Heads Up, moving all in - massive overbet?

[AndrewB]

Here's a hand from a sit n go that I was recently discussing with a friend. This was a $10+1 on party, blinds were 200/400, down to the final 2, and the stacks were about even at t4000.

Friend was dealt 33 in the SB. He goes all in.

My position is that if the guy calls, at best he is a small favorite in a coinflip and at worst he is a huge dog.
His position is that he doesn't want to see a flop and the blinds are big enough to try an all-in steal.

The BB calls with A6 and spikes an Ace on the river to win the hand.

If the cards were reversed, and he had A6 in the SB he says he would have pushed with that too.

He's a very aggressive player, especially when it gets to heads up. His style has been working for him so far but I think he is risking too many chips with less than premium hands.

For the record, my move with 33 would have been a 3x BB raise. With A6 I would have completed and called a small raise.

[eastbay]

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For the record, my move with 33 would have been a 3x BB raise. With A6 I would have completed and called a small raise.

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When I raised you all-in, what would you do?

eastbay

[AndrewB]

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When I raised you all-in, what would you do?
eastbay

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It depends /images/graemlins/cool.gif.

I would almost certainly fold the A6. The 33 is a more difficult decision and would depend on my read of the player. The tougher the player, the more likely I would be to call.

[jedi]

I think folding equity + pot equity is too great to not consider pushing all-in here with less than 10xBB. Even though if he gets called at all (even by something as weak as 54), he'll be coinflip at best, the gap concept should be in play here. I'm a little surprised the other guy called with A6, but again, the blinds are up there.

[rjb03]

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For the record, my move with 33 would have been a 3x BB raise. With A6 I would have completed and called a small raise.

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What flop are you looking for with 33? Surely you're not playing for set value and if you're looking for a fold an all in will accomplish that much more often. If the BB does anything else but fold you might as well just give your chips away. If you're afraid to bet preflop what are you going to do in terms of betting on the flop when there are more cards out there that could make you less of a favorite even though you have position? Limping with A6 is weak. You need to be more aggressive heads up with stacks this shallow. If you're going to call a raise you might as well raise yourself.

[betgo]

I agree with the aggressive player. I would push with either 33 or A6. With 33, it is about 22-1 you don't have a higher pair. You might not necessarily call with 55 or 44, and he doesn't always lose against the higher pair. He gains a lot more with all the blinds he picks up. If he is called by wo overcards, he has the advantage plus pot odds. I can't think of any more profitable way to play 33. The same goes for A6.

When the blinds get that high, I will often play all hands push or fold, particularly if I am the shorter stack, the other stack is very short stacked, or I have a tricky opponent. It is pretty standard in a full ring game to play all hands push or fold when you have 10xBB or less. Why not the same heads up?

[AndrewB]

Ok, I have seen the light. Pushing is definitely the right move for 33 and probably for A6.

The ever quickening blinds are one of the reasons I moved away from party poker and over to pokerstars. After playing tight most of the game, I had trouble throwing all of my chips in on hands I wouldn't normally play.

I'm still working on my gear switching, and my 2:1 2nd to 1st ratio with my tiny SnG data set leads me to believe I play too passively heads up.

[poboy]

This is very dependant on your opponent's playing style. If he is too tight, as in he won't call an all-in w/o a premium hand, moving in with any pocket pair or any Ace is often the right play. Your opponent will very rarely have premium cards ,allowing you to steal his blind and even when he does you will sometimes draw out. On the other hand if your opponent is very loose I don't like pushing with tiny pairs or small Aces. You lose the chance of stealing his blind, which is really all you want with these hands. Against an opponent who is kind of in the middle of the loose tight scale ,I like to min-raise with these hands and bet big if it looks like the flop missed him.