Bit of a different question here, just made me think a bit as I played it.

MTT with a short stack and pocket ladies. What's the best way to maximise the risk/return here?

NL Texas Hold'em Trny:16708023 Level:4 Blinds (25/50) -
Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: johnnorum ( $355 )
Seat 3: Irexes ( $435 )
Seat 4: weisse_hai ( $2325 )
Seat 6: ZeeGigabot ( $2795 )
Seat 8: satch0 ( $1100 )
Seat 10: Sniper911 ( $4665 )
Seat 7: smitherz ( $1650 )
Seat 2: bigrom5 ( $545 )
Seat 9: mdko4 ( $365 )
Seat 5: lpc101 ( $3920 )
Trny:16708023 Level:4
Blinds (25/50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Irexes [ ]


Second to act with 435 chips. Is it call raise or allin? And why?

depends on the table. If it is very active, call and hope somoene raises, if they don't raise alot, just push and hope someone calls.

These are always tough situations for me too. I really want action here, even if I end up with multiple callers (I mean, how long am I going to wait for AA or KK to double or triple up?).

My strategy all depends on what the table is like. If it's an aggressive table PF, then I just call, hoping to catch a raise, and even another call, then reraise all in when it gets back to me. If it's been very tight, I probably just make the standard raise (so I don't get 4 callers in a small pot), and hope someone calls or reraises me all in.

Of course, I wouldn't fault anyone who just pushed all their chips in the middle.

It looks like this is the time to push in. Since you are going to raise and would have to commit more than 1/4 of your chips pre-flop, you don't have enough chips to flat call. If the Q's hold up, you will be in good chip position

Originally Posted by Irexes

Bit of a different question here, just made me think a bit as I played it.

MTT with a short stack and pocket ladies. What's the best way to maximise the risk/return here?

NL Texas Hold'em Trny:16708023 Level:4 Blinds (25/50) -
Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: johnnorum ( $355 )
Seat 3: Irexes ( $435 )
Seat 4: weisse_hai ( $2325 )
Seat 6: ZeeGigabot ( $2795 )
Seat 8: satch0 ( $1100 )
Seat 10: Sniper911 ( $4665 )
Seat 7: smitherz ( $1650 )
Seat 2: bigrom5 ( $545 )
Seat 9: mdko4 ( $365 )
Seat 5: lpc101 ( $3920 )
Trny:16708023 Level:4
Blinds (25/50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Irexes [ ]


Second to act with 435 chips. Is it call raise or allin? And why?

Okey dokey folkseys.

What I did this time was limp.

There were then three other limpers, then one of the other short-stacks (I think on the button went all-in).

I went allin as well and the others all folded.

On this occassion it built a nice pot preflop as I was fortunate to get limpers and a raise.


I'll occassionally (very occassionally) limp AA utg or utg+1 at a raising table with a decent stack but I think there is more of a case for it in these shortstack situations where risk of going out is less of a consideration than the reward of doubling (or tripling).

Ordinarily though I think limping big pocket pairs is asking for trouble.

Nice play, exactly what you'd want to see. Get some dead money in that pot, and go heads up with someone. I agree that with an M of just under 6, you can't worry about being knocked out by catching "too much" action - just make sure you build a big pot PF.

Another reason to limp with big pairs in EP & MP some % of the time (I do it about 10% of the time) is to vary your play so that the rest of the table doesn't know what you're coming in with. Particularly at an aggressive table, if you limp with a big pair early, get raised, and reraise back a huge amount, whether you get called or not, show the hand down. Even the absolute fishiest fish remembers when someone shows AA or KK. After that, see if you can start playing suited connectors from EP by limping without getting raised. It can really open up your play for the rest of the time the table is together.

I think the stack sizes says it all. The sharks with the big stacks will smell blood in the water as soon as you step in and if you're not all-in on your own, they'll be puttting you all-in as long as they're getting 3-1 odds. Knowning this, I would probably like to get as much back as possible and raise half my stack (now pot committed) and hope to at least double if not triple up. Your position isn't the greatest but you have the 3rd best starting hand and how long can you wait?

The question is: are there any sharks in that water?

Will someone actually raise you all-in, or will it just set off a string of limpers.