Okay fold 3-handed?

[River2Pair]

Button was aggressive, but not too wacko. I really had a tough time putting him on a hand here. He didn't need a pair to make this bet, but I felt it would be better to wait until its heads-up to make this gamble.


Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t300 (3 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Button (t4160)
Hero (t2925)
BB (t915)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, Q/images/graemlins/club.gif.
<font color="CC3333">Button raises to t900</font>, Hero folds, BB folds.

Final Pot: t1350

Results in white below: <font color="white">
No showdown. Button wins t1350. </font>

[Jason Strasser]

Yikes.

In my book, against the ranges of hands that could be making this raise from the button at this time, I would say this fold is bad. If I was the button, there would be a large range of hands I was raising, AQ would be at the upper top of this range.

I definitely push over the top all-in here. Absolutely no question about it. Why?

1) You can't call. It's the worst play out of all three choices.
2) You have tons of folding equity. He is not getting a superb price on his call, and he will fold a lot of the time here.
3) The third stack isn't that small. Quite frankly, the argument that you must wait it out comes into mind as being very weak. 900 chips is plenty to stay around with. I'm sure everyone here has had 900 chips or less 3-handed and come back to win many times.

I go all-in. This is not an okay fold in my book.

-Jason

[River2Pair]

Yeah, I suspected as much, I just couldn't pull the trigger here. I was playing tight, 22% flops seen after a total of 81 hands, 21 of which were HU.

So I think if I push here, the only four hands that have me in serious trouble are the only ones that call me.

[Jason Strasser]

Well, if you push, and he will fold all hands except four, this raise has to have incredible EV. I would be much more scared to push against a player who will call with any 2, as AQ is never really a huge favorite against a random hand.

-Jason

BTW--I expect many more hands than just AA KK QQ and AK to call here. A lot more.

[jac394]

[ QUOTE ]
I definitely push over the top all-in here. Absolutely no question about it.
-Jason

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with Jason on this one. One of my standard thoughts on Single tables SNG's is once you are in the top three, play aggressive to try and get (or increase) the chip lead. 2nd does pay a little more than third, but 1st is where the cash is at. If you give yourself the best chance to win the tourney and still finish third, that's OK.

[willie]

yeah i'd have to say i don't like the fold.

you're 3 handed, that makes the range of hands he's raising with here- basically huge.

you have a monster and muck it, and i don't quite understand why.

1st or 3rd is basically my rule of thumb, i'm not about to go out whimpering sitting tight like a rock 3 handed. make a play, attempt to double through and go for 1st where the money is at. you can't picture a scenario where the big stack is raising with a hand you have totally dominated? a5-aj suited, kq, jq? you're 3 handed here.

definitely all in over the top.

[chill888]

For me the key point is fold equity. As Jason pointed out, there is a very good chance he will fold to a raise -- and if he doesn't you still have pretty good hand.

However, say your chip stack was only double his raise, then I think this changes everything as he is just about pot committed. Then it is much more player dependent, and the happiest player at the table is the one not involved in the pot.

Don't misunderstand, a push would still be correct very often but i think it is a closer call.

[River2Pair]

I know this is a slightly different situation, but its funny that AQo came up again 3-handed about a day later.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t300 (3 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

SB (t4290)
Hero (t1530)
Button (t2180)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A/images/graemlins/heart.gif, Q/images/graemlins/diamond.gif.
Button folds, <font color="CC3333">SB raises to t600</font>, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises to t1530 (All-In)</font>, SB folds.

Final Pot: t2130

Results in white below: <font color="white">
No showdown. Hero wins t2130. </font>