someone cold calling with a high pair that I decided to give it a try. I called and the UTG limper called as well. The flop came down 2 4 6 and I decided to lead into the raiser for $2200. The UTG limper shook his head and folded (later said he had 47 and didn't believe me at all, haha) and the button reraised all in. I called instantly and showed the two kings, this time it was his turn to shake his head as he showed JJ, my play had worked perfectly!
The turn gave him a flush draw but he missed on the river I had him outstacked, propping me up to 2nd place on the bubble, and later going on to win the tournament. Cold calling with a really strong hand like KK works really well late in a tournament. I know it has happened to me deep in online MTTs, because at that point the blinds are so high most of the hands end up with someone all in. The last time it happened I opened with 1010 and the SB cold called, bet into me on an 8 high flop, and I pushed, he called with QQ, so it felt good to be on the other side of the hand. However, early in a tournament dont' cold-call. At that point the blinds are low and people have plenty of play left in their stacks and it's unlikely to make a huge pot post flop, not to mention letting other limpers in the pot behind you could potentially spell diaster.
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