Busted nearly out in AA vs 87, recovery, busted with JJ by 86

All good points -thanks. FYI, I did 3-bet instead of shove. He 4-bet shoved and I called. At the time in that tournament, I was well outside of the bubble line and needed to chip-up soon to have a good chance of cashing. That was 1 factor. Another factor was stack depths where lets say I just called and the flop was J-high not scary. I am going to be check-calling all the way anyway. A third factor is wanting to get the most value for my hand. Lets say I just call preflop and the flop has an A on it. With a tight player as an opponent, that’s going to kill my action unless another K popped up too.

IMO, in many of these shorter tournament structures, having the chance to double-up with a dominating hand is usually worth the risk. Maybe right at the bubble I want to keep a pot small and be sure to cash but that’s an exception, not the rule. In a tournament you need to win some hands in order to win the whole thing. In general, I’m happy to take my shots when they present themselves. I can live with the results of hands like this one. What I kick myself over and over for afterwards when I don’t cash are the opportunities I didn’t take. Maybe its a different way of looking at these things than other people have but it works for me both financially and mentally.

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