$30+3 - Very difficult bubble hand

[pooh74]

This is a good hand...thx scuba...for all the pushers out there, this is not so easy. I'd flat call this...youre a dog to any pair and, of course you may be dominating many UTG's raising hands here, but why let BB off the hook? you can still get away from this hand if you have to. I dont think this is an issue of "1st" or nothing, its an easy opportunity to get into the money and to not pass on a power hand at the same time...u have ~0 FE here so pushing really accomplishes nothing...this is one of those rare instances where you must flat call a raise on the bubble and play your hand...ive been in this situation may times and often play it this way to great success. the disadvantage is that you may only see 3 cards instead of 5 but if BB comes in, UTG may check down.

[nWirb]

Looks like the UTG wants to put the BB all in with a good king KJ+ or most likely a decent ace like A7.
I'd push here.

[john_]

I played a hand similiar to this one UTG with AQo. They flat called, BB folded and I pushed the ragged flop.

I'm torn between flat calling and pushing...I guess it would depend on my read of the player.

[Scuba Chuck]

Well, I pushed this hand. Villain flipped over pocket tens. It made me think that calling was a better answer.

What's most interesting to me is that of all my posts, this one is getting so little face time. I've had a few posts in the past in a similar scenario, with a hand of lesser value, and the most common answer then would be, "EZ fold, but if this was an AK, then that would be a more difficult decision."

Is it really that clear of a push? Perhaps I should have included a Stop-n-go as one of the options. AK is still a drawing hand right?

In terms of hand ranges villain calls me with, IMO, minimally, 50% of the hands in the range will be pairs.

[lastchance]

Calling seems to be awesome here, especially as you have AK (which either hits or misses) and not some weaker hand that will hit second pair or something or other.

[AnyTwoCanLose]

Pushing here seems way too aggresive to me. You have to remember that you are playing a tournament, and the chips you gain are worth less than the chips you lose.

A lot of it is read dependent... against typical push-monkeys like those arguing all-in, I'd go all in.

Calling seems ideal, though folding is acceptable.

The more I think about it, I like calling. Play against 2 players and wait and see what the flop brings. If an A or K hits... you get paid if either of them have an A or K or a PP.

Going all-in just gets you called with better hands and the lesser hands fold.

[Degen]

So you think AQ and AJ fold here? What about KQ and KJ...i've been called with much worse.

Degen

[AnyTwoCanLose]

There's certainly some hands that I'd go allin if I knew that the other fellow had them.

The major factor in my not wanting to go all-in is that there's a guy with only 400 chips.

Let 'em bust.

(That's the way it seems to me. It depends on the player you are facing)

[ilya]

[ QUOTE ]
though folding is acceptable.

[/ QUOTE ]

i could disagree more, but that would be a LOT of disagreeing.

[ilya]

You can't stop-and-go here, you're not gonna be first to act on the flop.