Those Pesky Fishhooks...

[NoBrains]

Was involved in a very similar hand yesterday… I see a couple of mistakes in this one also (guess I’m a slow learner with no brains).

1) too small a re-raise once again
2) Should have pushed against the small stack all-in instead of calling and letting UTG+1 come along (he prolly would have come anyway, but…)

11’s … Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (9 handed) converter

UTG (t1345)
UTG+1 (t740)
MP1 (t1141)
MP2 (t697)
MP3 (t272)
Hero (t745)
Button (t860)
SB (t1460)
BB (t740)

Preflop: Hero is CO with J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, UTG+1 calls t30, MP1 calls t30, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">MP3 raises to t60</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t90</font>, <font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, UTG+1 calls t60, MP1 calls t60, <font color="#CC3333">MP3 raises to t272 (All-In)</font>, Hero calls t182, UTG+1 calls t182, MP1 folds.

Flop: (t951) 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 2[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(3 players, 1 all-in)</font>
UTG+1 checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t473 (All-In)</font>, UTG+1 calls t468 (All-In).

Turn: (t1892) 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(3 players, 3 all-in)</font>

River: (t1892) T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(3 players, 3 all-in)</font>

Final Pot: t1892

Results in white below: <font color="#FFFFFF">
UTG+1 has 4s 4h (one pair, fours).
MP3 has Ad Qs (one pair, queens).
Hero has Js Jh (straight, queen high).
Outcome: Hero wins t1892. </font>

[pineapple888]

[ QUOTE ]
Was involved in a very similar hand yesterday… I see a couple of mistakes in this one also (guess I’m a slow learner with no brains).

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey, you're thinking about this stuff and asking questions. So you have more potential than 80% of Party players.

[ QUOTE ]

2) Should have pushed against the small stack all-in instead of calling and letting UTG+1 come along (he prolly would have come anyway, but…)

[/ QUOTE ]

If he wants to come along, make him pay for the privilege. Drive them out or make them pay. That's the essence of strong poker. And if you lose to an even better hand or a suckout, fire up another game. End of lecture. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Matt R.]

I actually prefer a small raise here. t90 IS too small though IMO as you're laying the limpers too good of odds to fold, but I'd like a t125 raise. I really prefer to keep the pot small in short stack NL as it keeps post-flop play a lot easier. Even with a big raise you're likely to get a lot of callers at the early blind levels, and there are quite a few flops you don't like with JJ. If you can get all-in vs. a weaker hand, that's great, but you have to take into account future betting rounds. It's a lot easier to play in a smaller pot when an A, K, or Q flops.

[pineapple888]

[ QUOTE ]
I really prefer to keep the pot small in short stack NL as it keeps post-flop play a lot easier.

[/ QUOTE ]

Since when is ease of play a worthy goal?

If this is your preference, so be it. But it's a leak.

Not to harsh on you personally, but I'm just seeing post after post lately justifying weak play that all boil down to the following: "I don't want to face the prospect of making a tough decision."

Good players want a big pot when they are confident they have the best hand. If that leads to a tough decision later, so be it.

And if you really want an easy post-flop decision, then push pre-flop.