$530 PS Monthly Tourney Hand

[Whitey]

Hi all & Thx to the people who sweated me for a short time after we got to the ' in the money ' stages.

My question is, am I overplaying small pairs at this stage of a comp? Should I be just mucking em and waiting for bigger hands or blind stealing opportunities?

Two big comps running I've had an above average stack and found an early position player mini-raise and looked down to see a pocket pair,in this case it was 5s.

Blinds are 2k/4k with 200 ante, I have 65K

UTG+1 mini raises to 8K , I call,folded to BB(61K) who also calls.

Flop comes TT3 with 2 spades

BB leads out for 8k which I believe is weak,UTG+1 folds and I reraise to 24K,unfortunatly the BB calls and a spade comes on the turn,

BB moves all in [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Obviously I cant call this,but maybe I shudnt be in this spot in the first place.My intention was to play it purely for set value but the way the hand developed I felt i was in front on the flop.

I hate moving all in when I have a decent stack,as I feel I play better after the flop and hate trusting to luck unless its neccessary,though I feel some might say this would be correct on the flop.

I am hoping to get some replies from people who have been inthis spot before in a larger buy in tourney,preferably more than once. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[MLG]

I'd fold in this spot. You and your opponent don't have enough chips to be playing purely for set value here. My general rule is don't play a hand for set value if you have to risk more than 10% of your stack.

[sdplayerb]

I'd muck that preflop immediately. It is over 10% of your stack, which is a lot, and against an early position raise which shows strength. Any flop you have to be scared of as he have flopped a better pair or could have an overpair to start with, and you don't know if you hit a set if it will even be paid off.

The only way I am playing a small pocket pair is if i'm raising or reraising (and that is just against a late position raiser)

[Lloyd]

I agree with mucking this pre-flop. And just to be clear, you should definitely muck this if the bet is 10% or more of the LESSER of your stack or your opponent's stack.

[Whitey]

Thx for the replies

So i guess I should be mucking this pre-flop [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Lets say I have a slightly bigger stack,as happened in a previous sunday comp.Do you still re-raise based on your read,or are you simply playing this for set value and mucking after the flop bet?

[Lloyd]

I'd say you're playing strictly for set value. At least unless you have some SERIOUS reads on your opponent. And remember, even if you have a larger stack it doesn't make a difference unless your opponent's stack is also large enough to provide sufficient value.

[Gronk]

I would hesitate to say "definitely muck immediately and don't think twice" in this situation. Minimum raises utg are usually fishy but with the blinds at what they are at, I would think your opponent would raise more with a large pocket pair. My initial gut reaction is the same as yours probably was, he has paint or a medium pocket pair.

That flop really looks like it doesn't help anyone. It is a perfect opportunity to try and buy the pot and he may realize that. At the time you raised to 24k, there was 26k in the middle and he had to call 16k to see the next card. I think if he had a pocketpair he thought was the winner, he would have just gone all-in right there. Afterall, if you raised to 24k, you'd probably call an all-in reraise. So when he just calls your flop raise, I think you're still ahead so my read at this point would lean towards two big cards.

Now a scare card comes off. There is an awful lot of money in the middle and you have enough chips left in front of you to have some folding equity for him. If you were on a spade draw would you really have put in that large of a raise on the flop? Possible, but not as likely as if you had a made hand you were trying to protect. Whether he made his flush or not, I think moving in is great on his part. If he has two overcards and one is a spade he has plenty of outs to justify the move plus there's the pressure he is putting on you to fold. At this point, do you trust your initial read and call or do you wait for a better situation? His turn bet seems a little desparate to me but if he has one spade and two overcards, it's a great place to semibluff. Even if you're ahead he's most likely got close to 14 outs to make a better hand. I think you're ahead but not by much. The question now is, can you dodge 14 bullets? If my read was correct, you'd be about 63% to win. If my read is wrong then I'm going to lose my stack, that's poker. The pot odds compared to that % of winning and I would call. If you see any flaws in my logic, please respond.