WSOP $27+2 rebuy satellite tournament hand

[jedi]

Top 2 players get an entry into the weekend $650 tournament, 3rd place gets $300.

I think Villian in this hand has played fairly loose, not maniacal, but seems to call raises and make raises with less than premium hands.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t600 (6 handed) converter

MP (t9719)
CO (t26461)
Button (t10230)
SB (t26612)
Hero (t10150)
UTG <font color="#A500AF">(Villian)</font> (t19828)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#CC3333">UTG <font color="#A500AF">(Villian)</font> raises to t1200</font>, <font color="#666666">4 folds</font>, Hero calls t600.

Flop: (t2050) 6[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero...?

[jedi]

Bump. Any takers? I figured I was really screwed if the UTG raiser had a big pair, but by the way he was playing, I thought he'd raise more with a big pair OR just limp. He wouldn't have mini-raised here.

The pre-flop call suspect? I was already in for 1/2 price.

[Dentist]

I think you bet the pot on the flop here to pretty much announce that you have a "10" in your hand.. and then see what he does...I think your pre-flop call is fine.

If after betting the pot on the flop he makes some sort of move, then you can consider your options, but you'd still be left with t8000, which is reasonable.

[schwza]

[ QUOTE ]
I think you bet the pot on the flop here to pretty much announce that you have a "10" in your hand.. and then see what he does...I think your pre-flop call is fine.

If after betting the pot on the flop he makes some sort of move, then you can consider your options, but you'd still be left with t8000, which is reasonable.

[/ QUOTE ]

i like this advice as long as when you "consider your options" you fold.

if he flat calls the flop, you've got a decision to make.

[hurlyburly]

I hate to do anything that encourages him to play back at me here. I agree that a pot-sized bet should move him off, but I'd hate to be re-raised by a medium pair here and have to fold.

This is just way too read dependent to make a clear decision on without more info on villain, but my instincts tell me to either pot it or go for broke with a c/r all-in.

[jedi]

Sigh... You guys are going to hate me then.

I pushed all-in. He called with KcQc for 2 overcards and a flush draw. He hit said flush on the river.

[M.B.E.]

The purpose of your pushing here was to protect your hand; you figured that your hand was likely best, but you weren't primarily betting for value because most of the time a worse hand would not call you.

If it were a normally-structured tournament, your push on this flop would be terrible. It is so disproportionate to the pot size that it's quite obvious you have either a draw or a weak made hand; you'd generally get called by TPGK or better. The amount you're risking wouldn't be worth it.

In a supersatellite it's different; you're at the final table, only top three get paid, so the chip leaders should be playing pretty conservatively if they're rational. That means folding hands even when they're pretty sure they're best, if calling and losing would make a big dent in their stack.

Here, I don't think your stack was big enough to threaten your opponent. If your stack had been a little bigger (paradoxically), then your play of pushing the flop would have been justified -- assuming you were confident your opponent was rational enough to fold pretty decent hands there rather than risk having his stack dented.

(I said "paradoxically" because in a normally-structured tournament, the bigger your stack, the worse your play of open-pushing the flop would have been. But in the supersatellite format, a slightly bigger stack makes the play better, not worse.)