Defending an all-in with big cards

[davidross]

2 hands from tonight that I'd like to know if others play the same way I do.

Hand 1) Sat to PCA in Atlantis. 4 seats up for grabs, around 3 tables left. I'm in the BB with AK. BLinds are 50/100 and I have 3500. UTG limps and then SB pushes his last 1300. Push/call or fold? Why?

Hand 2) Empire $100 Happy hour. top 10 paid, 60 left. I have AQ in the SB and 2K in chips. Blinds are 50/100 and EP with 630 left makes it 300 to go. FOlded to me. Push/call fold and why?

[JoshNjuice]

Can you give any info on the reads you have on these players? I think that's the most important information to help determine correct play in both of these scenarios.

1) Has SB been moving in frequently? Is this his first move on your BB? What's your read on UTG? Does his limp say "I have AA and I'm tricky!" or "I'm hoping for a cheap flop." How many chips does UTG have left?

2) Read on EP? Is he trying to bait you with a big hand, or is he leaving himself room in case someone moves in on him? Some players will raise half their stack with middle pocket pairs and then call your re-raise. If you put him on that kind of hand, I think you try to isolate against him.

JoshNjuice

[Exitonly]

1) I push to isolate the SB.. maybe i'm missing something here but hand 1 didnt seem tricky.

2) and i push here again, again i think i must not be thinking on the same level as you..

interested to see what you have to say about these.

[davidross]

I have no player specific reads unfortunately, that would have made my decisions much easier, so I'm going on the "general player" read.

[MLG]

These both seem to me to be trivially easy pushes.

[Kaeser]

1) I'd push to isolate the SB, I put him on a pretty wide range here.

2) It's a little weird that that EP opened for half his stack when he should probably have just pushed if he was going to raise. I'd probably push anyways but that might be a mistake.

[JoshNjuice]

[ QUOTE ]
I have no player specific reads unfortunately, that would have made my decisions much easier, so I'm going on the "general player" read.

[/ QUOTE ]

In that case:

1) Push to isolate against SB (and hope UTG isn't trapping with a monster)
2) Push to isolate against short stack

JoshNjuice

[Exitonly]

glad i wasn't the only one to think so

[davidross]

Well I guess I thought the decisions were tougher than everyone else.

Hand 1, I think the chances are really slim that the all-in has AA or KK, the 2 hands I really dread, so I'd put him on 77-QQ or AK, AQ AJ. Based on that range I think the odds are right so I pushed.

My reall question here is whether or not you automatically take coin flips when you don't really have to. I find so often I build a stack by playing big pots almost always where I'm a big favorite, then I get to acertain point and play a coin flip. Do you automatically take slight edges for large pieces of your stack when you aren't in a desperate chip position?

Hand 2. If the guy who bet half his stack is any good, he has a monster, most guys with 6 BB's are pushing anything, but I guess a lot of average players make the smaller raise anyway. I folded this one, didn't feel like mixing it up, and I got all his chips on the next orbit.

[Lloyd]

Both pretty easy pushes. With the first hand you're pushing to isolate. With the second, same thing. No way you're folding in that spot either pre-flop or on the flop.

[fnurt]

#1 is an easy push in my book. It reminds me of that thread recently where we had a 4-page bloodbath of a discussion. Yeah, you might have a coinflip, but... you might not.

#2 definitely makes me suspicious, but I'm pushing anyway, unless I've been observing the guy and I know that he knows to push all-in with a short stack. Against an unknown player I have to push.