What's the play here?

[DKNY]

Pokerpages NLHE tourney, top 3 in the money. 5 people left in the tourney. Chip count and seating as follows:

Weak player ~10K
OK not great player ~20K
You ~ 30K
chip leader 2 ~ 90K
Chip leader ~ 100K

Blinds are 1500 - 3000. Forgot how much ante is, 300?

Anyway situation 1.

Pre-flop - chip leader folds. weak moves all-in. folded to you in SB with AJs with chip leader 2 in BB. What's the play here?

Situation # 2, same game. Chip count as follows.

Weak player, ~19K
OK player, ~ 20K
you - 20.2K
chip leader 2 ~90+K
chip leader ~ 90+K

blinds are now 2000-4000, ante? folded to you in SB you have JT with chip leader 2 in BB. What's the play here and why?

[cferejohn]

Sit 1 - When you say weak do you mean he plays too many hands or that he doesn't play enough (i.e. weak-loose or weak-tight). In either case, with the blinds this high, this could easily be the best hand you see before your stack is so small it doesn't matter. I go all-in. Weak is probably going to move in with any ace or any 2 paint cards at this point.

Sit 2 - Tough one. I fold, but I think all-in is justifiable. The big stack is going to call you with anything remotely reasonable, I think, and I think you can find a better all-in hand before the blinds hit you again.

Both tough decisions though. Interested to see how others answer.

[DrShankem]

Situation 1- I think you have to go all in here with the weak player. Although your subsequent situation shows that you doubled the weak guy up so it looks like you took a beat.

Situation 2- I would toss that J T away. Just not that strong of a hand to commit the rest of your stack to against a player who is gonna call you with just about anything.

[Sarge85]

Situation 1 = Call - He needs to make a move and he is, you have a hand to challenge with

Situation 2 = Fold. Chip Leader should/would challenge your chips either way (meaning re-raising if you complete most likely to all-in) if you go all-in he'll call with anything close. Is JT where you want to make your stand? Against the big stack no less....

[cferejohn]

Would you just call Sarge? Seems like that would let the big stack in the BB in pretty cheap, and frankly I'd rather not. With AA or KK maybe, but not with AJs.

[Ector]

Hand one i would reraise all in to get rid of BB and expect to be ahead or coinflip most of the time. He can have any A, 2 big cards or a small pair that will all feel ok to u.

Hand 2 i would move in if i thohught the bb could fold a hand... Most players wouldn´t fold though so maybe u want to fold your hand and wait for a better situation to move all in.

[DKNY]

Hand 1 - I called, BB folded. Weak player turned over 99 and they held up. I put him on either a small pair and hoping for Ax. Coin flip at worse. My thinking was that it was a good chance to knock someone out and increase my lead over 4th place and my chances of moving into 2nd or 1st.

Background on this weak player, he was very very luck to make final table. played some questionable hands and made some bad calls and sucked out. he's not a complete idiot, so I had to give him credit for having a hand.


Hand 2 - I wanted to raise, but raised the size of the pot by accident, which put me all-in and BB called me with Q10 and knocked me out. Looking back, I think should've folded this hand since I still had a slight lead on 4th and 5th place.

thanks for the feedback everyone.

D

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

he's not a complete idiot, so I had to give him credit for having a hand.

FYI - even complete idiots get dealt AA 1/222 hands.

[Sarge85]

Good point - my call was too weak...Move All-in over the top seems more appropiate in situation one. Thanks

[Copernicus]

Sit 2 is an easy fold.

Sit 1 is close between a call and an all-in. I would just call not knowing much about the BB. Most BBs here are playing their cards and not too worried about position relative to the other big stack, as long as his call keeps him within one hand of it. He isnt going to play a drawing hand with the other big stack out of it so I think he folds to 10 just as well as 30 based on a pair or big cards. Just calling gives you an option (or a decision) if he takes you all in.

[pokerlover]

situation 1-Fold. I would try to get my money in on a better situation. If he is a weak player I would prefer not to put my money in a possible coin flip situation if he has an small-medium pair. Let the other guys bust out, the chip leaders have many more chips than you do.

Situation # 2

Tougher decision IMO. if oyu move all in you may be called by as little as a weak ace or K-Q, depending on how they play. I would have to know how the player to my left plays and make my decision off of that.

[Copernicus]

"let the other guys bust out"

I used to believe that statement. Unfortunately, it rarely works that way. It is extremely rare to find anyone playing so poorly that they dont understand he should fold if the other guys are close to blinding out.

There are enough blinds of play left in the 20k stack that you cant afford to sit back with 30 vs 20. Let him pick up a free set of blinds more than you and you are behind. You still have to pick your spots to play, and in this one you are most likely heads up with no worse than a coin flip, and only for an amount that brings you equal with the other small stack if you lose, doubled up on him if you win. I take a shot here. If calling would put me more than a SB behind I would have a harder time deciding.

[fnurt]

Three reasons why it's correct to take a stand in situation 1:

1: The blinds are big, so there's a lot of dead money to go after. Even if you end up in a coin flip situation, the dead money from the blinds gives you significant +EV.

2: Because your opponent is short stacked, there are a lot of Ax hands he'll go all-in with that you have dominated. You need to play hands like AJs to take advantage of this.

3: You have him outchipped by a lot, so his downside is a lot worse than yours. I'd definitely take this shot at busting him out.

In situation 2, having the smaller stack and a miserable heads-up hand, I would just fold.