Did he make a bad call or should I be calling more in the blinds?

[WinBig]

Party Poker $100 NL tourney and blinds 500/1000. I am the short stack at the table with T3700 and have been showing solid hands when a hand goes to the river. I have stolen a few blinds but I haven't been overdoing it. I am dealt A5os in CO and push when it is folded to me. Big blind calls with Q3 suited and hits the flush to beat my set of aces but that is irrelevant since the chips were in before the flop!

My question is if Q3 suited is a good enough hand to call with here. He was getting 2-1 for a call so maybe it wasn't that bad of a move. He had a decent stack of 12xBB so with 1000 already in with the BB but calling another 2000 with a somewhat marginal hand seems a little risky since he has 25% of his stack in with a marginal hand. I'm asking the question because I am wondering if I am not calling enough when I have a decent stack in a similar situation when I am in the blinds.

[davidross]

I believe his call is correct if u don't have a pair, borderline against JJ or lower and obviously terrible against QQ or better. I wouldn't make it.

[Piers]

2700/(2700 + 3700 + 1500) = 0.34…

So any hand that scores more than 34% against the range of hands that he thinks you might raise with would be plus EV here.

If he thinks you could be raising with unsuited aces then he thinks you are playing at least 20% of your hands. Q3s would appear to be about 35% against that, so a very marginal call in my opinion.

If he thinks you are a rock and need to be in the top 12% say then it’s a fold.

Are you sure there were not any antes? 1000 worth of antes and I think it would be a clear call unless you exposed aces, kings or queens.

All these call all in the blind decisions are rally arithmetic contests, assuming you have something else useful to do when you get knocked out of this tournament.

[SossMan]

[ QUOTE ]
2700/(2700 + 3700 + 1500) = 0.34…

So any hand that scores more than 34% against the range of hands that he thinks you might raise with would be plus EV here.

If he thinks you could be raising with unsuited aces then he thinks you are playing at least 20% of your hands. Q3s would appear to be about 35% against that, so a very marginal call in my opinion.

If he thinks you are a rock and need to be in the top 12% say then it’s a fold.

Are you sure there were not any antes? 1000 worth of antes and I think it would be a clear call unless you exposed aces, kings or queens.

All these call all in the blind decisions are rally arithmetic contests, assuming you have something else useful to do when you get knocked out of this tournament.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, if these really are arithmetic contests, you should at least do the math right.

He's in the BB, so it's T2700 more to call.

The pot contains T3700 (hero's bet) + T500 (SB dead money) = T4300. (you counted the BB twice)

so he's getting 4300:2700 on his call, or 1.59:1.

1/2.59 = 38.6%

So, it's a bad call unless he has a hand that will win more than 38.6% of the time. A5o vs. Q3suited is about 39% equity. I wouldn't have called, though. It's way too easy to be dominated from that position to be calling off 25% of your stack w/ a hand that is, at the very best, 50%.
If the opponent were raising all in from UTG, it would be a better call, IMO.
Ok, I can't resist....do you see why?