live tournament. fast structure, EASY table. im off to a great start, table is playing very weak tight. i continue to miss the flop, but pick it up with CB's. ive worked t4000 to t6000, blinds are 50/100 right now, they double each time w/ 30 minute levels. blinds would raise in approx. 3 hands



i have 6k. blinds are 50/100. 180 people about 120 are left?

im UTG+2. UTG raises to 500, and leaves himself 1700 more.

I have

here are my thoughts:
he had opened in EP with AQ, 99, etc before. he could have alot of hands.
he wasnt very agressive, and to this point he had not raised 5X the bb yet. i found it even stranger that he didnt just push all in. did he want action?

my options were fold, call, or raise. i didnt feel i should fold because i thought i was ahead of his range. i didnt feel i should call because there were many people to act behind me. once i call, i imagine 2-3 other people would call. if i raise, shortie is going to call me a vast majority of the time. i dont think he folds AJ or AQ here so short on chips. he calls when hes crushed with 88+, he calls when im crushed, and he will flip a coin. i dont want to flip a coin.

imo, the better play was to just call. i risk letting people catch an overcard, but so what. if an overcard comes i have lost 500 chips. maybe a jack comes and i stack somebody i wouldnt have stacked before. maybe now i can get away if i think EP raiser has an overpair.

imo, folding jacks here is horrible. is smooth calling the less of 2 evils?

I really like calling here because you have more folding equity on random flops when he only gets to see 3 cards than the oppurtunity to see 5 cards. I'm thinking he has AK. That raise is a very scared raise asking for someone to push him in to see all 5 cards for one price now.

You push and you give him the easy way out and abandon yourself of your personal biggest strength (as I know you) which is postflop play and making very strong in the moment decisions with very logical maps. The risk of losing is that you'll have 20bbs at the 100/200 phase which will force you to go away from your strength.

If you call and have to lay down the best hand on the flop, you have a sweet stack. Folding is a missed oppurtunity to take someone out and build your stack while pushing runs a huge risk of losing your dominance and putting someone else in a non-move-in stack for the next level.

if there are no overcards after a move like that you beat him into the pot

Originally Posted by phoenixdan5

after that flop i couldnt laydown

Originally Posted by Av8tor009

if there are no overcards after a move like that you beat him into the pot

I agree that that you have to call, but these are the most bullshit reasons I can think of. IT'S NOT ABOUT THE CARDS, PEOPLE!!!

Why would he push knowing that you'll bet if he checks? To steal the pot. Classic AK/AQ/KQ/underpair move from a shorty Villian. You have to call. If I'm wrong and you're wrong if you called, you can afford to be so. He can't afford to be wrong, making this more of a "Please fold. I need the chips." move.

I would make him risk his tourney pre-flop, he's short-stacked and will either be timid and fold, or willing to gamble.

Why risk an Ace, King, Quuen hitting and being moved off the flop by someone with 77???

I hate the flat call here because it screams mid pair to him, well it does to me in my experience anyway. If you had AK you would re-raise, you'd be an odd duck to flat call with AQ as well. your call says 99, tt, JJ. so it's like giving someone with a smaller pair 12 additional bluff outs with A, K, Q.

Even if his hand reading is bad, 50% of the time an overcard flops and he is practically pushing every pot post-flop. You are leaving yourself a difficult decision post-flop instead of taking an easy one pre-flop.

I don't think you have much fold equity post-flop. any normal player is pushing any flop if you call, he's not check-folding. And if he is a check-folder he will fold to your pre-flop re-raise. So, why bother letting him catch on the flop?

Originally Posted by Steve-O

I would make him risk his tourney pre-flop, he's short-stacked and will either be timid and fold, or willing to gamble...

I don't think you have much fold equity post-flop. any normal player is pushing any flop if you call, he's not check-folding. And if he is a check-folder he will fold to your pre-flop re-raise. So, why bother letting him catch on the flop?

This is your typical midwest/heartland of America tourney, not an East Coast Big House Shark Tank. There's no folding equity preflop here. This is a Michigan weekly thing. When they raise PF, they're not folding to any re-raises just like a micro-lo online thing.

He'd get cute with a hand that beats Jacks and check to an aggressor like TA. This is a fear bet on this flop. He has little fear with Queens or TT in the hole so I say underpair or AK. The PF call invited this tell.

I agree with Steve here.
Flat calling will get yourself facing a tough decision post flop 90% of the time.

I push, trying to isolate the SS, and if I'm wrong and he has AA KK QQ, I still have 38 BB in front of me to play poker.

KJ