Foolishness or Stuff Happens?

[Augie]

PokerStars, 2 Table Tourney, 25-50 Blinds

I'm in the Big Blind with KsKc (2127T chips). UTG (2135T) makes a baby raise to 100. The Button pushes all-in with 685T.

UTG has been playing somewhat loose, but not criminally so.
The Button would push in many hands at this point. I move all-in (anyone just call?) and the UTG calls with, of course, AdAc.

Foolishness or Stuff Happens? All comments welcome.

[Stew]

OH man, this goes back to the old "how hard is it to lay down Pocket Kings" argument. Certainly can't blame you for calling here. If you have indeed noted the UTG player as somewhat loose, then who can blame you for calling? I personally find KK to be the hardest hand to play. You really don't want to lay it down if you get re-raised all in. Yet, you can't just push in with it pre-flop (unless you are short-stacked) b/c you want to get some value out of it. Then, you typically find yourself against some boob who calls your pre-flop with Ax and spikes the Ace on the flop. I'd rather get AK, b/c I will usually just push all my chips in with it.

[ohkanada]

Baby raises UTG often mean AA but on-line they could just as easily mean 22. Know your player. Make a note on this player and be wary when he baby raises UTG.

I am sure I and most players would have either played it like you or lost it on the flop or when UTG re-raised.

Ken Poklitar

[Myrtle]

Hmmmmm…….this scenario sounds quite familiar, as I was in a similar game on P Stars the other night, and just happened to pick up AA UTG and have exactly what you just described happen.

If it was me, I’ll be happy to share with you my thinking on that hand.

The “looseness” that you perceived in my play was simply my correct playing with an above average run of cards at the time. I don’t believe you saw me turn over any cheese, did you?

My “baby raise” was a 3x BB raise. I will generally make that size raise with a wide range of hands virtually any time I raise early or midway through a tournament. Any observant opponent will pick up on that and therefore will generally find it pretty difficult to put me on a hand.

As you pointed out, the button was pretty loosey goosey, and I had hoped that he (or an earlier position player) would make a move.

In this particular case, it worked out just the way one wants it to. He tried to steal and you were unfortunate enough to find KK.

For what it’s worth, I’ve found myself in your situation a number of times, and given your read on me, I don’t blame you at all for pushing in. Judging the hand in hindsight is unfair to you.

On the other hand, what I sometimes do in that particular situation is to flat call after a short stack has gone allin. I know that the general play is to attempt to isolate the allin, but you ran into the only hand that was better than yours pre-flop. What I’ve tried doing lately before I pull the trigger in that situation is to stop for a second or so and ask myself “Am I willing to take the chance of a flat call to induce the overcall by the EP small raiser, with the intention of pushing allin on the flop?”

If you employ this strategy, you then give the EP player TWO opportunities to fold. The first one is after you flat call the short stack’s allin pre…..the second one would be your allin post flop. The thinking gets deep on this, because you then have to factor in what the EP is likely to do post flop. It also gives you a chance to get away from the hand if an Axx or another threatening board flops. Although laying down KK after you’ve put T685 into the pot sucks, it still leaves you with a decent amount of chips, and in those 1 or 2 table tournaments, at that stage, it’s not a disaster.

As I said, I wouldn’t beat yourself up over the results…….stuff happens.

[Al_Capone_Junior]

Stuff happens. When someone's been playing loose, I generally won't expect them to have AA when they raise UTG. I'd be a lot more afraid if it had been a limp-reraise UTG. The small stack shouldn't scare you either, as potential desperation raises don't have to be respected when you have KK.

al