Mini-Raise blind steal, I\'m SB with AKo...
 

What's the correct way to go forward with this hand?

100/200 blinds, 60 players left, top 15 get paid (Qualifier, 1-12 get into the main tourney, 13-15 cash)

I'm SB with AKo and about 7000 before posting.
Action folds to the unremarkable button who min-raises to 400 with about 5000 behind.

Smooth-call? Raise it up to, say 1200? Jam?

While I realize this is probably a retardedly easy question, i'm just getting into MTTs, as I find them a lot of fun. Any help on my what thought processes going into the action would be appreciated.

-d

Re: Mini-Raise blind steal, I\'m SB with AKo...
 

First question I would consider is:
What has the button been doing in similar situations in the past? Is 2xBB his standard steal?

The type of hand I would put your opponent on in this spot is above average - he is not stealing with garbage. He went 2xBB because he doesn't want to give anyone a free play but he also wants to get action. I think he has a medium pair here a large amount of the time (something like 77-TT).

He also may have garbage and wanted to steal cheap. Has there been a lot of steals lately and if so what has been the common price?

Anyways, having gone through all of that I would raise him again and make it about 1200 to go. This gives me the initiative, defines his hand a little better, and gets some money in the pot when I think I have a decent chance of winning (the iniative helps me here). It's also enough to put the fear into your opponent for his whole stack without risking much of your own stack.

Re: Mini-Raise blind steal, I\'m SB with AKo...
 

I hadn't had my blind stolen from this opponent yet, and hadn't seen much action from him at all. (I was moved to this table about 2 orbits previous to this hand, 1 big stack 3 or 4 spots to my left had been raising/calling a lot of hands, so there wasn't much in the way of precedent.)

-d

Re: Mini-Raise blind steal, I\'m SB with AKo...
 

I too am new, and have become a serious student of the game. Harrington's book on No limit, tourney play is excellent, and he covers this. AK is a raise at virtually every position, unless there are maybe a couple of raise/reraises in front, and even then, you play. In this case, last postion on the blind, fold all the way around, he would suggest likely 5X BB, or pot size. Pot size here is the two blinds, $300 plus his $400. Pot is $700, and 5X BB is $1000. He is on short stack, so it looks like he needs to be careful. Remember, your objective is to MAXIMIZE your chips. If he is 5000 behind, he only has about 1600 after his 400 raise, so if you go $700, he may call, which is good. If you go 1K, he may scare down and you forfeit his call. I thik I would go $800 and see what action you get. If you catch the flop, you are laughing. It sounds like he might have a 99-QQ, as I don't think he is slowplaying. He needs and wants chips to stay alive. If you don't hit the flop, see what he does. That's my take, and I'm curious about other replies, and if anyone has the chance, I would appreicate comments on my reply to this question.
By the way, what did you do, and what was the result?

Re: Mini-Raise blind steal, I\'m SB with AKo...
 

This is far from a retardedly easy question. I think the two real options you have are raise to 1200 or smooth call. There are pros and cons to each. The real pro to smooth calling is that if button has an ace or a king and flops top pair, there is a good chance you will stack him. The big cons are that the BB will be priced in to see a flop and if you miss the flop you may be in a spot where you call or fold incorrectly. With raising, play of the hand really only gets tricky if you get called. If you get reraised you have an easy push, but if you get called and whiff on the flop you may end up spewing some chips or folding incorrectly.

I tend to raise here most of the time, but I think you need to smooth call some, too. Raising is typically better mainly because you want to elliminate post flop decisions and the fact that you will be OOP post flop means your decisions will generally be harder.

Re: Mini-Raise blind steal, I\'m SB with AKo...
 

Fnord, your posts are excellent. Thanks.

Once in a while they exactly parallel my thinking...then I know I'm getting somewhere. ( Insert smiley face here).

Re: Mini-Raise blind steal, I\'m SB with AKo...
 

I'd put him all in, it'll look like a resteal and he will probably call with any half decent hand and will fold a steal. You don't mind taking the pot then and there and you don't mind being called by anything other than AA KK.

Re: Mini-Raise blind steal, I\'m SB with AKo...
 

I lack subtlety.

Re: Mini-Raise blind steal, I\'m SB with AKo...
 

I would be afraid of that raise, if the player who did it was a reasonable agressive players. Its exactly the type of play I would make with a hand like TT-AA (cant give free card, but want callers).

If he was on a steal, he is much to cheap, so unless he is a bad player I think we could rule that out. A 2BB raise gives the BB positive EV with just about any 2 cards, unless the raiser has a monster.

I would smooth call here, see the flop and then check-fold (or call if its cheap) unless I hit it. Sounds weak, I know, but thats what I would do. If an A of K hit on flop, I would go for a check raise, and then it will be really hard for him to put me on AK.

The key here is the small raise. Unless the player who makes that raise is very weak, I think we can rule out blind stealing and a hand like A2-AK. Most likely is a medium-high PP.

I think this is one of these rare cases where a raise is much worse than a call. Since you are the blind, and he probably suspects that you suspects that he is on a steal, he wont put you on a good hand and will probably call with a medium PP. And you do not want that (or atleast I would not, I prefer to have better EV than that).

But then again, he could be a weak player with AJ, in which case you should reraise [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]