Calling an all-in with 83o

[rgschackelford]

I know what some of you are thinking, that someone would be crazy to make the call, so commit me to the nearest mental institution. But, I have reasoning behind it. I was playing a single table satellite, with top two spots paying. I was third stack (with about 800 in front of me), and in the big blind (blinds were 100/200). It folds around to the small blind, who raises all-in for a total of 300. I looked down at my cards and it was 83o. I was about to throw it away, when I started thinking. There is 500 in the pot, and it is 100 to call. Even if he has pocket aces, I'm still only a 4-to-1 underdog. The only hand I'm really in a boatload of trouble, here, would be pocket eights, and even then I'd have to read him almost perfectly for eights to fold it. I knew I was going to call, but I just couldn't bring myself to calling an all in with my hand, as I laughed and said, "I can't believe I'm going to do this!" So, I called, and the other guy turned over KJs. I was still a 3-to-2 dog, but pot odds demanded I make the call. The flop brings blanks, and the turn brings an eight. I couldn't believe it! I hit! The river brought another rag, and sent the other guy storming away from the table, not believing that he had been beaten by an 83o. Honestly, I would have been pissed off, too. I just couldn't believe that that happened. How 'bout that?

Rusty "Milicic" Schackelford

[mcpherzen]

[ QUOTE ]
I know what some of you are thinking, that someone would be crazy to make the call, so commit me to the nearest mental institution.

[/ QUOTE ]

Welcome to the forum. Au contraire...I can fairly safely say that every member of this forum would consider you insane only if you DIDN'T make that call. We've all thought about and discussed such situations at length, however, so congrats to you for figuring out your correct play in real time.

--Zen

[Vetstadium]

Yes as funny as it sounds I feel the right call

[Shanemex]

Here it is the right call, but I wouldn't go crazy calling with hands like this often because the odds you stated in your post are inaccurate. 83o is about a 7-1 dog against pocket pairs 99 and up (and 16-1 against 88). It is also almost a 2.5-1 dog against a hand like KJs.

[Patrick Duffy]

absolutely the right call... theres nothing more annoying to me as an SNG player than when its down to the bubble and the chip leader wont call an all-in pre-flop for 200 more chips when hes already in for 300... it takes a really bad player to fold in your spot... that being said, good hand! =)

[Sam T.]

Ya, good call. You find yourself in the same situation when you are stealing with garbage from smaller stacks:

Nobody wants to finish fourth, so Hero has been stealing the blinds with any two, and built a huge stack. Hero is on the button with T3o, and raises 3BB to t900. SB pushes for an additional t60. BB folds. Hero types, "Whoops" and calls. SB turns over AA. Hero flops two pair, wins the hand, and SB has a fit. (Hero does not say, "Well, if you'd stood up to me sooner, I wouldn't have had such a big stack, and I wouldn't have raised you with crap.")

Good times.

Sam

Note: I know that raising the microstacks with T3o is not often a good play, since they will have to call with any two, but my read on these guys was rock-solid. I honestly think they would have folded anything other than a very good ace or pocket pair.

[mscott2374]

I am constantly getting berated at the tables i play when i make calls like this. I don't say anything, but just think to myself that the players berating me don't understand odds.

Nice call

[Cleveland Guy]

[ QUOTE ]
absolutely the right call... theres nothing more annoying to me as an SNG player than when its down to the bubble and the chip leader wont call an all-in pre-flop for 200 more chips when hes already in for 300... it takes a really bad player to fold in your spot... that being said, good hand! =)

[/ QUOTE ]

It was been well discussed that as a big chip leader here you can fold here to keep the bubble alive, and steal from the mid-stack players.

Not the point of the OP, but just wanted to clarify

[John Hurst]

Welcome to poker and a wonderful thing called pot odds.