[DoubleDeuce]

This is partly inspired by jojo's thread about the latest CT tourney.

This one is a $5 SNG earlier in the week.

Saw Flop | Saw Turn | Saw River | Saw Showdown | Won
PokerStars Game #4214239083: Tournament #20944949, Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2006/03/08 - 00:41:17 (ET)
Table '20944949 1' Seat #8 is the button
BB - t5325
UTG - t1270
HERO - t5195
SB - t1710
PREFLOP undefined
HERO is Button with J J
1 fold, HERO raises t400 to t600
1 fold, BB raises t1200 to t1800


What to do here?

This may look a little obvious right here but it will lead to a later question.

Background on the BB...he has been pretty reckless. He has bluffed with 27 and shown the bluff (maybe he's a CT member?). Another time he has called a shortstack all-in with T4s even though the pot odds were marginal. He's been aggressive raising preflop..twice I've had AQ vs him in the blinds and cold called. One I missed the flop and check-folded, another time I hit the Ace and bet it out and he folded.

Normally I avoid confrontations with another big stack in this type of situation but JJ is a strong hand 4-handed. Still its not that strong in the face of a reraise. I wanted action from the SB not the other big stack. So fold, call, or push?

[Vitesse304]

cold call.

See a flop, and make an informed decision as to push all in or fold on the flop. Based on what you said, he could re-raise with a middle pocket pair or AK/AQ/AJ

[Fins]

Push... w/ cold calling your seeing overs like 45% of the time and it's a crappy way to drop almost 1/3 of your stack. Much easier given your read.

[SpeakEasy]

Push, based on his prior play. Fin said it first -- if you just call, A, K or Q on the flop and you freeze up if he bets out. And this is the type of player to just bet any flop.

[DoubleDeuce]

Interesting...I thought there would be more suggestions to fold. I had a read that the guy was reckless but he hadn't reraised anyone preflop since early in the game. So I felt he had some type of hand...but what exactly?

Do I want to get in a race situation in this point of the tourney? Would my decision be easier or harder if the shortstacks were even lower? Say $600 a piece instead of $1500?

Still waiting for a couple of more responses before posting the results.

[Fins]

Originally Posted by DoubleDeuce

Interesting...I thought there would be more suggestions to fold. I had a read that the guy was reckless but he hadn't reraised anyone preflop since early in the game. So I felt he had some type of hand...but what exactly?

He could easily be putting you on a steal and/or protecting his blinds.

Your 2:1 on against any pair, any broadway and racing against TT+, AJo+ & ATs+.

Throw in the chance he folds when he knows you're for real and you have your case for pushing... put him to the test... bubble agresssion!

The problem here is the SS's are one dbl up from being able to put a serious hurt on you... so calling is the worst option IMO.


It's a $5 sng so I'm almost pushing regardless of SS size though maybe reconsider it they were both in the dead zone... I'm trying myself to loose this mentality though

FWIW...
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 65.3475 % 64.80% 00.55% { JdJh }
Hand 2: 34.6525 % 34.10% 00.55% { 22+, ATs+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, ATo+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo }


equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 50.5928 % 49.62% 00.97% { JdJh }
Hand 2: 49.4072 % 48.43% 00.97% { TT+, ATs+, AJo+ }

[coyote]

Easy push. No other option is really that close.

You were 2nd to act 4 handed, your raise could easily be a steal attempt. As others said, a reraise from a reckless opponent in this situation doesn't hold much weight.

[DoubleDeuce]

Well here is the conclusion:

I thought he had some type of hand but I wasn't sure of what. He might have thought I was on a blind steal and was just making a play. If I did push, all it takes is one overcard to bust me out on the bubble. AA, KK, QQ crossed my mind but I thought he would min reraise me in that situation. So I felt at worse I was a slight favorite in a race against 2 overcards.

I did not like a cold call in any event. He was aggressive enough to bluff at anything and would be 1st to act postflop.

I also thought his inexperiencing was showing...getting involved with the other big stack while on the bubble. Perhaps he didn't fully realize that if I pushed then his tournament stake would be in jeapordy as well. He had me covered by only $130. Also if he was paying attention I had shown good cards all night when I had raised except for one time. I also hadn't pushed all-in all game. So I decided to push, show that I was serious, and let him decide...


HERO raises t3395 to t5195, BB calls t3395
.
FLOP t10490 (2 players)
3 5 T
TURN t10490 (2 players)
3 5 T T
RIVER t10490 (2 players)
3 5 T T 9
Final Pot: t10490
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BB: shows [9s 9h] (a full house, Nines full of Tens)
HERO: shows [Jh Jc] (two pair, Jacks and Tens)
BB collected 10490 from pot


And I busted out. I'm sure the shortstacks rejoiced. Anyways aside from this particular outcome would've you have played it differently if say this was a satelite with 3 tickets to a bigger event? What if the shortstacks were smaller?

[JM]

Why only a 2x raise PF? Should have been more with JJ in my opinion. Only 2x more makes a pretty easy call for the BB with a whole range of cards especially 4 handed. I would have gone with a total of 4x-5x PF.

[DoubleDeuce]

Actually the raise was 3xBB. Which was pretty much the standard preflop raise that would force a fold at this table. Also I didn't mind if the SB saw me on a steal attempt and came over the top. BB was a different story.