77 - but with bigger blinds

[Magician]

NL HE $20 Sit 'n Go, single table, but down to 6 handed

Dealt 77 in UTG + 1.

My stack is 1,700 - shortest of the 6 remaining players but there are no truly monster stacks - largest is about 2,900.

Blinds are 100/200 with antes of 25.

As UTG + 1, blinds are hitting you soon.

What do you do?

[eMarkM]

Raise 4X blinds and hope to take them down. Tough to play middle pairs from EP, but I wouldn't be able to lay this down. If someone comes over the top of you, you have a difficult choice where you'd have to fold or go all-in and hope the other guy's on overcards and you can win a coin flip. You're small stack, so it's on you to make a move and 77 is a decent hand to make a move with.

[Magician]

Exactly what I did - raised to 4BB (about half my stack). Folded to SB. SB calls. BB mucks.

Flop is J 9 8 (two of a suit). SB checks.

What do you do?

[nicky g]

I think if if a decent raise is going to cost you half your stack preflop, you should just stick it all-in. That is about the worst flop you could hope for, except for the fact that there's no ace. Even with half my stack in the pot, I'd be reluctant to bet to his check here. But I wouldn't have put half my stack in preflop. Preflop, I dunno if I'd have limped (unlikely), folded, made a smaller raise (unlikely), or gone all-in preflop - depends really on how the table is playing.

[Magician]

Emark,

As nickyg says - if raising to 4BB is half my stack already - why not just move all in?

[Bolivia]

So you'd be willing to commit all you're chips under the gun with a pair of sevens?

What's up with 4x the blinds?? If I had Aces here I would definitely make it 3x maybe even 2.5x cuz I want to induce calls. By the same token when I see someone make it 4x the blind in that position I smell weakness and might be willing to re-raise with a few more hands than normal. Make it a standard 3x the blinds (even 2.5x will get the job done since the blinds are getting big), then you can get away from it if someone goes over the top (because at best you're hand is gonna be a coin flip with the re-reaiser, very very few people would be willing to reraise the UTG raiser with 77's or less).

Or muck the hand pre-flop. If you go through the blinds again you still have 1400 which is enough to play a couple more rounds before you're desparate.

[fnurt]

I would definitely raise all-in here. With only 4 players still to act, there's a good chance you won't be called. You need to win the blinds once per orbit just to stay even and in a 6-handed game I don't think you can expect something better than 77 every round.

[Magician]

Just what I was thinking - all in and not half my stack. It encouraged the guy to call.

I moved the rest of my chips in on the flop after he checked to me but he had AJo and I busted out.

[Sarge85]

Well if you check back at him, you immediately look weak, and chances are you're going to get dragged in the pot regardless on the turn. He called your earlier raise so supposedly he's got a pair (most which are better than yours), or a "big ace". However conversely your preflop raise probably means the same thing. I'd push my chips in representing a flopped set and hope for the best. At least the flop gave you 4 more outs than you had before....

Sarge [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

[curtains]

I agree with fnurt....allin