Those annoying small pockets

[Newt_Buggs]

two hypothetical situations:
1. 8 handed, level 3 (25/50 blinds), you have 650 chips, it folds to you on the button (both of the blinds have you covered) with 4/images/graemlins/heart.gif4/images/graemlins/diamond.gif. Call/raise/fold?

2. 7 handed, level 4 (50/100 blinds), you have 500 chips before posting in the big blinds, it folds around to the SB, a solid aggressive player who pushes all in. You have 2/images/graemlins/heart.gif2/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, do you call? How large or small would your stack have to be before you changed your mind?

[KingDan]

[ QUOTE ]
two hypothetical situations:
1. 8 handed, level 3 (25/50 blinds), you have 650 chips, it folds to you on the button (both of the blinds have you covered) with 4/images/graemlins/heart.gif4/images/graemlins/diamond.gif. Call/raise/fold?
If the blinds are folding a lot, I'd push. Generally fold.

2. 7 handed, level 4 (50/100 blinds), you have 500 chips before posting in the big blinds, it folds around to the SB, a solid aggressive player who pushes all in. You have 2/images/graemlins/heart.gif2/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, do you call? How large or small would your stack have to be before you changed your mind?

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I'd call this. Odds of him having a pocket pair, assuming a random hand are 17:1 (I think?). Over 20% of your stack is in the flop, and you most likely have a coinflip.

[ChipLeaderer]

1. just call. you could have to put in 25% or more of your stack if you want to steal the blinds, so just call and hope to flop a set or establish their relative strength post flop and go from there.

2. Push. You dont have much left just 4xBB. Hope for a coin flop.

[ononimo]

[ QUOTE ]
two hypothetical situations:
1. 8 handed, level 3 (25/50 blinds), you have 650 chips, it folds to you on the button (both of the blinds have you covered) with 4/images/graemlins/heart.gif4/images/graemlins/diamond.gif. Call/raise/fold?

2. 7 handed, level 4 (50/100 blinds), you have 500 chips before posting in the big blinds, it folds around to the SB, a solid aggressive player who pushes all in. You have 2/images/graemlins/heart.gif2/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, do you call? How large or small would your stack have to be before you changed your mind?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm probably in the wrong on one or both of these and playing too tight but:

1) I think calling is the worst move here - I'd prefer a fold here or an all-in raise if you are determined to steal. With a small pair like 44, odds are that all you're going to see on the flop are overcards and then what will you do if the blinds bet into you? What will you do if you bet the flop and get called. I'd wait for a better spot - you've got time.

2) Another fold. 22 is a coin flip at best so why coin-flip against someone you read as solid? Even though you are severely short stacked, I'd rather push with 22 than call with it. Wait for an uncontested hand or at least a hand where you can push first and have folding equity - even if it's a random hand.

EDIT: on #2, i didn't realize you were already in the big blind - in that case, i'd push here and hope you get lucky. folding leaves you with too few chips (350-400) to have much folding equity (500 was probably just borderline).

[bluefeet]

personally, i'd always choose to be the aggressor. #1 is an easy push IMO. YOU are dictating the likely +side of a coin toss. obviously, you'll be facing over cards with a call, but more importantly you've put them on the decision. i'm not sure what 'covered' means exactly as far as chip count, but baring a big stack, T650 stlil requires a better than random hand to call (8 left, probabaly not a big stack).

#2 is tough. unfortunately you just ran out of time to wait for a better hand. after the small blind passes, you'll only have 350 left. still a decent amount to push into SB/BB, but the big problem is it's unlikely you'll have the chance to get HU with someone. any limper/raiser acting in front of you will surely call. the kind of hand that can withstand 2-3 others checking down doesn't come around that often. call here and keep your fingers crossed!

[Bigwig]

1. I will usually call. If, however, I'm dealing with big stacks who will use their chips against me preflop, I'll raise. But often, you'll get to see a flop.

2. Call. At this point with this stack you cannot wait for a significant edge. You're getting about 2-1 with a hand that's better than 2-1 (probably about 9-11) against raisers range of hands. That's good enough.

[Dan Mezick]

44 on the button:
Can't take a raise from SB and BB, (both have you covered) so call. Fold if raised. See the flop and "no set no bet".

Another option is push all in I dont like it. You are gambling and do not have to play this hand with 650 in chips and 25/50 blinds.

22 on the big blind:
Not enough info to answer. Did not provide the SB stack size. Only if I had 2X or 3X the all-in SB stack could I call. If not then wait for a better spot to gamble.

[Newt_Buggs]

1. calling and playing for a set is not a profitable play. You will only flop a set 1/8 times, and you won't always win when you do flop one. with 13 BB, 1/8 is not enough since you definitly wont be getting someone to put all of their chips in the middle with you. Plugging this hand into eastbay's program yields a marginally small edge with average players and gets a little better when they're tight. I don't think the variance involved with a push is worth it unless the players are very tight. Any $33 players want to venture what you would expect to be called with here when pushing with no reads if both blinds have 1,000 chips?

2. I think bluefeet brought up a very good point that I didn't considered. With the table 7 handed if you fold theres a good chance in the next couple of hands you will have people acting before you and blocking you from steeling.

The general consensus on hand 2 seems to be to call. How many chips would you need before you fold? Just 600? 700? I'm assuming no one is calling this with 800, but maybe I'm wrong. Assume that the SB has more chips than you.