CAN'T GET IT IN ANY BETTER

I was in the top 10 of a $69 tournament. People should respect my stack and try to stay out of my way. That's the way live poker works, but not so much online. I wasn't routinely pushing my opponents around, but I was picking spots and making strong plays. When there was a raise in front of me from a medium stack, I raised strong with 66. I figured there are very few hands he should call with when I am effectively putting him all in. My raise committed me to the pot regardless of his action. He decided to come over the top all in with AQ.

I never ever make that play against a bigger stack. It is okay to raise with AQ, but if you get reraised, you should automatically know you are beat. AQ is the minimum raising hand. Any good player knows that you can't call all your chips off with AQ after someone plays back at you, because there is no weaker hand that is likely to reraise you. You are basically praying for a coin flip situation, which still puts your entire tournament at stake as an underdog. Not a recommended strategy for long term success.

At the very least, he could have attempted the stop and go play, where he calls my bet and pushes on the flop regardless of what hits the board. If high cards come, there is a chance his opponent will fold an underpair in that spot. So, he was happy with the coin flip situation, assuming it was that, which it was. He pushed all in, with the mathematical guarantee that he would be called. He flopped a queen and doubled thru me, sending me out of the top ten, but leaving me still above average.
Oh well, I played it aggressively and forced him to make a decision for all his chips, and I got my money in as the favorite. Can't win 'em all.

I went card dead for quite awhile, but held on to most of my chips. Soon I was an average stack, then slightly below. Then, I found myself on the big blind with AJ. Against an early raise, I'm not keen on investing too much of my stack with this hand, but against a late raise, this is a hand I will gladly push all in and take my chances. So, it folded around to the button, who put in a standard stealing raise. The small blind came over the top of him all in with a stack about half the size of mine. I put the button on a steal and the small blind on a resteal, most likely with a weaker ace than mine. I pushed all in and my read was proven spot on when the button folded and the small blind showed AT - 3:1 favorite - you don't get much better odds than that preflop. I'm here to bitch, so of course you know he hit his ten to double thru me and leave me crippled.

On the short stack, I was just looking for hands to take all in and hope for the best. I pushed three times with marginal holdings, but had enough chips to force everyone to fold. Then I got 66 on the big blind and there was no question I was going with it so long as there was only one opponent. The raise came from middle position. I reraised all in and he called as expected - and showed 33! This was a dream scenario. We were approaching the bubble and a double up here would have vaulted me past a third of the remaining field, giving me a great shot of at least making the money. But alas - a trey on the turn and it was all over.