Raise or all -in?

[TJD]

Hi all,

Just beginning to get to grips with SnG's. I just played a hand and think I got it wrong. The good news is I won the pot and the tourney but I have a sneaking feeling my play was wrong. Would you be kind enough to comment please?

I have T5600 opponent has T2400 (before the blinds).

Blinds are 300 + 600.

I have A4o in BB

Opponent completes for 300 and I raise 600.

Opponent goes all - in and I call.

Whether I should have raised is one decision; whether to call the all in is another. I do not have enough experience to be sure they are correct. Perhaps you would comment.

BUT!!! If I was going to call the all-in should I not raise all in initially? That way I might win the pot without a fight. I gave him a chance to make a move on me.

He was in fact doing this on complete junk. But if he had a good hand and was trying to win more from me I still would have called so it would have made no difference.

By raising all in I put the maximum pressure on him to fold and avoid the possibility of his weaker hand than mine drawing out on me.

As it happens the result was perfect for me. He tried a move on junk and did not hit; but is "all in" by me the best tournament play with hands that are good enough to call an all in with if my opponent does that?

TYIA

Trevor

[mackthefork]

From your opponents point of view calling your extra 300 might well have been a much worse move than going all in, as this would have left him with only 6BB. Bearing this in mind I don't think there is much wrong with you calling the extra 1800 with ace high, as long as you are prepared to lose the pot 1/2 the time and start again with level chips. I would probably have pushed with any 2 in your opponents position, and I would probably call the push in your position too.

Regards ML

[TJD]

Thx for the reply BUT would you have pushed all in pre flop instead of just raising 600?

Trevor

[2planka]

FWIW, I would have shoved preflop with A high and would be content to pick up his blind.

[Colby818]

This is where I tend to play more like the fish. Push to take it down. Limp or min.raise to encourage action. That hand is one I'd probably push with in your situation.

[2planka]

Probably should have explained my thinking. In this particular situation, with a 2-1 stack advantage, I think you have to keep the pressure on. Letting the other guy sneak in cheap and maybe catch a piece of the flop is too risky - especially with a hand like A4. That hand isn't one I want to be tricky with.

This could be a leak in my game, but I think you have to keep the pressure on this guy heads up.

[Jugador]

I think a raise from 300 to 1000-1200 would be good. This would force your opponent to commit ~half his stack preflop and I think it would make it alot harder for him to bluff in this situation. A raise to ~1200 or an all-in raise, either works but I think the raise to 1200ish gets the job done just the same.
Given the same situation, I play it both ways. Maybe 50/50%.