Discussion last night wrt to Daniel N. and Juanda

[7n7]

Need to set this up first...apologies to all.

Little debate last night at a home tourney. Down to 4 people, top 3 get paid. 1 player (really bad calling station new to poker) has about 1/2 of the chips (approx. T3000), 1 w/about T1500, the other about T1000 and the last is on fumes w/T200.

Current 2nd place player is SB, chip leader is BB. Short-stack folds and now down to current 3rd place guy who is dealt AJo. Blinds are definitely high enough to where all-in moves are just about your only play.

Question: Knowing that the chip dog will be all-in on his next 2 hands, do you muck this hand to basically guarantee the money and then play on if you feel you're better than the remaining two players? I don't need answers on this...it just lead to the actual discussion.

The real discussion came about when someone asked "WWDD" (What Would Daniel Do?) or "WWJD" (What Would Juanda Do? They're both known for their "1st place or nothing" mentality, but would even these 2 pros fold? Recall that the chip leader calls anything and you very well could go to almost guaranteed 3rd place and cash to out on the bubble.

My opinion was that they both would NOT fold, but 2 of my hapless brethren disagreed.

[RobGW]

When a bad player has the chip lead that is a good situation. What is the best way to defeat a calling station with a big stack? Not going all in PF, but by value betting with a made hand. Limp in to see the flop and if you hit it start betting. The argument for pushing is that because the short stack is about to go out, the BB will not call unless he has a great hand. However, the BB is new to poker and will probably call with any two face cards making it very possible SB will get knocked out.