A9 os in SB....

[PAUL-IN]

WSOP $225 event. i'm chip leader with about T5,500, 10,000 in play, 4 players left. guy to my right is button, blinds are 100-200. he raises to 900, and has about 1500 left. i have A9 offsuit in the small blind, and it looked like a steal maneuver and i raise him all in. he says he's committed and goes all in. would you have called, folded, or done the raise like i did? it would have been a cheap T100 fold instead of risking 1/2 my stack, but i was basing the play on the read.

i HATE A-rag, but i was pretty sure he didn't have much, as he bet a little too strong there to have anything really big. i thought he had KJ, KQ, but defintely no ace. it was just a gut feeling....comments?

[jakoye]

Hey Paul, I don't want to rag on your play too much, but I really don't understand how you can raise that guy all-in when he makes a bet that large. I'm not sure what he's doing raising that amount... more than half his stack, leaving him with only 600 chips to play with on the flop. Maybe that's what made you suspicious. But still, with A9, there's no way I'm calling that big a raise. Why blow your chip lead and double up a guy you now dominate? I'd wait for a better opportunity.

Now with ATs, I might be a little more brave, just because of the extra straight/flush possibilities.

But that's just my two pennies. I'm certainly no expert. What were the results of the hand?

[PAUL-IN]

unexpectedly, he calls, and shakes his head, and shows T4h. i mean, damn, i didn't think he was pot committed here, but i flop trips and busted him.

normally in this situation when someone can take 1/2 of my stack all in, i turbofold A-rag, but here, i just wasn't convinced he had a hand, and that he'd lay down to my reraise. i was just lucky he didn't suck out. he actually had 1500 left AFTER the 900 raise, which makes my play even more questionable, but again, when he raised +4x the BB, it just didn't look right to me. i figured the best he had was 66 or lower. i wasn't putting much value into A9, i was putting value on making a move on him.

question is, how different would the play be if he had only 900 or 800 after the 900 raise? is it an easier reraise because he's got less left to call with? or is it an even clearer fold because he's committed, and he'll never lay the hand down to a reraise? because with only 900 left, i'd be pretty certain that he'd feel committed, making his laydown preflop much less likely. if i made the 900 raise with trash, and got moved all in from the SB, and i had 1500 left, i would NOT feel committed to the hand, whereas if i only had 900 left, i'd kick myself in the groin and have to call.......