Jacks in the BB, versus an all in short stack and SB

[Bakified]

This was a hand from a 10Rebuy on Stars. I had a reasonably strong stack at the time, but there were still about 150 players before the money started. No specific reads on any players involved, but in general play at this table had been very aggresive with a lot of stealing and big showdowns between marginal preflop hands.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t1200 (9 handed) converter

MP3 (t96337)
CO (t7925)
Button (t79417)
SB (t19460)
Hero (t42492)
UTG (t8261)
UTG+1 (t19528)
MP1 (t9977)
MP2 (t51220)

Preflop: Hero is BB with J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">5 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">CO raises to t7850</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">SB raises to t19385</font>

Hero ??

[Emoney]

i'm far from an experienced MTT player, so take this for what it's worth. but if the table is as you described, i'd fold and wait for a spot where you know you're dominating. if people are getting overagg with marginal holdings then wait for the time to punish them. unless you go card dead you should be able to find a good spot to push (or call a push) with way the best of it. in my opinion, jacks in a three-way pot against a short stack -who has at least something decent since he picked that hand to make his push- and a pusher SB -who apparently wants to isolate, or at least make your BB money dead- isn't the best spot to put almost half your stack in. not because you don't have the best hand, but because you're not positive and there will be better spots with bigger edges to come.

[bestcellar]

It would be one thing if he had reraised in an earlier position...in that situation a lot of times people are trying to get heads up with hands like AJ or AT thinking they can probably just absorb the small stack (who is likely to move with the first reasonable hand they see). However, in this situation, raising from the small blind makes no sense with just the big blind to act, unless you have AK, a pair that's at least 99 or TT and up, or possibly AQ. Fold. The best you're hoping for is a race if you call.

[djg40]

I disagree. If the table has been stealing a lot, with a lot of "big showdowns between marginal preflop hands," what better time to punish the table for playing this way. He has a hand that is much better than most, and is unlikely to find a better time to get all of the chips in the middle.

I say push. Do not fold.

Dan

[bestcellar]

I know this is thinking a little too hard, but if you DON'T really have a read on the small blind, I would tend to ask myself, what EV does reraising a marginal hand here have? The bb is going to fold anything but a high pair or possibly AK. Just common sense says don't reraise with only one to act with a marginal hand. You're already all in heads up, you may be losing to the shorty anyway.

[fjcomm02]

call the bet. you'll win the required 40% of the time.