The $50 buy-in multi-table online tournament was heading towards the money. Of the original 689 entrants, 63 would get paid. Now, 80 were left and I was one of them. My 19000 chip stack put me square in the middle of the pack and, as I am patiently waiting for a playable hand, I am doing a lot of watching.

The player in the 10 seat to my left has been making an interesting move on a quite a few hands. He would flat call the 800 chip bb and then, every time he had the lead, he would bet another 800 on the flop, picking up a few pots this way. I resolved to trap him in this move when I had a hand as I had seen him throw his hand away a few times when another player bet or raised. <READMORE>

A few rounds later in my bb I get J5o and he again flat calls utg. It gets folded around to the button, who also calls and the sb folds and I check. The flop comes J34 rainbow, so I decide to test my theory and I check. Sure enough, he bets 800. The button folds and I make it 3200, expecting him to fold. Unfortunately, he goes ahead and calls.

The turn brings a 6, giving me an open-ended straight draw to go with my top pair. I’m fairly sure that if I check he will bet to try to pick up the pot, and with my hand I’ll have to call, so I decide to go on the offensive and I bet the rest of my stack – 14600. He doesn’t immediately call, for which I am thankful, instead he goes into the tank to think for about 30 seconds.

When he finally does call, I am shocked as he flips over J4o for two pair. The river brings another 3 and he collects a huge pot with his Jacks and 4s. Of course looking at the evidence I know that I was right. Who calls 800 chips utg with a J4o at that late stage of a tourney unless they plan to steal? But I finish 65th, 2 spots oom and he goes on to cash.

I have talked to people, some of whom are fairly good players, who advocate posting and folding into the money then resuming normal play. In hindsight you may think I would agree with them, but I still don’t. Even though I lost this one, even though I lost one on the bubble with AA vs 10Jo, even though I missed the final table by one spot with AKc vs JQo, I would do the same thing again in every case. For every one of these losses, there is at least one corresponding win putting me in a very good chip position for the endgame.

I do agree that there are very unusual circumstances where I would fold any hand. The most obvious example is in a satellite where I am guaranteed a spot in the target tourney by my chip count and the chip leader puts two small stacks all-in by raising all his chips. In that situation, even with AA, I need to risk my entire stack and my well-deserved spot in the target tourney for no more gain. Why would I do that? The only answers are for pride or ego and if that’s why you play poker, then go ahead and call. I always find I play my best poker when I divorce myself from both of these deadly sins.

Which leads me back to my original point. No limit holdem is as much about playing your opponents as about playing your cards. When you can get a handle on your opponents’ play, you would be foolish not to use that information. If your timing happens to be bad, well then you are going to lose. Getting all your chips in when you have the advantage is what makes a player a long-term winner. So when the evidence leads you to that conclusion, go ahead and take your shot. Are you going to lose sometimes? Of course! After all, even maniacs get aces once in a while.</READMORE>