Was the fold correct?

[Cleveland Guy]

Getting towards the later stages of an MTT.

171 Entered, about 55 left or son. I am second in chips in the SB.

3rd in Chips is on the button. I have about 25K, he has about 21K. Blinds are 200/400.

Folded to the button who calls. I have 2 Black J's and raise to 1,000. Button moves all in. I fold.

[Tosh]

Raise more preflop and certainly fold.

[Shorty35]

I would have called, but I'm not the expert that some who patrol these boards are; and I have more "gamble" in me than perhaps I should -- I would take the chance to be in dominant chip position. I think it's also very dependent upon your read of the button (has he been aggressive so far?).

I figure that the button put you on a knee jerk raise to protect your blind; and that he had a "real hand" that merited a reraise, particularly in this context. That his raise is all-in is fishy, and I think it screams middle pair.

[Shorty35]

I agree that a larger raise preflop is a good idea.

[adanthar]

[ QUOTE ]
II figure that the button put you on a knee jerk raise to protect your blind; and that he had a "real hand" that merited a reraise, particularly in this context. That his raise is all-in is fishy, and I think it screams middle pair.

[/ QUOTE ]
Doesn't matter. You still can't call this.

It's not that you're gambling, it's that you're gambling against the only threat at the table when you can pick off the stacks to your left at will. Calling with 50 BB left in a tournament with a normal payout structure is a mistake even if he shows you AK.

On the off chance he has a middle pair, more power to him; he's overaggressive enough that you can probably double through later.

[Shorty35]

you're undoubtedly right.

And I still can't get it out of my DNA to call when presented with an excellent chance to get all of his chips (as opposed to my fair share, which I would probably capture over time).

Impetuous youth over wisdom.

[Che]

[ QUOTE ]
That his raise is all-in is fishy, and I think it screams middle pair.

[/ QUOTE ]

I see this a lot with middle pairs, but the villain always has AK when I'm the one making the call (and he always hits [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]).

Nonetheless, I frequently call these ridiculous raises with QQ/JJ (as well as AA, KK, AK) if I am still a long way from accumulating a final table chip stack.

But really, folding JJ to a big reraise is probably never all that bad...

Later,
Che

[Cleveland Guy]

I'm glad my fold was correct, I was pretty sure it was a smart move for myself [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] (GO ME!!)

Lets just play a little what if. What would it take to call his all in? Could I do it with QQ? how about KK? AA is an easy Yes. I'm thinking yes with KK too, and probably not with QQ.

Also - what stack size would be the maximum you'd call with JJ? If he had half my stack, or around 12K chips, is that still to much? Once it's down to about 8K - I'd say easy call.