[rwanger]

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You don't get good hands like this all the time so you must extract much more money out of them.


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I agree with this line of reasoning. If you have a huge stack, and you're up against another huge stack, then maybe you don't want to "sucker" in your lone opponent with anything less than the nuts. But in all of these examples, you have a medium to small stack. You can't just be happy to flop a straight or top trips and walk away with the same amount of chips you would have won on a hand where you were steal raising.

You should be trying to double up on both 1 and 2. How many hands will the final table last? 50? You are not going to be getting better hands to double up with. So why not throw them a little rope and take the risk that they might outdraw you? If you DON'T take that risk, realize that you are going to be playing a coinflip for ALL OF YOUR chips in the very near future.

Hand 3, if you must, limp only if you are sure he won't raise, otherwise fold or push. You're around 10x. As it was played, you needed to bet more on the flop, probably enough that you'd be committed to calling a raise anyway. HIGHLY unlikely he has you beat with this flop, and you don't want to see more cards, so just push.