Hand For Opinion

[Oluwafemi]

4 players

blinds 100/200 25 ante

i'm 2nd in chips with about 3000 after battling back from around 500 with 6 players still left. when entering the pot i have been making tricky raises between 2.5 to 3.5XBB when it got down to 5 players left, usually with at least one to two limpers outside the blinds.

the chipleader is in the SB with around 6K. his problem is he limps too much and does too many mini-raises like he's playing limit holdem [the BB with about 2500 and me have stolen a few pots from him by going over the top all-in].

the SB chipleader had won two key hands against me earlier which i think he may have kept in his mind, both of which he did not get to see:

1. A Ko, i raise in position, he calls, i miss the flop, he bets strong out of postion, i fold.

2. A Ks, i raise out of postion, he calls, i miss the flop but bet about 3/4 of the pot, he reraises, i pause then fold.

to the hand in question: i hold A /images/graemlins/spade.gifA /images/graemlins/heart.gif

i raise to 600, the small stack in CO calls, as does the chipleader in the SB, BB folds.

the flop hits Q /images/graemlins/club.gif4 /images/graemlins/club.gifQ /images/graemlins/heart.gif

with 400 from the blinds and antes, there is now a little over 2K in the pot.

i bet all-in for the rest of my chips 2500, the small stack CO folds, the SB chipleader calls 2500.

i'm assuming he puts me on a steal, he turns over 8 9 offsuit.

comments.

[Elektrik]

You are fortunate that the SB is such an idiot. Of all of your options, I think pushing the flop is the worst. You usually will win the fewest chips when ahead, and lose the most when behind.

You said SB was aggressive, so give him a chance to be aggressive again. Either check raise him, or make a small (500 - 1000) bet on the flop allowing him to come over the top. I personally would prefer the small bet, as he would be the one pushing and I could take all of his chips that way. It is rare you will find a person willing to call you for all of his chips with 9 high.

If someone winds up having a queen, that's poker.

[Oluwafemi]

i would'nt exactly call the SB chipleader aggressive. he limped too much and mini-raised [1XBB] too much when entering the pot. that made him too subsceptible to over the top all-in reraises by me and the BB [2500] where he had to fold with suspect hands. this is one of the reasons i was able to increase my chip count on the way back up from being severly shortstacked.