[jojobinks]

here's a hand we played at our home game a coupla weeks ago.

early in a 9 player t1000 stt. blinds are 15/30. players range from fishiest ever to reasonable.
utg (jojo): raises to 100
fold to mp (andy) who raises to 200 with AKs
one fold
lp raise to 500
2 callers (button and SB)!
BB folds
jojo folds
andy folds

three to the flop for 500 each.

it's pretty well agreed that andy's raise was poor. he needed to raise bigger, or limp along and then fold to this sort of action.

but he didn't raise big. he made the min-raise. let's pretend we all agree that this is a mistake. i'm interested in hearing what people think about the decision he faces at the end of this pre-flop betting round.

pot is 1730, and it's 300 to call. there are three players. the guy who made the third raise is a reasonable player. the two that called are unknowns.

discuss.

[austin5string]

Without even getting into actual analysis, I have a hard time risking half my stack early in the tourney w/ AK (suited or not). I'd fold.

With three people in for 500, you have to figure that at least one of them is holding an A-something and one of them is holding a pair and the third guy could easily be holding the same.

I don't see a situation where I would be compelled to call that.

[CaptLego]

pot is 1830, and it's 300 more to call with AKs?
Seems like an easy call to me, based on the descriptions of the players. Unless you are sure one of them had AA, you're getting correct odds to call. Knowing that one holds KK, you'd still call.

[PhilTheThrill14]

Easy call. I'm not very happy the way things have gone, but I have to call this.

[Pavel6969]

300 more to call, with the amount in there and holding Ace/King suited, I would be calling, or even if I thought they were all total suckers, pushing all-in (not likely but I might think about it for a minute and would end up just calling most likely).

Yes it is half your stack, but you have one of the premium starting hands, two of the player seem to be fishes, with one guy being decent. See the flop and then fold if you have too. Still have enough chips left to do a lot of damage

[Fins]

Isn't the min raise... to 170?
I don't mind his raise but I wouldn't have.

300 to call... I'd call it most of the time and not be happy about... a little dependent on the players and whether I felt very confident waiting for a better opportunity... all unknowns I'd have to call.

[jojobinks]

Originally Posted by Fins

Isn't the min raise... to 170?

oops. yeah, that's right. in this case, he did raise to 200, though.

[jmda]

Safe play fold - However - he is getting some great odds to call in a multiway pot with suited connectors so the correct play is to call (especially since he already has 200 in and it is only 300 more to call). 300 to win 2130 - 7x your money - a must call. Worst case he is up against AA and KK and has to make a flush or straight to win- (happened to me once all-in with AKo actullay flopped qjx for 4 outs that never came).

If the flop is no help and the betting continues then fold and live to fight another day. I would call in this scenario.

If it were all-in then I would have to think more about it - but for a small home game tournament without a lot of $ on the line I would probably gamble and make the call. If it were the Main Event at WSOP I fold quickly.

[MSPatton]

Against any pair (except AA, KK) you are only a slight fav.
Me, I don't like losing 1/2 (or more) of my stack early on a race.

As I recall A high loses to any pair. I don't call off 1/2 my chips on the come

Disclaimer: In a 10-20 person tourney, I play tight and let the loose players beat each other up. Once it gets to 4-6 people I can shift gears.

[ky70]

I'm sorry to turn the direction here but can someone please explain why his raise is considered too small? To simplify things, lets say his $200 bet was the minimum raise ($100)...is the raise still considered too small if his bet is 1/5th of the average chip stack (assuming chips are still relatively even)?

Looking to plug many holes in my game so I really would like guidance on this because when I saw the starting chips my first thought was I don't see anything wrong with that raise.