Borgata Poker Open $500 Limit event...bubble question

[Mike Gallo]

Hi everyone,

I played in yesterday's $500 buy in limit event at the Borgata.

I encounted the following scenario. We had gotten down to 28 players and after the next player became eliminated we made the money. 27-20 paid 1621 19-8 paid 2200 First prize paid $62,000. I had T7500 chips left. One player at my table had T2500 and one table had two players with stacks under T1000. Average stack is about T30000.

Everyone folds to me in the SB and I look down and see two red Queens. Should I raise or should I fold. The player in the big blind Rob, plays the $100-$200 game at the Taj and plays well. I'm pretty certain he's a "pro". I do not know if he will fold if I raise, because he has about T23000 chips and he defends his blinds often. He does respect my play.

Do I fold and gamble I will make the money, or raise and go for the gusto and gamble that I will make the money and do it with some ammo?

[BobboFitos]

Everyone folds to me in the SB and I look down and see two red Queens. Should I raise or should I fold. The player in the big blind Rob, plays the $100-$200 game at the Taj and plays well. I'm pretty certain he's a "pro". I do not know if he will fold if I raise, because he has about T23000 chips and he defends his blinds often. He does respect my play.

Do I fold and gamble I will make the money, or raise and go for the gusto and gamble that I will make the money and do it with some ammo?

I think it's way too weak to fold QQ in the SB, no matter how much you respect your opponent's skill.
Blinds are ???

If you raise and he defends and it comes a truly horrible flop, like A /images/graemlins/spade.gif K /images/graemlins/spade.gif 5 /images/graemlins/spade.gif , then no shame in folding and waiting for those 1000 stacks to bust, but if you want any chance of top 2 tables / final table no way do you fold this here, ever.

[fnurt]

Well, frankly, this is a pretty flat payout structure. There's not very much difference between 27th and 8th, and 27th is 3x the buyin after all.

But QQ with only one player left to act is just too good. I can't imagine folding here. On a closer decision, I could see trying to fold your way into the money, something I normally advise against.

[Mike Gallo]

On a closer decision, I could see trying to fold your way into the money, something I normally advise against.

I tend to agree. I want to play like how I got there in the first place. Solid aggressive poker.

[betgo]

Raise and don't play the hand like you are scared of busting out. A pro with a big stack may try to take advantage of that. If he reraises preflop, definately cap. I wouldn't fold this hand, but if overcards flop, I would check/call, unless you would be allin anyway. If the BB calls, there is no reason to think he has an ace or king. I don't know what the blinds are, but it doesn't effect the analysis too much. I assume that they are big enough to bust you out without a lot of raises.

[Mike Gallo]

If you raise and he defends and it comes a truly horrible flop, like A K 5 , then no shame in folding and waiting for those 1000 stacks to bust, but if you want any chance of top 2 tables / final table no way do you fold this here, ever.

What if the flop comes 7 2 5. Do I bet out again?

[Mike Gallo]

I had enough to bet the flop and turn if I raised and he called me down.

[BobboFitos]

If you raise and he defends and it comes a truly horrible flop, like A K 5 , then no shame in folding and waiting for those 1000 stacks to bust, but if you want any chance of top 2 tables / final table no way do you fold this here, ever.

What if the flop comes 7 2 5. Do I bet out again?

You made it this far in a competitive tournament and you are asking ask me this question. I really dont know if you're asking as though you want a true answer, or an ill-timed sarcastic comment. Of course you bet again. What are you afraid of? KK? AA? set? Please do tell me if you meant this in earnest. You have the best hand VERY often here, shove it down that player's throat.

[Mike Gallo]

I meant to say, I have to commit all of my chips to the rest of the hand.

I will explain later.

[Mike Gallo]

I forgot to give the blinds and limits.

We had T500 and T1500 blinds with T1500 -T3000 limits.

So without much hesitation I raised. Rob called

Flop came all rags 7 2 5

I bet he called, another brick hit the turn and I bet all in. He called and I laughed and said, I hope you cant beat Queens. A King came on the river and I lost to KQ.

After the hand Rob told me I should have folded every hand but Aces. Once I made the money, then I could play some hands.

I did not care about making the money as I did about winning the money. I felt with T 7500 chips, I couldnt do much, but with T15000 I would climb right back to the pack. The avg stack had about T23000.

[Mike Gallo]

If you raise and he defends and it comes a truly horrible flop, like A K 5 , then no shame in folding and waiting for those 1000 stacks to bust, but if you want any chance of top 2 tables / final table no way do you fold this here, ever.

I had the perfect hand for my flop offsuit rags.

I bet and he still called /images/graemlins/confused.gif

Blinds were T500-T1500 limits T1500-T3000

[BobboFitos]

I did not care about making the money as I did about winning the money. I felt with T 7500 chips, I couldnt do much, but with T15000 I would climb right back to the pack. The avg stack had about T23000.

Then you made the right play. Had he not outdrawn you would you still have posed the same question?

I think with a small PP you can ask yourself "is it worth busting out here," and fold before conflict, but QQ is too strong to muck.

In addition, if he said you should've only played AA, and him thinking that, what was he doing calling w/ KQ?
In other words, if he felt you should only be playing AA in order to play optimally at this stage in the tournament, what was his justification in chasing to runners?

[Tosh]

Given the description of the stack sizes etc, I think QQ is an easy raise but I would hold back with some other lesser hands that normally I'd play. You got your money in great here and dumb luck prevailed, least you gave yourself a chance to double and go for the real money.

[Punker]

"Rob told me I should have folded every hand but Aces"

I suspect he did not really believe this advice.

As for the hand itself, whether or not to play it cannot be answered by anyone here. Its your call as to how important that bottom prize rung is to you. No other factor comes into consideration. If its critically important, fold. If its not, you have to play.