Why....

[GlosRFC]

...especially in the middle parts of a tournament do people raise like idiots when someone's already gone all-in for a few hundred chips?

I must've seen it half a dozen times yesterday - in one case someone had gone all-in for about 260. The two remaining players then decided to have a :pss match by raising and re-raising each other to the extent that, by the time they'd got to the river, they both went all-in anyway. Unbelievably, one had thrown away nearly 9,000 with just an ace in his hand while the other had a pair of 5's. Meanwhile, the guy who'd quietly slipped his last remaining chips into the pot, was sitting pretty with a pair of jacks. The net result was that one of the combatants was eliminated from the tournament while the other followed shortly after....and the guy who'd gone all-in originally suddenly found himself propelled into the top 20 of the competition without doing a thing.

I can understand it when you think you have a cast-iron hand but even so, it's a pretty fair bet that anyone going all-in with their last few chips will have a fairly solid hand to start with. It's even more annoying when I've matched a small all-in bet and some other mug bets or raises after the flop!

[Win2Win]

If they only have a few chips, the more that join in, increase the stats of knocking them out.

It's also best to just sit back and let them bitch regardless of what cards you have in they are doing that.

[mathare]

it's a pretty fair bet that anyone going all-in with their last few chips will have a fairly solid hand to start with.I'd really disagree with this actually. There are times when you can't wait for a decent hand and you have to make a move while you still have a threatening stack, regardless of your cards. No point getting down to only a couple of big blinds and then trying to make a move, it just won't work. And if they guy really is down to his last few chips he has to think about the blinds. If they are coming round then any suited cards or paint with a decent enough kicker becomes playable and you just take a flyer on it and see what happens.

[GlosRFC]

Yes, that happens too....but when someone goes all-in with, let's say, three times the big blind, then it's pretty certain they've got a reasonable hand. Otherwise they'd be content to wait at least another 3 circuits of the dealer. Any less then I'd agree that they're taking a flyer.

And I understand what Keith is saying too. Sure, let 2-3 people fight it out for a pot that's likely to be less than 500 chips. What I don't understand is someone matching 265 all-in and then raising 1500 when they see the flop. Even with a flyer, say J9, they can still easily win the pot so why make it substantially bigger for them and jeopardise your own position in the tournament?

[mathare]

Yes, that happens too....but when someone goes all-in with, let's say, three times the big blind, then it's pretty certain they've got a reasonable hand. Otherwise they'd be content to wait at least another 3 circuits of the dealer. Any less then I'd agree that they're taking a flyer.Not the way I see it I'm afraid. With 3xBB left you're in deep doo-doo. Anything is playable and you're playing position and your opponents way more than your cards at this stage. You have two more circuits to survive at most. Four hands will see you in the blinds so that's 1.5xBB each round assuming you fold from the the small blind. If you get an A or a K in late position you have to push all-in and hope. But at this stage you are far more likely to get a call. Which is why you need to make pushes like this when you have 8-10xBB left and are still a threat, albeit probably a smallish one to the big stacks at the table. If someone doubles you up from 8xBB you are in with a chance again. Double up a 3xBB stack and he's still in trouble and needs to push again to get back into the fight. Better to go down fighting than to be blinded out of the game.

[presto]

the thing about poker is 'every play dosn't have to make sense'.

in the example with someone overbetting the pot with someone all in - the 2nd raiser could think that a re-raise with someone already all in and a previous raise, will look like a monster hand, thus the previous raiser will fold, and although the all inner may scoop a bit of the pot - the re-re- raiser may be able to bluff a share of the side pot.