The Poker Quiz

In a large tournament you are on the bubble playing hand for hand until the next two players get eliminated. You are currently the chip leader with T800,000 chips, while the average chip stack is about T230,000. Action has been pretty tight as players have been waiting for the bubble to pass. In middle position you are dealt J J. With blinds of T4,000 and T8,000 You decide to raise to T24,000. Action is folded to a skilled player in the small blind who re-raises to T100,000, leaving himself with T400,000. After a moment of thought you call.

The flop comes 10 6 2 . Your opponent immediately goes all-in.

The Solution

Fold.

You are the last person someone wants to be pushing into at this juncture of the tournament. No one wants to go out on the bubble, therefore your opponent must be very strong. Despite the fact that you have an overpair to the board, your opponent is representing a monster. At this point it is unlikely you have the best hand.

Your first warning should have been when your opponent re-raised out of position for 20% of his stack. When the flop came 10 high and he immediately went all-in alarm bells should be going off in your head. Save your chips for a better spot, fold, and remain one of the chip leaders.