[grandgnu]

Situation: I used to host home games, but stopped in September. One of my players bought up some of my supplies and hosted it in the town over today. Just a small group of 6 of us were invited for his first event, but he'll expand it to others in the future.

$50 buy-in and start with 3,000 in chips. I have taken an early chip lead and I'm running over the table. I'm making great reads on my opponents, taking pots away from them, making them think I'm bluffing when I've got the nuts and vice versa.

Early on a player raises on the button with pocket 10's. I'm in the small blind and push with pocket Aces. Unfortunately had I known the BB had pocket Queens, I would've played differently and tried to get them both to come along for the ride. But my push was meant to make them believe I had a hand I didn't want to see a flop with, and the 10's called and I eliminated him.

Anyway, on to the hand in question. 2+2er in my experience is a TAG player who is difficult to get reads on and plays well. I used to be TAG, but have recently switched to LAG and play a lot more tricky and my reads have become quite strong post-flop.

We are now 5-handed and I raise in EP with K [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 9 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

Antes are 50 and blinds are 150/300. It's the 2+2ers big blind and he's short-stacked. Folded to him, and he pushes all-in for an additional 850 chips. Here's how it all adds up:

Antes=250
Blinds=450
My Raise=900
His Push: 1,750

TOTAL POT: 3,350

I have to call 850 chips to win 3,350, almost 4 to 1 on my money! I make the obvious call and he flips over 8 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 9 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

I guess he was getting desperate, maybe he was thinking that his cards were clean and he could 60/40 against me? He's usually good with the math, so he must've known I couldn't fold getting those odds, and he should've known that his hand would need to catch to beat me.

Whatever the case, the flop was 7/8/9 and he lucked out and his hand held up and he went on to finish 2nd. I'm still beffudled by his play. I'm not sure if he was just hoping to get lucky, or forgot to calculate the odds, but it was certainly a strange play from someone who I used to believe was a stronger player than myself (my game has improved significantly recently, and I believe I've come at least close to being as strong a player as he is, perhaps even surpassing him a bit)

So, what does everyone else think? He can fold and still be short-stacked, but wait for a better spot where maybe he can steal with a push or get heads-up with a better holding. Maybe he figured he could get heads-up with clean outs (not knowing he was dominated by my hand)?