Giving your hand away to induce a fold (Limit)

[poindexter]

Thanks all for replying

If the game were NL I would agree that going all in with the best hand is always the right play. However, its limit and I am on the bubble against a stack that can cripple me without the all-in weapon to make him fold. My stats say I am much better then my opponents especially short handed so I don’t need a huge pot to place. I am 90% sure the other player has no business being in the pot with me. This play may be unethical but I have a hard time seeing it being -ev.

[ilya]

I think there are a few situations *in an SnG* when giving away your hand before the flop is the correct play.

For example:

it's 6-handed, and the blinds are at 100/200. You have 800 chips and pick up AA in the cutoff. UTG, another short stack, goes all-in for 500. MP, a big stack with 2500 chips, flat calls. You raise all-in. The button, small blind, and big blind all fold. The pot now has 2100 in it, and it's 300 more to the big stack. You will be a big stack if you win this hand whether MP calls or not, and the extra $300 won't add enough to your $EV to compensate for the higher risk of busting. Nor will it damage MP's position enough to cripple him.
So, if MP starts thinking instead of immediately calling, I think it's correct to announce that you have AA.
Yes, he should almost certainly call anyway...but you never can tell.

[poboy]

[ QUOTE ]
I am 90% sure the other player has no business being in the pot with me. This play may be unethical but I have a hard time seeing it being -ev.

[/ QUOTE ]

You are 90% sure you have the best hand, and you can't see how you would be losing EV by him folding. This seems pretty obvious to me.

[HajiShirazu]

In limit, if you hold a pair and your opponent has an overcard to your pair, you would always rather take his blind than have to win the pot in a showdown. So in this way, maybe giving your hand away would be useful, if it were ethical.