couple of hands from big Party multis

[kirisim]

Hand 1: Friday special tournament, midway through the field. Blinds are 75/150, I have 2400. I open raise to 400 with 99 in early position. A big stack calls the my left, the SB calls, he has about 4000. About 1400 in the pot. I have 2000 left. Flop is 278 rainbow. I am first to act. What's my typical play assuming no reads?


Hand 2: Midway through the big Sunday tournament. Blinds are 200/400, I have below-average 2600 chips after posting the 400 BB. A guy with 3000 limps in early pos. I gave him a) a small pair or b) two big cards. Folded to my BB, I have AQo.

I thought he would probably call if I went all in. So I tried playing it like this: I raised 800 more, making it 1200 total. I totally expect the limper to call, and I am planning to go all for my last 1800 on almost any flop. How's this play?

[woodguy]

Hand 1: I push. Some may c/r all in, but I like the push because it can look like missed overcards and get a smaller pair to call. If they have an overpair or set, that sucks, but I can't lay that down as that is the flop you wanted.

Hand 2: Push PF. You probably have best hand now and there is 1000 in the pot right now representing a 38% increase in your stack size, so the pot is big enough to take down right now. You do not have enough chips to get tricky. If you want a call by a worse hand then I would push as it looks more deperate than a raise for 1/2 your stack.

Regards,
Woodguy

[schwza]

hand 1: presumably the SB checked? i bet about 950 and push any turn. the only reason i go 950 instead of pushing is to give a hand like AK a chance to push over the top.

hand 2: push pre-flop. 10x or fewer = push or fold. you don't really want him to call you pre-flop.