$55 88 bubble hand

[mike28]

Villian got his stack with AA in the first few hands and then another monster. Has been playing fairly LAG since then.

***** Hand History for Game 2770257741 *****
royolson finished in fifth place.
50/100 Tourney Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) (Tournament 16041558) - Sat Sep 24 22:46:07 EDT 2005
Table Table 14214 (Real Money) -- Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 4
Seat 1: jacks1 (855)
Seat 2: FrenchPower2 (6865)
Seat 4: Hero (1005)
Seat 9: wsopwin (1275)
Hero posts big blind (50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ 8h, 8c ]
wsopwin folds.
jacks1 folds.
FrenchPower2 raises (150) to 150
Hero...

[bluefeet]

I fold. With the other two equal stacks you left, you should find WAY more +EV opportunities than this. Calling sucks, when the only viable option you have is to "blind" push over a lead/check on an under-card flop. Maintain your FE, and abuse your neighbors

[1C5]

Fold, probably push TT or JJ and up.

Even if he is raising junk here I'm easily folding this.

[caretaker1]

I'll play devil's advocate and call for a push here because:
1) He's LAG and raising with a wide range of hands.
2) Standing up to him now may make him more hesitant to bully you in future hands
3) You're very likely no worse than a coinflip if he does call.
4) The extra 200 chips for free would put you in better position if he folds (which will be a majority of the time if he's raising with a wide range).
5) If he's thinking strategically, he will not want to knock you out here; he wants to continue bullying on the bubble, which he can't do if its no longer there.

$.02

[mike28]

I reluctantly folded. I figured it was a mistake, but am glad to hear that at least some people agree with me.

My thoughts.

1. He probably is raising trash, but my only option is to push. Calling puts me in terrible shape.

2. Standing up to him now probably won't change much. Even if I double through he's 5-1 over the rest of the table. He's going to lag it up.

3. He's probably calling me with a wide range of hands. Given the opportunity to bust another player and basically cruise to first is pretty tempting. If I win, I'm still no threat to him.

Still interested in what others think tho!

[caretaker1]

I agree with 1, but not 2 and 3. If you double through, you've now got some command over the 2nd and 3rd spots (you can start bullying them to some extent). Also, if you stand up and win he only has roughly double your chips, you could now hurt him if he doubles you again.
Also, I don't think he calls you that often in this spot (if you push), especially not if he's open-raising very loose.

Having said all this, I'm in the minority so take it with a grain of salt.

$.02

[mike28]

[ QUOTE ]
I agree with 1, but not 2 and 3. If you double through, you've now got some command over the 2nd and 3rd spots (you can start bullying them to some extent). Also, if you stand up and win he only has roughly double your chips, you could now hurt him if he doubles you again.
Also, I don't think he calls you that often in this spot (if you push), especially not if he's open-raising very loose.

Having said all this, I'm in the minority so take it with a grain of salt.

$.02

[/ QUOTE ]

Defintely get where you're coming from, it's only my first 55 so who knows.

The blinds are currently T50. With 20 BBs, 88 is a marginal hand to push with here. If you are a winning/good player you will find much better spots to steal blinds and make generally +EV moves. And getting called by the bigstack with crap like A9o is horrible for you, (on the bubble a coinflip is very bad if tails means you come 4th).

Stick to bullying the stacks who actually fear busting out.

[mike28]

[ QUOTE ]
The blinds are currently T50. With 20 BBs, 88 is a marginal hand to push with here. If you are a winning/good player you will find much better spots to steal blinds and make generally +EV moves. And getting called by the bigstack with crap like A9o is horrible for you, (on the bubble a coinflip is very bad if tails means you come 4th).

Stick to bullying the stacks who actually fear busting out.

[/ QUOTE ]

Blinds are 50/100 so I only have 10. I still think it's a fold though.