SB v BB: facing mini raise from chipleader

[45suited]

Villain had been using his chip lead well. Raising lots of pots, never laying off my blind. How big of a hand do you have to have to play back at him, given the relative chip positions at the table? If I fold, I'm down to t590 after posting the SB next hand, probably facing a button raise from chipleader again. Is pushing here (knowing that you'll be called) reckless? Or is this as good a spot as any to take a stand and get back in the game? Usually I'm patient and avoid raised pots, but if you pretty well know that he's doing this (and will continue doing this) 3 out of 4 hands???

Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 6: HERO ( $890 )
Seat 7: henrien ( $975 )
Seat 3: misteraitch ( $3885 )
Seat 10: bb9691 ( $1160 )
Seat 1: fulltiltmarc ( $1090 )

Blinds(100/200)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to HERO[ Qh Th ]
henrien folds.
bb9691 folds.
fulltiltmarc folds.
misteraitch raises [300].
HERO is all-In [690]
misteraitch calls [490].

[Ixnert]

This does seem like as good a chance as any, and if he's really been raising 3 out of every 4 hands, there's a very good chance you're ahead. Also, doing it now, if you survive and double up you actually have chips to work with and perhaps enough of a stack to scare the chipleader away from beating on you quite so hard, whereas in another round you'll have so little that even if you double up he'll just keep beating on you.

You're the shortest stack, and you're at the worst seat at the table (right after the chipleader). Better to take your shot sooner than later, and better with this hand, which actually has some showdown value, than with whatever you happen to have when you get blinded down so far that a push is mandatory.

[Wes ManTooth]

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You're the shortest stack, and you're at the worst seat at the table (right after the chipleader). Better to take your shot sooner than later, and better with this hand, which actually has some showdown value, than with whatever you happen to have when you get blinded down so far that a push is mandatory.

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the worst seat is right before the chipleader.

but otherwise I think the push was a good play

[Ixnert]

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You're the shortest stack, and you're at the worst seat at the table (right after the chipleader). Better to take your shot sooner than later, and better with this hand, which actually has some showdown value, than with whatever you happen to have when you get blinded down so far that a push is mandatory.

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the worst seat is right before the chipleader.

but otherwise I think the push was a good play

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Not when the chipleader is constantly raising and you're getting short. I'd much rather be in the seat before than the seat after in 45's situation. (You normally want to be after to have more information; that doesn't apply so much when someone is raising nearly every hand. All his raise tells you is that he was dealt two cards.)

[AliasMrJones]

This looks good to me. You're short on chips, need to make a move, have a decent hand and a min-raise always looks weak to me. BUT -- a question I'd have is has he made a habit of doing this? It matters to me whether he's min-raised in the same spot the last orbit or two. Also, another question is whether he always min-raises when he raises (and with what frequency). In other words, is this a standard raise meaning a real hand or does this look like a steal based on his past play? In this case it might not matter because of your stack size and the blinds.

[AliasMrJones]

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[ QUOTE ]
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You're the shortest stack, and you're at the worst seat at the table (right after the chipleader). Better to take your shot sooner than later, and better with this hand, which actually has some showdown value, than with whatever you happen to have when you get blinded down so far that a push is mandatory.

[/ QUOTE ]

the worst seat is right before the chipleader.

but otherwise I think the push was a good play

[/ QUOTE ]

Not when the chipleader is constantly raising and you're getting short. I'd much rather be in the seat before than the seat after in 45's situation. (You normally want to be after to have more information; that doesn't apply so much when someone is raising nearly every hand. All his raise tells you is that he was dealt two cards.)

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Why is his raising any 2 cards a bad thing? Push back with a decent hand. I think it is much more advantage to be pushing into someone who is worried about busting than into the chipleader compared with having to deal with a min-raise every hand from chipleader sitting on his left.

[Ixnert]

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Why is his raising any 2 cards a bad thing? Push back with a decent hand. I think it is much more advantage to be pushing into someone who is worried about busting than into the chipleader compared with having to deal with a min-raise every hand from chipleader sitting on his left.

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Who says you get to push into a small stack? That's the key thing here -- you're not going to get to steal from anywhere but UTG, because bigstack is raising ahead of you a very large percentage of the time (according to OP's read).

If there was any reason to believe Hero would ever get to steal blinds unmolested, yes, of course that would be better, but no such facts are in evidence...

[45suited]

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Who says you get to push into a small stack? That's the key thing here -- you're not going to get to steal from anywhere but UTG, because bigstack is raising ahead of you a very large percentage of the time (according to OP's read).

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That was a key point in my thinking. There's hardly any guarantee that I can do the usual open push with whatever from the SB. Most likely, that ain't happening.

BTW, he was mixing up his raise sizes. But he was raising with close to 3/4 of his hands.

I'm going to guess that even the best players struggle in spots like this? You don't want to get impatient, but then again, if you can make a stand in the best of what will only be a worsening situation, you will actually have a comfortable position. Double up now with possibly the better hand pre-flop, and while you still have enough chips that doubling up means something.

Anyway, chipleader had AJo and won the hand. I think that I made the right play given the circumstances and the information that I had at the time. Just wondering how others think in spots like this.