Level 5 Preflop play (QQ)

[TheAmp]

Hi all,
Here is a hand I played at party 50+5 10 player Sng.
6 players left. BB is 200. I was delt QQ in the SB, with 2332 chips. UTG1 folds ,UTG2(2225 chips) raised to 400, everybody folds to me.

Q: call, reraise to 1200 or go all-in?

1) calling seems to be the worst option. this is a great position to win more chips. since UTG2 raised he is not likely to fold to a moderate reraise.

2)reraise to 1200 or go all-in? in order to answer this Q we must analyze two Questions:

a) what do I want to do in this position?
I think the answer is get all UTG2s chips in the pot. he is very likely dominated (smaller PP or hands with Q) or hold an Ax (AK I am still favorite). In these cases I am a huge favorite and want to maximize value. KK AA is very unlikely and on average I am in a good spot.

b) how do I want to get his chips in?
this depends on the reads on the player and the typical player in this game. in this case I didnt have a read on him. I believed an average player in these Sng'w would call me with smaller PP or A with medium kicker (which he did). if he was tight maybe it would be better to raise to 1200, and then bet on flop if no A or K showed. if A or K I can make a small bet or check and fold. this leaves me with some chips if things go bad, but when I do win I will have less chips.

what do you think about the trade off? should I leave 800 chips for "insurence"? the gain of 800 more chips may not balance the loss of all chips (of coarse I will be happy if he calls with underpair on the flop).

here is the hand if you need it:

NL Hold'em $50 Buy-in + $5 Entry Fee Trny:8318050 Level:5 Blinds(100/200) - Saturday, January 01, 13:30:49 EDT 2005
Table Table 10937 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: ejkellydc30 ( $2225 )
Seat 2: PrincessGlo ( $1343 )
Seat 4: UPSMAN101 ( $760 )
Seat 5: MrWildcat ( $1695 )
Seat 7: Briti ( $2332 )
Seat 8: pabiyh ( $1645 )
Trny:8318050 Level:5
Blinds(100/200)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Briti [ Qh Qc ]
pabiyh folds.
ejkellydc30 raises [400].
PrincessGlo folds.
UPSMAN101 folds.
MrWildcat folds.
>You have options at Table 11239 Table!.
Briti is all-In [2132]
ejkellydc30 is all-In [1825]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8c, Kd, Jc ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8d ]
** Dealing River ** [ 3d ]
ejkellydc30 shows [ Ad, 8s ] three of a kind, eights.
Briti shows [ Qh, Qc ] two pairs, queens and eights.

[captZEEbo1]

You don't want "insurance". When the K came on the flop, and you bet and he went allin (or if you checked and he went allin), then what? I think going allin preflop is best, because you pretty much WANT a call by most of the hands. If you reraise it to 1200, it looks suspicious, like you have a monster, and are trying to get more chips out of it...just going allin has a nice shot of getting a call by a weak holding, like A8. Pushing allin and showing QQ (if he folds) is a good way to get some respect at the table though. If you can get all you chips in the middle with QQ vs A8, you did well.

[ardie]

I just posted a similar question for options with qq in lp or blinds to a min raise. I pushed preflop and was outdrawn by k10s who rivered a flush. I've thought about reraising or calling but I still feel in this situation pushing is the most appropriate response. You give him the opportunity to fold. Also if you're in lp smooth calling gives the bb odds to call for the flop significantly weakening your hand.

[DonButtons]

Push.

A8 will outdraw you like 28% of the time, so you can't say your play was bad based on one bad outcome. But that other 72% of the time you will double up.