Steal gone bad
 

Villain has been limping a lot so I figured I could raise it and take it down with the best hand preflop. Do I just give it up on the flop? If he had a hand why wouldn't he go for the check-raise?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (9 handed) converter

Button (t2860)
SB (t5395)
BB (t5395)
UTG (t5505)
UTG+1 (t3520)
MP1 (t1620)
MP2 (t4445)
MP3 (t4875)
Hero (t6425)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, MP2 calls t200, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t800</font>, <font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, MP2 calls t600.

Flop: (t1900) 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Villain Pushes

Final Pot: t1900

Re: Steal gone bad
 

He could simply not be good.

I'd muck it.

Re: Steal gone bad
 

Not everybody limp raises with big pairs. It gives the strength of the hand away pretty quickly. A common play is just to call and trap on the flop.

Who knows what he has. Quite possibly an overpair of some kind. He could be on a draw but that's pretty dangerous to be pushing into the pre-flop raiser. I don't think you have any choice but to fold.

I think your pre-flop play was good. It just didn't work out.

Re: Steal gone bad
 

I'm not sure you can even beat a bluff here - he may be "bluffing" with AJ. He also may have a little pair and does not want to give you a free card - I don't think you can call here

Re: Steal gone bad
 

If he had a very strong hand then he'd go for a check-raise. Problem is he doesn't need a very strong hand to have you beat. He could have put you on big cards and pushed with a small pair, or he could even have a bigger Ace. You're not beating very much. What if he has something like KQ/QJ/JT spades? You're still at even money.

I think you have a pretty trivial fold here. Like the title of this thread says 'steal attempt gone bad'. So give it up when you have the play taken away from you. You still have plenty of chips.

Re: Steal gone bad
 

prolly pocket 9s or 10s and hes scared of overcards, among the other draws. i just fold and move on