How to Resteal

I've recently begun to feel as though I am not taking advantage of the Gap concept by re-raising often enough late in a tourney. So, I've been trying to find spots to try this out. Here, it ended up getting me into trouble. Did I play this badly?

It's from a 20+2 Party tourney, getting close to the money but not yet what I would call the bubble. I haven't been at the table real long, but I've gathered that Villain is one of the more aggressive players here.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t300 (9 handed) converter

UTG+1 (t8610)
MP1 (t9386)
MP2 (t2160)
MP3 (t15056)
Hero (t10260)
Button (t3365)
SB (t11640)
BB (t5558)
UTG (t4674)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">4 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">MP3 raises to t1200</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t3000</font>, <font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, MP3 calls t1800.

Flop: (t6450) 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">MP3 bets t5000</font>, Hero folds.

Final Pot: t11450

[Degen]

a re-steal would involve pushing here probably, though w/ AQo, i'd look at this more like raising w/ what is likely the best hand

a re-steal for me is usually from the blinds and would look more like this:


Hero in SB w/ t15000
Villian on Button w/ t12000
Blinds 250-500

Folds to villian, villain raises to t1500
Hero has t14750 after posting SB and 7 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

Hero pushes. Villain folds. Hero completes a successful re-steal.



Or, even more fun.


Hero pushes, Villain calls like a retard and flips over K [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] and cries as he see's the flop of

6 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 5 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]


because he knows his cowboys have just been destroyed by the ever-so-clever 'i only re-steal w/ good suckout hands' hero

turn 2 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] river 8 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

villain: "unreal"

[steelcmg]

[ QUOTE ]
a re-steal would involve pushing here probably, though w/ AQo, i'd look at this more like raising w/ what is likely the best hand

a re-steal for me is usually from the blinds and would look more like this:


Hero in SB w/ t15000
Villian on Button w/ t12000
Blinds 250-500

Folds to villian, villain raises to t1500
Hero has t14750 after posting SB and 7 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

Hero pushes. Villain folds. Hero completes a successful re-steal.



Or, even more fun.


Hero pushes, Villain calls like a retard and flips over K [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] and cries as he see's the flop of

6 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 5 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]


because he knows his cowboys have just been destroyed by the ever-so-clever 'i only re-steal w/ good suckout hands' hero

turn 2 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] river 8 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

villain: "unreal"

[/ QUOTE ]

this must be from experience?

[Degen]

hehe

Personally, I wouldn't call Villains move a steal, since he's in middle position. I would probably see it as a legitamate raise with a good hand, unless he's super-aggressive in which case it's hard to put him on a hand.

If he was on the button with everyone folded to him, then I think it's much more likely it's just a steal with any hand, and would probably push with AQ.

[ QUOTE ]
Did I play this badly?

[/ QUOTE ]

You said you were close to the money. How close? 5 spots? 10 spots? More? Less?

Also, what was the purpose of the re-raise? To steal? To isolate the MP player? For value to get more money in the pot?

Your opponent has the biggest stack at the table. Did his play give you any indication that he was using the stack to push people around? Or was he always making what appeared to be fairly legitimate plays?

IMHO, a bet of this size (4x BB) is sometimes indicative of a medium strength hand, like bigger overcards or medium pairs.

For what its worth, I do not agree with the re-raise, and I have to give serious consideration to folding. IMHO, of your three possible decisions, number one was to fold, number two was to call and number three was to re-raise.

After a raise by the table chip leader, the value of your hand has gone down by a lot. There are still several people yet to act. If a short stacked players to your left has any kind of hand, there is a good chance they will go all in, seeing a decent opportunity to double or triple. If there is another raise to your left, then you are bent over the barrel with your heinie up in the air. Do you really want to be in this situation with what is really a marginal strength hand at that point?

IMHO, it's worth seeing a flop in this case only if you can do it cheaply. You are getting 16-12 (4-3) from the pot. What are the ranges of hands that would be good for the opponent to hold in this case (any smaller Ace or pair less that TT, or KQs/KJs)? What are the ranges of hands that would be bad for the opponent to hold in this case (AA, KK, QQ, AK)?

So if the opponent does hold something like 99 or TT or something similar, which is reasonably likely, then possibly the cold call is ok (if you are confident of only more calls and no re-raises).

However, I don't usually like to be put to a decision for all of my marbles when I don't have the best of it. This is a position that you could have potentially been facing here. It's not something you want very close to the money.

I think the flop fold is a no-brainer.

[zambonidrivr]

I'd rather call the raise, then put in a big bet after the flop after he bets 1/2 pot. i think that is much more effective

[kuro]

That's not a resteal. You've got a hand that is likely ahead of villain's hand if he's loose.

A resteal is coming over the top of the villain with a hand that's not a reraising hand like a suited connector or a small pair or a trash hand because your read is that villain has to fold preflop or to your continuation bet on the flop a really high percentage of the time because he's on a steal with a weak hand or because you know he wants to avoid tangling with you because of your stack size relative to his.

[gobboboy]

This isn't a resteal at all. For one, you're not even in the blind or even on the button. This is just a normal hand where the action takes place in late position. Your hand IS better than his preflop, so you can push if you like. Either that or call and see a flop. If you make a reraise, make it bigger.

[grandgnu]

I think your fold is fine. I don't mind a call pre-flop, since you have position and risk being pushed off your hand if Villian is on something like 10/10 or J/J and opts to push against your re-raise.

But, I don't mind a re-raise pre-flop, which might buy you a free card on the flop.