Poker Stars 5 table $1 + .20 hand

[bigwavedave]

These tournaments are not as loose as you might suspect, although this table was playing very loose especially MP1 and the BB.

This happened early in the tournament, level one.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t20 (9 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

UTG (t2150)
UTG+1 (t1460)
MP1 (t1990)
MP2 (t1290)
Hero (t1280)
CO (t710)
Button (t1840)
SB (t1480)
BB (t1300)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with Q/images/graemlins/spade.gif, Q/images/graemlins/club.gif.
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, UTG+1 calls t20, MP1 calls t20, MP2 calls t20, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t100</font>, <font color="#CC3333">CO raises to t180</font>, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, BB calls t160, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls t160, MP2 folds, <font color="#CC3333">

Hero ?</font>

I am torn between-

1. Going all in to either win the pot (probably not), or to get heads up. But should I create this much volatility so early in the tounament?

2. Calling, and if no King or Ace flops - going all in. But with three opponents seeing the flop, the chances are greater that I could get a favorable flop, and still be behind.

I'd push.. I usually play the 5 + 0.25 S&amp;G and the play is pretty bad.. I see people push all the time with like pocket 5's

The player you must be concern with is CO. You must asses what are the possible hands he might have and make a decision according to your read on him.
From your read on BB and MP1 as loose players, they probably have mediocre hands. You can't call and give them a chance to catch, especially if they have overcards.
The pot is big enough at this point and you definetly don't want to go into a hand 4-handed and see a scary flop.
Automatic push, it doesn't matter if it's early in the tourney you definetly have BB and MP1 beat and CO has half your stack. If he has AA or KK, well u still have half your stack and maybe BB or MP1 will call you with something like AQs or JJ-TT. This is a great opportunity to double or triple up, take advantage.

I'd push, theres 500 in the pot, and you have about 1200 chips. You likely have the best hand here, and its a good idea to get your chips in when you have the best hand. If CO or calls (which he should since he already put in about 1/4 of his stack) you are ahead most of the time, although aa or kk you are definitely behind, and if one of the others call, if you beat them and lose to CO you'll still have about 1200 chips.

Another option would be to raise to about 400 and see what they think of their hands in while representing a great hand, or call and push on any non ace flop.

I'd probably push here, you got a top tier hand, and in these low buy in's, you are likely to get called by a3o or 44, both which you are very much ahead of.

And if both call and you win, you have chip lead at the table and can take advantage of them.

Worst thing to do here is fold.

I might be a bit conservative here with that much action but I'd raise to 710 to put CO all in. Then you can have a look at the flop(patience), win position against the other 2 (tactics)and still have another barrel(aggression).

I totally disagree. Raising to 710 to put CO all-in is a bad play. At that point you have half your stack in the pot, you might as well put it all in. What do you on flop with an A or K on board of if you get check-raised. You are pot-commited and they probably have you beat at this point.
The read is that BB and MP1 are loose players, they have anything from AK-A2s, JJ-22 or even KQ KJ QJ.
You want to make them pay for calling with a worst hand.

[nuclear500]

Call, push any flop without a King or Ace.

If the min-raiser in the cutoff actually has Aces Or Kings so be it. You can't get away from a 9 high flop.

Your preflop raise was not enough holding this premium, given the number of limpers in front of you.

The choices you list basically say fold no matter how you look at them, theres no other option you've given yourself. You've thought about it too hard and given your opponents too much credit.

Either put half your stack in to indicate you're going to the river, or call &amp; push the low card flop that almost assuredly will come.

Good time for a squeeze play against cutoff.

Wait for the flop, no need to chuck the chips, you may put yourself versus K's or A'

[nath]

I push because you're playing a $1 tournament and it's impossible to put people on hands with any sort of accuracy. I don't want to play QQ fourhanded, and even less against unpredictable people when I'll have to guess if my hand is good almost no matter what the board is.
CO may have AA or KK, or AK and hit. Yeah that would suck, but it's still better to make the move that gives you the best chance of winning the pot. And letting everyone in to see the flop ain't it.