Pocket 9's

[Synth]

Hello.

Me and my friend were having a debate over the way I played this hand. I discussed this with two other friends of mine and they both said the play was fine. We would like your opinions.

MTT tournament - Blinds 25/50
Stack Sizes
(hero - UTG+1 - $1250)
(MP2 - can't remember)
(CO - $1600)
(BB - $500 (played the whole time with him, lost his stack playing reckless and bad)

I am holding 9 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 9 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] UTG+1 and I limp, folded around to MP2 who also limps and folded around to CO who limps as well, BB then pushed all-in for $500 and I re-raised all-in for $1250 on the hopes to limit the field and go heads up for the $500.
My read was that he was on any two cards like 76, 58, A9, A7, etc. There was also a good chance he had a pp like 22, or 33 that he didn't want to see a flop with and hopefully collect the $150 in limps.

[Hotrod0823]

I think pushing is a good play. You put pressure on the MP and CO and get heads up against the short stack, who could be playing any range of hands.

Just calling is bad IMO because of the 2 others to act behind.

I would push here too.

[cferejohn]

Against the opponent you describe, this is an easy all-in. If you run into an overpair, well, oh well, but the player you describe will probably make this play with nearly any ace, any pair, KQ, and maybe weaker broadway cards (I'd be pretty shocked to see anything as bad as 76, but you're the one who saw him play). Even if it's a "coinflip" you're on the good end of it, and you've got some dead money in the pot.

Calling is not an option. An overcall is a disaster with this hand, especially with a flop to play.

If the opponent is reasonable, I would narrow it to AT and better or any pair (except maybe 22 and 33), plus possibly KQ. You have an excellent chance to take a "coinflip" getting

[B1GF1SHY]

I agree with you that this player isn't pushing all-in with cards like 76, 58, or those other hands he listed. 90% of the time the opponent has overcards so this pretty much is a coinflip situation. The problem I see is that the hero is calling for a coinflip, and not putting the opponent on the coinflip decision for his chips. Coinflips are left for the later stages in a tournament when there are larger stacks and many shortstacks pushing at every chance they get, what good is it to risk a large portion of your stack calling for a coinflip this early? Losing this hand makes the hero borderline shortstacked. If he folds he loses T50 and moves on.

Someone please correct me if wrong in thinking this is a fold.

[cferejohn]

[ QUOTE ]
I agree with you that this player isn't pushing all-in with cards like 76, 58, or those other hands he listed. 90% of the time the opponent has overcards so this pretty much is a coinflip situation. The problem I see is that the hero is calling for a coinflip, and not putting the opponent on the coinflip decision for his chips. Coinflips are left for the later stages in a tournament when there are larger stacks and many shortstacks pushing at every chance they get, what good is it to risk a large portion of your stack calling for a coinflip this early? Losing this hand makes the hero borderline shortstacked. If he folds he loses T50 and moves on.

Someone please correct me if wrong in thinking this is a fold.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think there's anything wrong with the thinking per-se, but given the description, I think there is a much better chance that he is up against a hand he beats badly (22-88, A2-A8, KQ) than that he is up against a hand he is losing to badly (TT-AA). Against the range of hands he is up against, getting all-in here has got to be considerably better than a coinflip. If my range of hands is close or correct to it (maybe take off the bottom few aces), a call is probably going to net him close to 2:1 on his money (warning, number pulled out of my ass, but if someone wants to run the numbers, I think I'm probably pretty close). In any case, significantly better than the just *under* 1:1 that he needs to make it a *significant* +EV move.

[B1GF1SHY]

I don't believe he is losing this hand, but I would put the opponent on two overcards for sure. So if we assume the opponent is on two overcards and this is a coin flip situation, is it still right to risk a large part of your stack on a coinflip this early in the tournament?

[Synth]

[ QUOTE ]
but I would put the opponent on two overcards for sure.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why would you put a reckless player on exactly two overcards? Why not any A like A2 or A3, or a hand like K7s or a smaller pp?

What makes you think that this player is making this type of play with exactly two overcards?

[davidross]

OK I'll put him on 2 overcards too. Easy Push. THe two limpers will fold 99% of the time. Very few people just call pre-flop behind a limper with any hand that will call the all-in here, so he's not risking all his chips, he's risking 450 more leaving him with 800 even if he loses. There are 3 limps in the pot already plus teh BB's 500, so he needs to put up 450 to win the 650 thats in there, and it's not a coin flip (I hate that expression, I use it too though) hes a 55/45 favorite getting way better than even money, and not risking elimination. If you pass up chances like this, you won't get the big stack often enough.

[Lurshy]

I don't like your limp preflop. If I am going to play in ep, I likely open for a small raise. All the limping invites a steal, and you are not that strong (99) to really want to risk a significant portion of your stack in a race. If you raise and someone calls behind you, someone else is less likley to steal, because the caller has a hand. If someone comes over the top of your raise, you can use your reads to guess the strength of his hand relative to yours, but unless he thought you were trying to steal from ep, he is likely coming over the top in LP with at least two big overcards, or a decent PP were he is happy to play you heads up.

A small stack may not want to push with just any two cards with 3 people in the pot ahead of him, and the blinds still to act. He certainly won't push with just any two cards if the pot was already raised from ep.

[Pat Southern]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't believe he is losing this hand, but I would put the opponent on two overcards for sure. So if we assume the opponent is on two overcards and this is a coin flip situation, is it still right to risk a large part of your stack on a coinflip this early in the tournament?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll take the good side of a coinflip everytime with that dead money in the pot. Assuming he is only up against the original pusher, he is risking 450 to win over 600. Also, with his read, against his range of hands, its probably a little better than a coinflip