When Someone Has to Leave

[DCopper04]

I know this situation doesn't come up often, but how do you guys play against the dumbass tournament player who has to leave and has resorted to reckless raises and all-ins? I recently got fucked by this in a live game: I am chip leader. Four players remain, only top two get paid. This guy had to leave, he raises with KQ, I come over the top all-in with AK, he says "fuck it, I gotta leave, I call" and sure enough he flops his trip Queens. A few hands later I pick up KJ UTG, I am by far the short stack now, so I push all-in. This guy is on the BB, calls me with 89! He once again says that he has to leave soon, so why not gamble? He rivers his straight.

I know you could simply attribute this to bad luck, but do you guys play differently against players that you know are under time constraints? Would you be more likely to gamble against these players, or would you be more likely to sit back and wait for a hand against them?

In hindsight, I suppose that I should not have reraised all-in with my AK. I should have just called, and then given up the hand after it didn't hit. If it did hit, I could have pushed all-in, and there would have been a solid chance that he would have made a reckless call because he had to leave soon. As for the KJ vs 89 hand, I have no answer other than Lady Luck needs a good whuppin'.

I really dislike it when players choose to play even though they know they will have to leave at some point. It doesn't make sense to me. When the time comes for them to leave, it is basically a crapshoot for their chips; whoever gets the best cards and the best flops will likely take the person out. There is minimal skill involved.

Thoughts?

[greenbuckets]

I would never gamble for his chips unless I had a hand and/or had a huge chip lead. A bad beat can put you behind and out of the money. However, it seems that you had bad luck on both of those hands as I don't think you made bad plays.

[fonzerelli_79]

there is literally nothing you can do in this situation - you raised all in, even with someone leaving its risky and you arent guaranteed to win.

You have to just play the cards at face value and hope the board suits you