Bubble SNG $30 Play, from a usually semi-aggressive player (me)

I'm horrified looking back at this, but bear in mind i've been screwed over countless times more then usual in the past week by situations like this coming up against hands such as AQ and the queen coming/backdoor flush etc....so this is probably my mind just playing tricks on me, and me playing weak to "fold" into the money...poor show
Anyway:

NL Texas Hold'em $30 Buy-in + $3 Entry Fee Trny:14448175 Level:7 Blinds(150/300) - Monday, August 01, 11:08:36 EDT 2005
Table Table 11560 (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 4
Seat 1: Small Stack ( $520 )
Seat 3: Hero ( $1150 )
Seat 7: Medium Stack ( $1430 )
Seat 10: Villian McStack ( $4900 )
Trny:14448175 Level:7
Blinds(150/300)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to KingBenno [ Kd As ]
Villian McStack is all-In [4900]
Small Stack folds.
Hero: grr
Hero: folds.
Medium Stack folds.
Villian McStack does not show cards.
Villian McStack wins 5350 chips

The guy who raised me was pretty aggressive, so i definately should have called? but the medium stack was proving v.easy to steal blinds off, so i thought i'd just continue to raise from sb to steal his blinds, and wait for one to go out.......
Basically, the small stack got lucky twice and so did the medium stack once, and i finished 4th....
But bar that story, is this an auto-call? Theres no doubt, scenarios of the past week influenced my decision, which is something I need to change.....

Cheers

Benno

(on a side note, whats the tool for listing my hand properly? thanks, did a search for hand+coverter, but couldn't find it)

[tigerite]

I call this, shorty is not short enough that you're a guaranteed shoe-in into ITM by any means.

[bluefeet]

yeah, you have to call this. if shortie was UTG, facing the blinds next...MAYBE. but folding into the money is very seldom an option for me. it's not so much a principle thing, as it is from experience -- waiting/hoping/praying for shortie to bust, only to see him double up twice, where you become shortie.

i'm not saying that you call him just because you have hair on your chest either. in light of shortie, my calling standards remain pretty high...AK, JJ+maybe. but if you factor in your obviously strong enough hand, with big stacks (rightfully so) pushing almost any two (shortie doesn't make a dent...and the other two of you "can't possibly call") - you must make this call. knowing regardless of the outcome, it was the right thing to do.

Cheers, I knew the correct answer deep down anyway, just wanted some reassurance, poor played, deserved 4th for that alone......

What would you do with AQ in this situation? think its another auto call just....?
AJ/A10 much harder, laydown I think...

thanks for your time

[bluefeet]

i knew this was coming /images/graemlins/wink.gif

i just recently took a minority stance on calling w/ AQo on the bubble - basically just to point out my general guiding philosophy that given future opportunities, i'd rather be proactive on the bubble than reactive.

thinking about this hand, i don't know if my previously stated calling range here is too tight. if we can remove the lingering doubt about calling because of shortie for a second, and focus only on the hand big-stack is pushing with, i think we can throw AQ (AJ?), maybe PP as low as 99 in the mix.

sucks when he turns over a genuine monster on us, but in these instinces where a large stack has the chip count so completely dominated, i think we are correct in taking advantage of this opportunity - putting all our chips in against a probable random hand.

Cheers bluefeet,
Yah, no doubt the ak was a call now,
Regards AQ i think you are right, the big stack is clevery bullying with a lot of hands to steal as no one wants to go out in 4th, and it worked, as proved here... He prob had any 2 faces, or any ace....

Thanks a lot for you opinion on this one anyway

Ben

[The Yugoslavian]

If the big stack's range here is larger than about:

22+,A2+,KTo+,K8s+,QTs+

Calling is good...

Unless he seems to have no idea the value of a big stack or hasn't been bullying *at all*, this should be a very easy call. I mean, the big stack really can push any two here, frankly, and have it be +EV due to how tight everyone else needs to be and stack positions.

You should also be able to call with like AQ and perhaps 99+....even if you know the villian is pushing any two I wouldn't call with anything worse than ~7+7 and AJs+. And I'm not sure how many players I will be able to actually put on *any two* here.

So yeah, let's say call with 99+ and AQ+ here most of the time if the villian is pretty savvy and pushing at least 50% of hands.

Yugoslav