Poker Players Mind?

[Jifsrt8]

Lately I been playing 45-man sng and im starting to notice alot of things. I have a few questions...

Whats the first thing u think when u are dealt- AK OR AQ

Do you expect to win the hand everytime?

Do you pay attention how many chips you have?

Does it matter if two players have raised and re raised all in?

Should a big stack fold if a two players are all in with a decent stak?

How do you handle a call when u bet the flop and the turn brings no help ?

What do you raise with blinds at 60-40 ?

[Sandy Cheeks]

Good questions. I would like to hear(my grammer sucks) the answers to some of these myself

[Mr_Hand]

Whats the first thing u think when u are dealt- AK OR AQ There are many things to consider. Position, stack size/ your M value, table image, etc... Just keep in mind that these are just drawing hands. They are the best drawing hands, but they still arent made hands.

Do you expect to win the hand everytime? Of course not. No starting hand will win everytime

Do you pay attention how many chips you have? I always do. I like to get in the habit of evaluating my M and those at my table everytime I am in the BB. You can do it on the button, or whatever works for you. This just helps me remember.

Does it matter if two players have raised and re raised all in? It matters a great deal. These hand lose a lot of there value after the flop. You want to be the one re-raising allin. If someone beats you to it, then you will have to rely on more info to call. Consider their M and table image. Do they need to make a move, or do they have plenty of time before they are in danger? Do you need to make a move yourself? If we both had plenty of chips, I will not flip/play for my tourney life in that situation.

Should a big stack fold if a two players are all in with a decent stak? I think so. Mtt's are more about finding profitable spots, than looking to flip your way to a final table. Unless I had a good read on two crazy players pushing very lite, I would fold. Even if one has 88 and the other has 9,10 or J,10 suited, you are still taking a huge risk to hit your hand. If I have a good amount of chips back, I wont risk it.

How do you handle a call when u bet the flop and the turn brings no help ? If the player has folded on later streets to others, then I might fire again. If they seem solid, and just playing their hands, then I will most likely check/fold after I fail to pick it up with a c-bet.

What do you raise with blinds at 60-40 ? I will raise my standard 3 bbs. Unless it is the first 2 levels of a tourney and I am utg, or utg+1 with AQoff. Then I call 50% and fold 50%. I know this eems kind of nitty for most, but you lose most of your chips by playing from early position. And I dont like building a pot oop without a made hand.

These are by no means 100% how you should play. This is just some of the things I do in a mtt. I hope this helps.

One more thing I would like to add. I started out with mtt playing the $1 45mans. I would recommend being very aggressive. Wait for the right spot and then hit the gas!! These play much like a turbo. If you just play your big hands strong, and dont call your chips away by chasing, you will do great.

[Sandy Cheeks]

Now let me ask you this Ryan, or anyone else for that matter, with such a short time, so many hands played and table movement, do you really get the time to get a firm table image?

To me, some of the advanced table play seems moot.

[Chipless Wonder]

Great thread Jeff.

I'm going to post my responses to the questions before I read anyone else's answers...

Whats the first thing u think when u are dealt- AK OR AQ

'I raise'.

Do you expect to win the hand everytime?

No. I don't have my numbers here at work, but I think it's ~ 80% for the A-K, and 75% for the A-Q.

Do you pay attention how many chips you have?

Absolutely!

Does it matter if two players have raised and re raised all in?

Definitely. Depending on what I know about these players, their chip stacks, my chip stack, the blinds/antes, how players remain and other factors, I may just fold a hand like A-K or A-Q in this spot.

Should a big stack fold if a two players are all in with a decent stak?

I didn't use to think so, but lately I've been coming around on this one. I will definitely consider a fold here, based on the factors mentioned above.

How do you handle a call when u bet the flop and the turn brings no help ?

Depends on our positions, chip stacks, and player tendencies.

What do you raise with blinds at 60-40 ?

Three times the big blind is my standard raise. With a limper I increase this to four times the big blind. Once the antes kick in or players start getting into push mode, I will start to decrease my raise sizes.

[wreaks]

Lately I been playing 45-man sng and im starting to notice alot of things. I have a few questions...

I assume all of these questions have to do with AK/AQ. I don't play the 45-man SNGs, so I'll keep my answers to how I deal with those hands in a general MTT.

Whats the first thing u think when u are dealt- AK OR AQ?

The FIRST thing I do is look at the stack of the BB.

Do you expect to win the hand everytime?

Not at all.

Do you pay attention how many chips you have?

Always.

Does it matter if two players have raised and re raised all in?

Yes it does, but I have to look at their stacks, my stack, and keep in mind how they've been playing lately.

Should a big stack fold if a two players are all in with a decent stak?

Depends on what "decent" is, if you're in the money already, the blinds, and how they've been playing lately.

How do you handle a call when u bet the flop and the turn brings no help ?

Depends on a lot of things, including what the board looks like, whether or not I hit the flop, and what I put my opponent on.

What do you raise with blinds at 60-40 ?

I vary my raises with AK between 3.5x and all-in, depending on stack sizes of the players involved in the hand. There's no definitive answer.

-----Added 30 Dec 2008 at 12:36:52-----

Scott, I also answered without reading anyone else's responses. It seems like we agree on pretty much everything though. Great minds....

[Jifsrt8]

Thanks for the help just wanted to see what you guys thought when in this sitution.

[Mr_Hand]

Now let me ask you this Ryan, or anyone else for that matter, with such a short time, so many hands played and table movement, do you really get the time to get a firm table image?

To me, some of the advanced table play seems moot.

I would say a firm image comes from playing at the table for more than an hour and showing down some hands. That will let the others know how you are playing. I agree with your thought though. It is moot at the level he is refering to. But if you are grinding the $75 45mans with sprstoner, chipless, and galactica, it will come into play often.

I would just play abc poker until I get a feel for my opponents.