short stack 5-handed

[dfscott]

I'd gotten myself into trouble with QQ early and was short-stacked, so I ended up running in this situation:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200, antes t25 (5 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

saw flop

UTG (t2600)
MP (t3715)
Button (t2330)
SB (t4130)
Desperate Hero (t725)

Preflop: Desperate Hero is BB with 4/images/graemlins/club.gif, Q/images/graemlins/club.gif.
UTG calls t200, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, Button calls t200, SB completes, Desperate Hero checks,

Flop: (t800) 3/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 5/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 4/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(4 players)</font>
SB checks, Desperate Hero ??

Should I have pushed pre-flop? Folded? Taken a stab at the pot? Fold?

As you can tell, I have a lot of trouble deciding what to do when I'm short-stacked.

[holeplug]

I would push on the flop. You got a piece which is all you need at this point and one of the bigger stacks may even call you on a draw. By "taking a stab at the pot" I hope you were not thinking of betting since you only have 3.6 BB left excluding the ante; allin or fold mode here.

[dfscott]

Sorry about that -- by "taking a stab" I meant "push," which I did.

SB called and showed TT. The deal was sealed when a T fell on the river. I seem to find myself getting trapped like this a lot. /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[stupidsucker]

I dont think the SB played this well. He was the big stack with a good hand preflop and everyone else was playing it weak.

Your push was good, and you should do it the same way next time too. If the SB would have lead out then you should fold, so I guess you got "trapped" but he didnt exacly have a monster for that board.

[Bmurn]

i have a new question, lets say it goes like this:

PP STT, $10/1, 5 left, hero has 2k

UTG limps, UTG+1 folds, Button limps, hero is at sb with TT and blinds are 100/200. what now?

[SumZero]

push all in

[Bmurn]

sorry i edited it so that it wasnt such an obvious push, i lowered the blinds...

[stupidsucker]

Im gonna push with this 99% of the time, but sometimes I may complete and wait for a favorable flop first.

It all depends on what the other stack sizes are, how soon till the blinds increase, and what small read I may have on the limpers. If I see UTG as a very aggressive player and suddenly he limps bells go off in my head. Granted, this doesnt often happen, but I try to trust my reads when I think someone might be trying to trap me. I am not a total ABC player all of time time... just most of the time because I play 4 ata time.