Steal victim with 11 left in 180-man Stars MTT
 

11 left in 180-man Stars MTT. Table is 6-handed. I'm in the lower tier of stack sizes. Villan is a tight player who has stolen before, but I haven't ever seen him make a raise of this size before. Whats your move?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t1600 (6 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

Hero (t16761)
UTG (t24045)
MP (t24649)
CO (t12906)
Button (t15951)
SB (t25500)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Button raises to t8000</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, Hero ?

Re: Steal victim with 11 left in 180-man Stars MTT
 

Come back over the top. The bigger reraise in a low buy in screams, I'm stealing this and I don't want you to call. In higher limits, the "he thinks I'm doing this, then that, then this" mentality hits and he could be fooling you. I push.

Re: Steal victim with 11 left in 180-man Stars MTT
 

I wouldn't read too much into the bet size, plenty of bad players in low buy-ins make that raise with AK because they hate playing it after the flop. Or, maybe the button has read HOH and he has AA. But I push because A9s is a monster 6-handed and the raise is coming from the button.

Re: Steal victim with 11 left in 180-man Stars MTT
 

Alot of times when I see a massive raise like this preflop in a lower buy in tourny, it is a mid pocket pair and the raiser is scared of overcards flopping. I think alot of times you will be against 66-88.

Re: Steal victim with 11 left in 180-man Stars MTT
 

I would push all-in. The overbet is possibly a bluff. If not, you are short stacked and need to gamble and double up anyway.

Re: Steal victim with 11 left in 180-man Stars MTT
 

Depends on what the stacks look like on the other table. Holding on for 9th improves your return 40%; 8th improves you 117%. Also, if some of those stacks at the other table are below 11,000, then Button, if he has junk, has incentive to keep his steal to 3x so he can fold to a push. If those lower stacks exist and Button commits nonetheless by pushing half his stack, then his holdings tend toward non-junk and therefore I fold.

Re: Steal victim with 11 left in 180-man Stars MTT
 

I'd stop and go here, but I'm stop and go happy.

Edit: Just looked at button's stack and I like it even more because there's no way he's folding preflop, but I think you have pretty decent FE on a flop push since you cover him.

Re: Steal victim with 11 left in 180-man Stars MTT
 

This is... exactly the hand i went out of dublin with. Button made a huge raise, i had A9, i freaked out and pushed, but i decided afterwards taht stop and go was better.

So, stop and go.

Re: Steal victim with 11 left in 180-man Stars MTT
 

How about, stop and go if you miss, check/push if you hit? This would be easier if I was the one playing since I would have notes on his post flop play. Hmm.

Re: Steal victim with 11 left in 180-man Stars MTT
 

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How about, stop and go if you miss, check/push if you hit?

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Good point. I agree.