$33 ITM Situation

[downtown]

ITM, $33. 250/500 blinds, table is aggro.

Total number of players : 3
Seat 8: silkyness (1870)
Seat 9: Hero (3210)
Seat 10: luminhua (2920)
silkyness posts small blind (250)
Hero posts big blind (500)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ Ah, 9h ]
luminhua raises (2920) to 2920
luminhua is all-In.
silkyness calls (1620)
silkyness is all-In.
<font color="red">Hero ???</font>

Blinds are huge, so 1st pusher is pushing almost any 2. Caller... ehh, top 40%? There's been a lot of pushing so far, so calling ranges are maniacal.

[Hornacek]

Still a fold for me. Its either going to be heads up, or a similar situation to now, with a different short stack. Better to be an aggressive raiser than a caller.

[45suited]

The more I think about this, I would call. I think that calling is the best way to secure either first or second.

As you said, UTG's range could be pretty wide.

So anyway, that being said, now we know that shorty called. Even if he wins the hand, you can still win a HUGE sidepot vs UTG, knocking UTG out. This sidepot can act as "insurance" in case shorty wins the main pot. You'll still have over 2000 chips to go against shorty heads-up. If UTG wins, you'll still have second. (But I think you're likely ahead of UTG anyway.)

Plus there's the very real chance that you have or will have the best hand and the blinds are enormous. I think that you have to call here, especially given your read of the table as maniacal.

[kevstreet]

For me this is a fold. I welcome the times, in the money, that I can actually sit back and hope for someone else to get bounced. Not to mention you are still in pretty good shape with chips at this point.

[schwza]

i think you're overestimating SB's calling range. i'd guess it's something like A7+, KJ+, 55+. remember SB can fold and hope you bust button.

I think it's a call....one more hand involved to pontentially break the short stack and get heads up

[chipolino]

Fold. I see no need to gamble when there's a chance that the small stack can bust.

[durron597]

I am calling, you only need to beat one of them to get HU.

[schwza]

[ QUOTE ]
I am calling, you only need to beat one of them to get HU.

[/ QUOTE ]

one thing i forgot is that if you beat button and lose to SB you're almost exactly even. this makes it a call for me.

[downtown]

Well reads are called reads for a reason, right? I was a bit off, though I still feel my ranges were correct, and schwza amazingly picked A7+ as the SB's calling range, when in fact he held A7, which is a pretty neat trick. (Remind me not to sit at your tables.)
I didn't include the results in the first post, because they're not important, but most of all I think this was a close one that I couldn't properly evaluate at the time, but upon further reviewing stack sizes, I think this should have been a call for reasons that 45suited, durron597 and schwza gave. At the time I was hoping to get it HU, since my SB pushfest at these blind levels is generally rather successful, but in retrospect I feel a call is the right move. Thanks for the feedback and comments.

Though I don't think the results are at all indicative of the right play in this situation, I've posted them in case you're interested.

***** Hand History for Game 2667413903 *****
500/1000 Tourney Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) (Tournament 15512940) - Tue Sep 06 22:42:51 EDT 2005
Table Table 15126 (Real Money) -- Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 3
Seat 8: silkyness (1870)
Seat 9: Hero (3210)
Seat 10: luminhua (2920)
silkyness posts small blind (250)
Hero posts big blind (500)
** Dealing down cards **

Dealt to Hero [ Ah, 9h ]
luminhua raises (2920) to 2920
luminhua is all-In.
silkyness calls (1620)
silkyness is all-In.
Hero folds.

They flip up...
silkyness [ As 7h ]
luminhua [ Ad Qs ]

<font color="white">(Had I called, I would have, of course, pwnd them both by spiking a 9 and taken 1st, but again, that's not why I posted this!!!)</font>