Cheeky or Unethical?

[Poker Jon]

Hey All,

3 Players left in a $20 1 table Sit and Go - Pokerstars.

Blinds at 200/400 a50. BB has T5300, I am in the SB with T8173 and button has T27.

Button folds.

I immediately raise all in with J4o, BB thinks for ages and folds. Is this the correct play in this situation. The button is going to get knocked (probably) on the next hand.

Am I right to raise all in with any cards here?

Is this ethically correct?

If the BB has AA, is it correct for him to fold, knowing that I will raise with any two cards?

Cheers in advance

Jon

[SumZero]

I think this is totally ethical. I took advantage of this situation similar to this when there were 4 left on a pay 3 SNG on UB and the 4th person had just over one orbits worth of blinds and was marked away. So they were going to be out in 6 or 7 hands no matter what. I had over 50% of the chips at the table and bullied the 3rd place person with not great cards. And he (probably correctly) folded A9 suited in the BB to my all in.

But depending on the chips left the person may well call you if it can improve their odds of 1st place money, and thus you may want to be a little careful in the situation you described.

Also how do people end up with 27 chips?

[Kidd_King]

Sure, you have the bullets to do so. I do a lot of running over the pot when I have extra ammo just like that. Maybe not all in though. Just remember, you will get played back at, and lots of the time you will have to muck. Be selective on your hands. You don't want to jepordize your stack and make it harder for yourself heads up.

[Beck]

something with 5 that gets splitted two-ways

[Jason Strasser]

If this was unethical, I'd go to hell.

This is a great play. However, I do think that your opponent *should* call with certain cards. I personally would call with AA-QQ. AKs would be tough, as it is probably not favored by enough over your crap any 2 to call.

Keep doing this. This is winning poker.

Unethical? Bah. It would be unethical not to make some sort of move in this spot.

[MercTec]

Now in this situation, is there any psychological merit to raising the exact amount of the BB rather than just pushing?

[Jason Strasser]

Hrmm.. I don't play that game really. I feel like if sometimes you raise exactly what your opponent has, and sometimes all-in, you may be giving up something to someone who has played a lot of hands with you.

I think as long as you are consistent, it shouldn't matter. I just slide the bar all the way to the right because its easier. I don't think there is any psychological difference between which method--they both accomplish the same thing. But then again, I know little about psychology in general.

[pzhon]

It's not unethical at all to pressure medium stacks on the bubble or later.

It would be unethical to say, "Let's wait for the short stack to bust out." That would be collusion against the short stack. The short stack has the hope you get called by a high pair and suck out.

I had a similar situation on the bubble in which an absent player had less than the BB. A different short stack in the SB raised to 1/3 of his stack! As the chip leader, I pushed in the BB with 66. The SB folded KK, fuming.

If you feel friendly to the second stack for some strange reason, don't push next hand to steal the amount of the SB exceeding 27 chips. The short stack should expect you to do that, perhaps with any two cards, giving the short stack a 50:50 chance to triple up rather than to double up. It's all part of the game. Particularly fun is if you lose to the all-in short stack, and then keep stealing the blinds from the second stack.

Another tactic to use is to make a small raise, then push on the flop. You may lose chips if you are reraised preflop, but your opponent might just call, and then have little chance to flop something good enough to call your push.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Is this ethically correct?

Absolutely. Your #1 responsibility is to do anything within the rules to win. Knowing he'll avoid a confrontation with you because the button is all-in on the next hand and taking advantage of that is sound strategy.

[WC64]

I would do it and not think twice about it.

[UncleDuke]

There's certainly no problem with the ethics of it. Given that the 2nd place stack is not hopelessly far behind you though, I think he should call you if he's got a big hand. The difference between the 1st place prize and the 2nd place prize is 20% of the pool while the difference between 2nd and 3rd is just 10%. This justifies taking some risk of finishing 3rd if it improves his chances of winning.

[woodguy]

If using your chips and position to win is unethical, then all winning poker strategies are unethical and we can follow Jason to hell.

regards,
woodguy

[Stoneii]

LOL Jon - not unethical but you are a cheeky one.

It's totally sound move and it's a must fold for BB unless he has AA-QQ in my opinion (even if you played your J4o face up) as he's only giving up 400 chips and CO will likely die next hand. If u lose u still get 2nd - if he does, how sick is he going to feel - he'll send hate mail for months /images/graemlins/smile.gif

stoneii