In deep early

[MarkGritter]

2nd hand of a 20-seat $2.20 SNG at Pacific Poker, blinds are 10/20. (One person has busted out already.)

Preflop:
SB: t950 after blind
BB: t980 after blind
UTG: t1000
UTG+1: t980
Hero (MP1): t1000 with A/images/graemlins/spade.gif K/images/graemlins/heart.gif
MP2: t2180
MP3: t1000
CO: t960
Button: t920

UTG limps (t20), UTG+1 folds, Hero raises to t80, MP2 calls (t80), MP3 folds, CO folds, Button calls (t80), SB folds, BB calls (t60), UTG folds.

Flop: T/images/graemlins/spade.gifK/images/graemlins/diamond.gif9/images/graemlins/spade.gif t350 in pot, 4 players.

I have TPTK and a backdoor flush draw, so I figure a pot-sized bet is called for.

BB bets t20, Hero raises to t350, MP2 folds, button folds, BB calls t330.

Turn: J/images/graemlins/club.gif t1050 in pot, 2 players

BB bets t20, Hero calls t20

River: 2/images/graemlins/diamond.gif t1090 in pot, 2 players

BB bets t20, Hero calls t20

Final pot size: t1130

I figured after that call I was beat: maybe TT or 99, or a loose KT call. But our villian doesn't seem eager to pick up the pot here; should I have kept raising?

Should I have put in a larger preflop raise this early to discourage callers? Was my pot-sized bet on the flop too aggressive (or not aggressive enough) given the number of callers I'd gotten, my early postion, and its size in proportion to my stack? If so, what would be an appropriate size?

[lorinda]

I like the line you took.

If I were playing I'd probably raise a touch more preflop and bet slightly smaller on the flop, but nothing really significant.

Raising the turn looks like suicide, as does folding. 500 chips or so is plenty to allow yourself to get back in the game if you lose, and 1600 or so is plenty to win it with if you win.

Note: This does not mean you should be scared to bet the 500 (or whatever it is) you have left in slightly different scenarios, but in this one it looks good.

Lori