bubble play.

[hhboy77]

this was the situation i found myself in today, and one that i find myself frequently in as well.

4-handed 100+9, blinds at 200/400 on party poker.

co (hero) 2700
button 1100
sb 3600
bb 2600

sb and bb are both typical players on party poker. probably call raises a bit too much, but nothing excessive. button is reasonably solid for party poker.

you have a7, what's your move?
if you fold here, what hands would you need to raise all-in with?

[chill888]

[ QUOTE ]
this was the situation i found myself in today, and one that i find myself frequently in as well.

4-handed 100+9, blinds at 200/400 on party poker.

co (hero) 2700
button 1100
sb 3600
bb 2600

sb and bb are both typical players on party poker. probably call raises a bit too much, but nothing excessive. button is reasonably solid for party poker.

you have a7, what's your move?
if you fold here, what hands would you need to raise all-in with?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well all the supporters of 10xBB (or 1/3) theory would probably say push. For me it's small raise or fold - and fold if reraised by a bigger stack. I'm not putting a healthy chip stack at risk with A7.

[ChrisV]

I would go allin here. If you need a reason other than the fact that you have a pretty good hand, one reason is that you need to head off a steal from the button.

There is a risk of running into a better ace or a high pocket pair - but if you can run this steal successfully, you are basically a lock for the money.

[stripsqueez]

A7o looks marginal to me - if i have recently stolen some blinds or i dont think the blinds will fold to a raise then i fold - otherwise i raise but i dont push

stripsqueez - chickenhawk

[hhboy77]

for the proponents of a small raise, i'm curious as to what that raise would be. would it be 800, 1000, 1200?

the problem i have with a small raise is that any big stack worth his salt will move in on me consistently. i know if i were the sb w/3600 i'd move all in without a second thought, unless the raiser were a total calling station (which i'm hoping is not the case for me)

if you make a standard raise to 1200, you're more or less pot committed if he moves in on you and you open yourself to the possibility of a stop 'n go.

i'm not saying that a small raise is not the right play, but just mentioning some possible counter-arguments. personally, i don't advocate the 10x rule, but i'm pretty close. generally less than 9x, especially shorthanded, my inclination is to move.

however, the move or fold philosophy is one i struggle with all the time so i'm looking for other opinions.

[chill888]

[ QUOTE ]
for the proponents of a small raise, i'm curious as to what that raise would be. would it be 800, 1000, 1200?

the problem i have with a small raise is that any big stack worth his salt will move in on me consistently. i know if i were the sb w/3600 i'd move all in without a second thought, unless the raiser were a total calling station (which i'm hoping is not the case for me)

if you make a standard raise to 1200, you're more or less pot committed if he moves in on you and you open yourself to the possibility of a stop 'n go.

i'm not saying that a small raise is not the right play, but just mentioning some possible counter-arguments. personally, i don't advocate the 10x rule, but i'm pretty close. generally less than 9x, especially shorthanded, my inclination is to move.

however, the move or fold philosophy is one i struggle with all the time so i'm looking for other opinions.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is something we've debated a lot here.

Whether to raise and how much is very game/opponent/image dependent. In many tournies, late game, small raises win an awful lot of hands. However sometimes, a certain opponent will almost always move over the top of token raises. It just plain depends.

My general point is that I really don't want the pivotal hand of this tourney to be with only A7. That's why I would small raise (if conditions were correct) or happily fold and wait for the next hand.

gl