Blind Raise

[Nukid]

We are down to 15 players in a NLHE tournament that will play off 12. I am the second shortest stack at my 7 handed table with 14,500, with two shorter stacks at the other 8 handed table. Antes are at 1500-3000 with a 500 ante, and the player to my immediate right is chip leader with around 60,000. I am the big blind, everyone folds to him, in the small blind, who pushes all in without looking at his cards. How good a hand do I need to call him? My thoughts were, on one hand, I'm getting 20.5 to 11 on the call which would argue for looseness and he hasn't looked at his cards, but on the other hand, I have a decent shot of making it into the money, and I can wait too more times around the table before I go broke, so maybe I should be waiting for a pretty strong hand. Pot odds won out over caution, and I called with my A9o. Right or wrong call, and how do you balance the good poker play vs. the good tournament play?

[K C]

It's true that you want to be cautious with this situation. You want a hand which will be enough of a favorite over a random hand to make it worth the risk. Often times, players will play this too aggressively and end up incurring more risk than needed. And in terms of your opponents, this is what you're hoping for.

With that said, your chances of winning here are about 60/40 with A9o. You're probably right on the bubble now, and doubling up will put you in the money. Do you feel that your chances of finishing in the money by folding is less than 60%? If so, do it. In this situation this is close to the borderline, the point where your strength of hand makes sense to incur the risk. I'd call here, but I wouldn't go too much below 60% here in the hands I'd call with.

KC
kingcobrapoker.com