JJ in BB

[JGalt]

Playing a NL Holdem multi on PP 20+2, 1200 players+/-. I can't remember the blinds, I think they were 1000-2000. I have about T130 000, UTG has about T65 000. I'm dealt JJ in the BB, UTG comes out with a raise to 23 000. Everyone folds to me. I haven't been on the table long so don't really have a read on him, but I assume he's playing a low to mid pocket pair. Now this is my question, I went all-in. I figure my only choices are to fold or put him to all his chips. Calling is out of the question. He calls and has pocket 9's, I take down a big pot. After I had a player at the table say I had to have big balls to make that move. What are your thoughts on this play?

Thanks in advance

[willie838]

multis are tough in that respect, you get swapped to a table with a bunch of strangers and you have no idea what they have.

i don't see anything wrong with putting the guy in if you have him covered in this scenario. he could be making the play with so many different hands, from ace king down.

don't let some guy rev you up saying you have stones to put somebody all in with jj.....

[VarlosZ]

Absent a read on the guy, I don't know how you can assume he has a low-mid PP. Sure, you might be right, but isn't he just as likely to have something like AQ? In fact, 23K is a very large raise given blinds of 1K/2K. He's almost pot committed with a stack of 65K, and someone who's willing to commit himself to the pot from UTG with a pretty big stack could well have you beat.

Nonetheless, I like the push. Folding is ok, too, but unless he has AA-QQ, you're not in bad shape. It's a good spot to accumulate chips.

[Che]

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Absent a read on the guy, I don't know how you can assume he has a low-mid PP.

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I *assume* that what JGalt means by "assume" is that he feels that low-mid PP is by far the most likely holding for a bet of this nature. I still haven't played many MTT's at Party (and none at $20+2), but my personal assessment of these ridiculous preflop overbets is that they are indeed low-mid PP's at least 90% of the time on Stars - at least in the $10+1 rebuys and the $20/$30 buyin MTT's.

In fact, I have been waiting for quite some time for someone to pull this on me. When it happens, I will call quickly with TT even if the opponent has me covered and with 99 if I have him covered by a mile as in the hand in question (provided no unusual bubble circumstances, reads to the contrary, etc.).

Granted, there's really no way to know what hand would make a player choose to open UTG for 11.5BB (1/3 of his stack!), but the evidence I've seen points almost unanimously to small-mid PP.

FWIW,
Che

[JGalt]

Thanks guys for all your responses, and ches description of my thoughts was on the mark.

Thanks again

I'm very green in the tourney scene and mostly lurking here to learn. Isn't this a situation where the overbet which was really enormous a sign that the bettor does not want to be called?

Just a thought.

[Che]

ID4-

[ QUOTE ]
Isn't this a situation where the overbet which was really enormous a sign that the bettor does not want to be called?

[/ QUOTE ]

Overbets are frequently a sign that a player does not want to be called, but you can't assume they always mean that - except in this case. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

Of all the situations in which overbets occur, these massive preflop open-raises are the easiest to read because they are so predictable. A tricky player could use this to his advantage if he knew you thought the way I do about this, but tricky players are generally too busy min-raising or limping with AA/KK to consider trapping by representing a mid-PP with one of these large overbets IMHO.

Besides, even if the tricky player *knew* you would assume an overbet meant TT-55, he still wouldn't trap by overbetting since you will rarely have a hand that beats a mid-pair. Using a minraise or limp to trap opponents with marginal hands is a much better way to play AA/KK than is making a massive overbet and watching the table fold the blinds to your monster 9 out of 10 times.

(Note: I'm not saying that limping or minraising are the optimal strategies for AA/KK - just that they're probably better strategies than making a massive overbet into an unraised pot preflop.)

Welcome to the MTT forum,
Che