In the money big blind defense. $30+3 Party

Algasm · #1 03-09-2005, 01:57 AM

I'd been moved to this table about 10 hands earlier. The villian in this hand was at my previous table where we hadn't really gotten much play because of a staller but I hadn't really stolen much and I'd showed down pockets 10s to take out a short stack.
The villain had been playing fairly tight. I was thinking back to Gavin's post about defending his BB about 95% of the time versus a min raise. And as I was thinking that I could get the tightie to fold to a stop and goish play.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t1500 (9 handed) converter

saw flop|saw showdown

MP1 (t18610)
MP2 (t8860)
MP3 (t17349)
CO (t7873)
Button (t17145)
SB (t14044)
Hero (t19127)
UTG (t14709)
UTG+1 (t24292)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 2[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
5 folds, CO raises to t3200, 2 folds, Hero calls t1700.

Flop: (t7150) 6[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero bets t3000,

Should I have just put him all in instead of betting about 3/7 the pot. I thought this would be scarier then putting him all in but now I'm thinking I should have just let it go preflop because he has to feel that he's pot committed. I'd appreciate any thoughts.

B Mando · #2 03-09-2005, 03:01 AM

I think you should fold preflop. If the guy already put almost half his stack in the pot preflop I doubt he is folding on the flop. I think this is especially true once everyone is in the money. Since you did call though I would just put him all in on the flop. You really need to fold preflop with a BB of 1500 though. Commiting 1700 of your 19000 stack with A2 isnt a good play. GL

Algasm · #3 03-09-2005, 04:12 PM

What would be the minimum stack size of the preflop raiser for you to consider defending your blind with a stop and go? 15x the BB?

schwza · #4 03-09-2005, 04:19 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Should I have just put him all in instead of betting about 3/7 the pot. I thought this would be scarier then putting him all in but now I'm thinking I should have just let it go preflop because he has to feel that he's pot committed.

[/ QUOTE ]

your bet size on the flop shouldn't matter - you'd only leave him with 1400 if he called. the question is whether you should play at all pre-flop (you shouldn't).

Algasm · #5 03-09-2005, 04:35 PM

I don't normally defend with this hand preflop. This was probably my first blind defense in an hour and a half. I guess I got caught up after tripling my stack over the previous 20 hands and started thinking I'm the best player in the world. I do think blind defense is the weak portion of my game because I usually don't defend, even to minraises which is basically what this was. But I should have realized that he was pot committed and if I actually had a hand I would have put him in preflop. Or I would have checked to him and let him bet all his chips. Ah the MTT growing pains.

tiger7210 · #6 03-09-2005, 04:49 PM

Unless your read on villain is very weak/tight you need to fold this PF. You need to see villain put 1/2 his chips in PF so you can expect the other 1/2 to go on on the flop. Considering you have ~12BB after posting, do you really want to play almost 1/2 your stack on an A2. The only hand you beat here is K high. Against any 2 random cards you're only a 60/40 favorite and a 3-1 dog to any Ace or any pair. Just doesn't seem like a good spot in my opinion considering you're really not desparate here.

schwza · #7 03-09-2005, 05:00 PM

[ QUOTE ]
do think blind defense is the weak portion of my game because I usually don't defend, even to minraises which is basically what this was.

[/ QUOTE ]

disagree... this is basically a (short-stack) push.

Algasm · #8 03-09-2005, 06:04 PM

I do agree that he has to feel pot committed. I wished he had just pushed preflop. The crazy thing was it took the villain a minute and a half to come to the conclusion that all his chips needed to go into the pot. Is it better late in these tournaments to just wait until you can open a pot then to try and defend with a very marginal holding?