SnG conundrum

[Iconoclastic]

$2 SnG on Prima

5 left, top 3 pay.

I have medium stack. Blinds are approximately 1/9 of my stack. I have JJ in SB. Blind steals have been occurring quite often, at least 1/3 of the time preflop. BB, who was also a medium stack and had roughly the same number of chips as me, and who had played like a maniac all game, raises minimum. All fold to me.

Do you:

A) Call, but not getting any more information about opponent's hand, and thus still not be comfortable with undercards on flop. The raise was approximately 1/8 of my stack, which would make it neutralEV from the flopping a set perspective.

B) Reraise minimum, but still not getting that much information as I'm up against a Maniac, and I might still be up against at best overcards even if he reraises me again or calls. And I would be in 4th position out of 5 if I had to fold to a reraise and lose about a third of my stack, which makes reraising the minimum not seem so good.

C) Fold

D) Push

[renodoc]

My gut response is to push, but if he's really a maniac, maybe you get him to push after you reraise the min and then you call him. He's going to push with a range of hands that you are most likely ahead of, and doubling up here will put you in a much better position to place in the money.

If he flat calls, you can push on the flop ????

[lastchance]

You = <10x BB
Villain = Maniac
Correct Play = D, easy

[housenuts]

i'm confused. /images/graemlins/confused.gif

all folded to you, and BB raised minimum??

does this mean you simply completed, and then he raised the min?

i think you gotta push first chance you get.

[Phill S]

yeah im confused at the exact order here.

some clarity please.

fwiw, if you simply completed then he raises you, go all in, however you shudda done it from the SB anyway (unless it was a trap, in which case you already know what you want to do here).

if he is a maniac like you say, he is likely to raise all in when you complete as a pure steal, and no matter how far ahead you are preflop, you should not seek a run-off between you and a simply worse player. taking the initiative is the key, its easier to fold than to call all in. given A2, someone completes the SB to your BB, you go all in to take it off the 'chump'. so with JJ, he has 5 cards to hit 3 outs. your fave, but weirder things can happen...

you get lucky he doesnt commit himself, but you cant do anything fancy (stop and go is a possible, but hes a maniac and if he hits, same bad run-off situation), just tank it preflop.

note, based on assumption that order of play is all fold to you in sb, you complete, he min-raises. other orders may effect answer

Phill