POTD #6 Triton Jeju 2024 Event #9 150k NLHE. AJs Go All-in?

Pictured: The Original AJ Go All In

When I started playing poker, the consensus among the community was that cash game players were more skilled than tournament players. Tournaments were “donkaments”. Contests where you were often short-stacked and the player who won the most all-ins won the tournament. Cash game players played deep-stacked, which was complex and required more skill. Over a decade later, people now recognize how difficult short-stack poker and tournament poker can be. The player who wins the most all-ins will still probably win the tournament, but there’s a lot of finessing to put yourself in a position so that you can benefit from good fortune. Tournament players need to be able to proficiently play a wide array of different stack sizes and different stack size configurations. Today’s hand starts off in a basic spot, a 35bb three-bet-pot HJ vs Button, but when a short stack goes all-in behind, I was not able to make the right adjustment.

The Tournament: 2024 Triton Jeju Event #9 $150k NLHE

The Situation: Level 12: 6k/12k/12k (SB/BB/BBA). Registration just closed; about half the remaining field cashes. Pieter Aerts and I are around 430k deep.

The Hand:

Hand History: My Poker Coaching Replayer

It folds to me in the HJ with A♠️J♠️. I raise to 26k; Pieter Aerts three bets to 72k on the button, then Daniel Dvoress uses two time banks and shoves 120k in the SB, I fold; Pieter Aerts calls K♥️7♥️, and Daniel Dvoress doubles up with K♠️Q♦️.