Limt Hold' Em

[Actuary]

I am in a limit Hold 'Em tournament with app. 80 players left. I have 1100 which is a small stack and blinds are 50 - 100. I consider myself one of the best players at the tournament. 8 handed table.

I recieve TJs. Three players fold to me and I raise. One Loose caller(LP) and BB calls.

Flop
[T J x] two spades.

BB bets, I raise and LP calls. Then BB reraises and i call, so does LP.

Turn is a spade, BB bets, I call LP raise BB call I call. River is Blank, LP bets BB calls and I go all in. Of course I loose to a flush from LP.

I feel I did a lot of things wrong on that hand but i am not sure.

1) Should I have limped preflop? Reason being that my chances of stealing the blinds were slim and i did not want to create a large pot that i would have to chase all the way.

2) Should I have called on the flop planning to raise turn if no spade came? Again the reason being that since I am one of the best players I would'nt want to put all my eggs in one basket.

Turn and river was difficult since I still had a chance for a house. I would say i probably did ok at least on the turn.

Any thoughts appreciated!

[fnurt]

If you didn't feel you had much chance of stealing the blinds, I wouldn't have raised with this preflop. You have fewer chips than the other players and you need to guard them more dearly. All you're doing by raising is increasing your variance on the hand.

I don't have a problem with your flop play as long as you got the money in with the best of it. However, I wonder if you did. BB's play here looks a lot like a set.

If you had more chips I think this would be a good situation for a laydown on the turn. Given that you only have 600 chips if you fold, it's a harder decision. I think you're probably still supposed to fold but if these players were loose/wild types you might be able to justify calling it down. Against two opponents I think it's too likely you're beat by one and maybe both.

I think you may attach too much significance to being one of the better players. If you're afraid to get your money in with the best of it (especially when short-stacked) then you're giving back whatever advantage you've gained through skill.

[Greg (FossilMan)]

If there was little chance of stealing the blinds, then it was almost certainly a mistake to raise with JT. And, given your stack size, you're probably in a raise-or-fold only situation, so fold.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)