Level 4, what hands do you push in this position?

[suited_ace]

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (7 handed) converter

Button (t965)
Hero (t1105)
BB (t575)
UTG (t655)
MP1 (t3910)
MP2 (t315)
CO (t475)

Preflop: Hero is SB with ????.
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">MP1 raises to t200</font>, <font color="#666666">3 folds</font>.

What I want to know is what are your hand requirements to go over the top here. MP1 is the big stack, but as far as we know hasn't been bullying.

[Nottom]

The minraise worries me, but I'd say JJ+ and AK.

[gumpzilla]

Off the top of my head, 99+, AQ+.

There are so many shorties, and you don't have a sense that the big stack is bullying. Consequently, I'm not sure how much folding equity I have here and I'd like to have a pretty substantial hand to risk it. Against a big stack who has been getting frisky, though, I think I'll make this play with a very wide range because I expect him to fold to my raise much more often.

[Maulik]

if he's been raising all the time, I'd push any two here. if he's selective with his hands 99-AA is good, maybe AJ+

[SuitedSixes]

[ QUOTE ]
if he's been raising all the time, I'd push any two here. if he's selective with his hands 99-AA is good, maybe AJ+

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AJ?

This is bad advice. You are not at a point where you need to be flipping coins against overcards or pocket pairs.

Before every hand, you need to ask yourself what your primary goal needs to be. The answer at this stage of the game is "Survival, allowing others to thin the field."

"Going over the top" looks great on TV, but it is also a sure way to invite added variance into your game. You don't need this pot, you don't need the 50t that you just contributed in the SB.

The minraiser is letting you know he has a hand that he likes. At the $11s going over the top is nothing more than a challenge. He will call just to see what you have.

You are not going to win the tournament on this hand, but you may lose it. I would go over the top with AA, KK, QQ, although better players would argue against KK and QQ.

There is nothing wrong with a call.

[Bigwig]

Why do mini-raises scare everybody so much? Sure, sometimes they're disguising a monster. However, it most often means a slightly weaker range of hands than an opening raise.

I'm coming over the top with AA-99, AK-AJ. I may drop the bottom end of those ranges with a strong read on the big stack. But I'll usually do this with a MP miniraise and I think it's good advice.

[Scuba Chuck]

OK, let's restart this commentary. What are the facts to consider here?

1) There is a superbig stack who is mini-raising. How often is he doing this? Mathematically at least, this is a very profitable situation for him. Raising 200 to steal 150. Furthermore, against 4 of the other stacks, if he is reraised, the pot odds favor a call.

2) Hero is the 2nd biggest stack (not by much over the remaining field). Hero's stack also represents less than 1/3 of bigstacks total chips. A reraise (especially if done more than once) risks being called.

3) Big stack is doing hero a favor. He is exerting constant pressure on all the other small stacks. At the same time, he will become a force to reckon with (assuming he maintains his position) later on. Therefore, hero must also accumulate chips during the middle phase.

OK, IMO, big stack likely will fold 85-90% of the time to a reraise from hero, if he has been mini-raising frequently. So you can apply those probabilities to your hand selection. That's why AJ seems okay, and sometimes any two cards. If you reraise a second time, you better have the goods. AK, JJ+.

If this is bigstacks first foray into the blind steal opportunities, I'd let him have the chips, and only reraise with my standard reraise hands.

[SuitedSixes]

What are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to get him to fold a hand that he only kind of likes? If only this would happen frequently enough for it to be successful.

If the monkeys would play correctly, I agree. However, at the lower buy-ins, there are plenty of players who think it is perfectly acceptable to try and trap with a "strong" hand like 77 or A4s with a min-raise, all of which you can be ahead of pre-flop, but I think that the accepted line around here is to pass up small edges early.

When you are 2nd in chips at this stage of the tournament there is no reason to push small edges.

[Bigwig]

[ QUOTE ]
What are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to get him to fold a hand that he only kind of likes? If only this would happen frequently enough for it to be successful.

If the monkeys would play correctly, I agree. However, at the lower buy-ins, there are plenty of players who think it is perfectly acceptable to try and trap with a "strong" hand like 77 or A4s with a min-raise, all of which you can be ahead of pre-flop, but I think that the accepted line around here is to pass up small edges early.

When you are 2nd in chips at this stage of the tournament there is no reason to push small edges.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, maybe I shouldn't give advice for the low buy-ins. I don't play them.

[johnnybeef]

[ QUOTE ]
What I want to know is what are your hand requirements to go over the top here

[/ QUOTE ]

there is no need to get in a pissing match with a big stack at this level when you are 2nd in chips. id come over top with jj+, ak.