Multi-Table B&M Hand- Analysis

[pokeraz]

This is not a bad beat since I won the hand. But despite doubling up, I feel I put myself in a bad situation.

$150 buy-in, no re-buys. Only third level and blinds are 75/150. My stack is T1880. I am dealt JJ in the BB. Folded to two off the button and he min-raises. Folded to me. I don't really just want to call since I'll not have much of an idea what to do on the flop. I don't want to push in because I don't want to rest my tournament here on a pair of Jacks. I decide to re-raise to T600 to see what's up with the min-raiser. Crap, he moves all in. He has me covered by a few chips. Damn, was he slow playing a big pair? I don't think so. A big Ace, I figure. I guess that I am ahead at the moment and decide to call. I've already commited a third of my stack and winning the pot puts me in a good spot early. I was right. He had AKo. No help came for him and I doubled up.

Is it too weak/tight to have folded this? I wanted to but felt I put myself is a position that I had to call.

Does anybody just call the min-raise and take a look at the flop? It was all undercards and uncoordinated so I would have moved in anyway.

Thoughts?

[Greg (FossilMan)]

You don't want to raise 1/3 of your stack and then fold preflop. That's just bad poker in general. And you don't want to race against AK, AQ, or KQ here. So, since you're going to call if you raise to T600 and get reraised, you might as well raise all-in first, and hopefully if he has one of these 3 specific hands, he'll fold.

The only downside here is that AA-QQ probably aren't ever folding to this raise, and then you're all-in as a big dog. But given the nature of the raise (mini-raise from late position as first one in), you can't fold preflop. And you can't just call preflop with such a good hand either. Reraise, because you're ahead the large majority of the time here, and the only reasonable raise available is all-in.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

[45Player]

What if the opponent had a big stack (say 10000) ?
In that case would another option be to raise to 1000 pre-flop and then going in with the remainder on the flop (about another 1000 ) ?
My thinking is that if the opponent has a big stack, then he is just as likely to call a raise to 1000 as he is to call an all-in raise. But if the flop comes with low cards, then he might fold to a 1000 bet at that point.
I'm open to correction.

[Greg (FossilMan)]

Against some opponents, if your stack is big enough, you would frequently want to raise 20-40% of your stack preflop, and then bet the flop all-in. These are the times where your hand is strong, but not so strong that you wouldn't prefer to win without a showdown. And these are the opponents who just HAVE to see the flop, because, well, their hand is good enough, that they just HAVE to. Can't help themselves, you know. In this kind of situation, you raise preflop to show them you have the better hand, and then bet the flop. Since they'll miss the flop well over half the time, and they can now fold (hey, I missed the flop, can't call that bet now with this mediocre hand), you're better off playing the hand in this manner against these opponents in these spots.

Most of the time, however, reraise all-in preflop.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

[pokeraz]

Thanks for the reply Greg. I knew I screwed it up and I thought about it a long time. Despite actually winning the hand. My only reasonable move was to move all-in.

Funny how you will sometimes know what the right move to make is and still not do it for some reason.