NLHE Frequent Occurance (Resteals)

[Glenn]

Later stages of a NL Tourey online. about 40/160 remaining. 20 places pay with the usual structure. Blinds are 100-200. You have about 1800 which is a short stack. The average stack is 4000. You open raise on the button to 600. The BB raises all in. He has you well covered with his above average stack. He is a decent player with a reasonable amount of aggressiveness (that is, not a maniac and not weak or passive).

What do you need to call?

[sdplayerb]

I would have just pushed in since you are basically pot committed.
But had I done this, i would call with any pair.
A8 or above.
KT or above.
You are getting better than 2-1 and in trouble anyway with only 6x the BB.

So I would have just pushed in.

[Glenn]

Hi sd-

I think it is borderline between raising all in preflop and raising with 33% of your stack but for this question i probably should have made your stack a little bigger. What % do you think the cutoff should be, and what would be your answer to the original question if your stack was just big enough to attempt a non-all-in raise?

Thanks.

[Eric P]

IF you raised to 600, are we assuming that the blinds are 100-200? Unless you have to pay antes (which i can't think of any online site that you do) You have tons and tons of time, and while there are some hands that you can do this with and not call the raise, you really have a long time you can wait for a premium hand. I understand it was a button steal, but i say fold unless you hae a good chance of winning.

[sdplayerb]

ok. let's say you had 2400. in that case i really wouldn't go for a steal unless the players were really tight. but i would raise (semi steal) with any A, obviously any pair (in which case i would call his reraise since it is more likely he has Ax then a stronger pair) and KQ-KT.

then call with pair, AJ-AK and probably ATs (if antes then AT), KQ (you are behind but have the odds as likely has two live cards and maybe two overcards).

you could even try with suited connectors then call since you are only about a 4-3 dog against two over cards, so have odds on your remaining chips. but in that case i may have raised more preflop to show you are allin and committ yourself.

there is a pretty good article on pokerpages right now about shortstacks

[Greg (FossilMan)]

Any two.

1200 to win 2500. 2:1+

While there are hands that you should fold, these are also hands with which you should've passed on the steal attempt.

Exception: super-tight big blind. If he's very tight, then you can make the initial raise with any two, because he will fold so often. And, you can safely fold almost all of them to the reraise, because you know he's got a very strong hand.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

[cferejohn]

[ QUOTE ]
Unless you have to pay antes (which i can't think of any online site that you do) You have tons and tons of time

[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/confused.gif Pokerstars uses antes, and that's pretty much the biggest tournament site.

Agree with the 'all-in or fold preflop' sentiment here.