call or move in?

[jayheaps]

MTT. 40 players left, 27 get paid. blinds 400/800 ante 50.

I have 19K at this point, around 5th overall. There are several short stacks at the table.

I raised to 18000 with Q /images/graemlins/heart.gifJ /images/graemlins/heart.gif in MP. Prior to this hand i have been stealing alot of blinds. I am called by the button who has around 10K after the call.

Flop comes 10 /images/graemlins/heart.gif9 /images/graemlins/heart.gif4 /images/graemlins/club.gif. I check, Button bets 3500.

what do you do?

[aceragclubs]

I assume you mean that you raised to 1800, not 18000. Why did you check the flop? That's a good flop for you, and I would have bet the pot on the flop, hoping to take it down right there. The way you played it, i would probably just check raise all in. You have tons of outs, unless he has the unlikely nut flush draw, and your overcards may even be outs. I think it's best to not play timid when you have the best chance to win the hand.......

[iRoD]

You are obviously moving in here for a few reasons. Firstly, if you just call, the other player may put you on a draw, and a scary turn card may hurt your action. Secondly the check raise all in is of course a semi-bluff as you havent made anything but Q high yet, but if you are check calling all the way down, hit nothing on the turn and the player fires out another pot sized bet (about 7000), which you would probably be calling there is no way that you are going to get them off of their hand if you call and hit nothing on the river. Third, you have a strong draw but you should be happy to take it down here just because you could get unlucky and miss. It would be unlucky to miss your draw, but if you check raise all-in, the villain will probably throw away most hands other than a set or an overpair (which is difficult to put them on as JJ-AA would probably reraise PF).

Assume that all YOUR money is going to get in there somehow, so do it when you are most likely a favourite in the hand and the villain isnt pot committed to call your bet.

Remember, your hand is VERY VERY powerful, at this point you are a favourite against any overpair including AA with the A/images/graemlins/heart.gif.

VERY worse case scenario you are up against a set of tens and even then, you are only about a 58% to 42% underdog, but there are a lot of other hands that could be making this bet that you are ahead of.

If you hit nothing on the turn and opponent is holding an overpair or even just a 10, they are now the favorite. So make sure you get your money there as the FAVORITE or at least as close to it as possible.


Pat /images/graemlins/spade.gif

[fnord_too]

Easy push. You are a favorite over any non set hand that does not involve two hearts, one of which is higher than yours. Also, against any hand that is a favorite to yours you are not in horrible shape. Even so, you would like to take down the pot right here, and you should still have a little folding equity (though not a huge amount, since the button is facing a 6500 call for almost 19k. Given his stack size, betting out may have been better here, since a c/r does not have a huge amount of folding equity in this case.

[zaxx19]

I check raise all in against an aggressive opponent. I want all the money in with this monster draw.

[mojorisin24]

Yeah, I instantly come over the top all-in. You gotta like your position with potentially two overcards, a flush draw, and an open-ended straight-flush draw. Even with the bubble approaching, those are the classic situations that are the difference when you win a tournament. /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Synth]

I would have probably led out and bet the flop, however if the button has shown a tendancy to show aggression when he enters a pot then check raising all-in is a great idea and that's what I would have done if I played the hand the same way you did.

[ZootMurph]

I'd have led out with a pot sized bet of about 5k into the 5300 pot (10 players at the table?).

However, since you didn't, and he isn't pot committed yet, your all in reraise could well give you the pot right there. Also, if you call, then a blank flops, what will you do? You really can't check/fold with that draw. If you check, he will almost definitely push, and you'll have to call anyway. And what if the board pairs... that will force you to fold. I think the only reasonable play is to push. There's a chance he will fold, but I'm guessing he either has an overpair or something like AT, giving you a LOT of outs. If he has an underpair, you have 20 outs. If he has a set, you still have a ton of outs if the board doesn't pair. The only thing you really don't want to be up against is AK/images/graemlins/heart.gif. You should be favored against just about anything else.

So push.