bubble hand - disconnected player
 

I'm pretty sure I screwed this one up. The BB was disconnected and had been for some time. I essentially had a lock on third. How strong a hand do I need to play here?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t400 (4 handed) converter

UTG (t2045)
Hero (t2055)
SB (t5675)
BB (t225)

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

Paul

Re: bubble hand - disconnected player
 

A lot has to do with how the other players have been playing. If they're super tight, I'd minraise or push. If they've been aggressive or calling a lot, fold and let the other two fight over the disconnected player's blind. If possible, I'd use this disconnected player to bully the other 2 players, but this really depends on what type of player they are.

ss

Re: bubble hand - disconnected player
 

I fold AA here. No matter what 2 cards you have, calling/raising is very -$EV. It might be +EV in terms of chips, but in money it is hugely -EV. The BB will blind out on the next orbit and you have enough chips that once it gets 3 handed, you still have plenty of FE with the big stack. Don't undervalue 3rd. Playing for 1st every time isn't always the correct strategy.

Re: bubble hand - disconnected player
 

I don't know if I'd fold AA, but I certainly should have folded A9s. Instead I raised all-in, SB called with AJo. BB had 86o and hit an eight on the flop. I'm out fourth.

Paul

Re: bubble hand - disconnected player
 

I wouldn't fold AA here, or KK or even QQ. If everyone were playing super tight, then I'd play much weaker hands, but likely with minraises as opposed to pushing.

BTW, I think that the player calling with AJ made a horrible play. Pushing with A9 is MUCH better than calling with AJ. If I had been the big stack, there would only be 3, maybe 4 hands I would've called with.

All this of course depends greatly on how the SB has been playing up to this point. It's truly hard to make a decision without this information.

Re: bubble hand - disconnected player
 

Paul, you didn't post what buyin this is, but put yourself in super big stack's shoes. What do you think he's thinking about (assuming he's a semi-smart player)? The one thing you know for sure is that you cannot mini-raise as you are just feeding chips to him.

This is a very tempting steal/play against short stack hand. I'd be very tempted to push. I hope you took a little time to think this through, before you did so, but I think the best play here is to call or fold. Any raising whatsoever is unwanted danger, IMO.

Re: bubble hand - disconnected player
 

Good point.

Calling, folding, and even pushing are probably better than minraising. Would you even do this is the SB had been extremely passive up to this point?

Re: bubble hand - disconnected player
 

FWIW, I'd call with AJ here if I were big stack, because I'd call with AJ if this were 3 way, and this hand is essentially a 3 way hand. I hope you're able to see this. If you're the big stack, you have to call with AJ here. If you don't, it's a leak.

Back to your point se2schul. If SB had been extremely passive, I might consider other options. By passive, I assume you mean very tight. I guess if I had that read, then the mini-raise comes back into play. But without any strong reads, I think a call here is the best play. Then folding.

Re: bubble hand - disconnected player
 

This was a 109. In retrospect, I think calling is probably the right play. I was multi-tabling, so I may have missed something, but the SB seemed straight forward.

Note that it can't be a steal. The short stack is all-in for less than a BB.

Paul

Re: bubble hand - disconnected player
 

[ QUOTE ]
I fold AA here. No matter what 2 cards you have, calling/raising is very -$EV. It might be +EV in terms of chips, but in money it is hugely -EV. The BB will blind out on the next orbit and you have enough chips that once it gets 3 handed, you still have plenty of FE with the big stack. Don't undervalue 3rd. Playing for 1st every time isn't always the correct strategy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not another attempt to fold AA [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]