A few hands from UB $100 final table

[rwperu34]

Hand $1

115 start, four left. Blinds t1,000/2,000, I open for my standard t5,000 on the button w A8o. Big blind comes over the top for t25,000. T34k in the pot, I type in the chat box "This is boderline," and call t20k, leaving me with t22k if I lose. After I spike an 8 I ask the two remaining players, "How bad was that call." They said it was really bad, that he was tight. I replied, "I don't think anybody is playing tight right now." The eventual winner said, "Very true, but he was the tightest by far."

I was lead to the call by the fact that he had pulled a similar move (all in from the blind vs preflop opener, including twice when there was a limper behind the opener) at least 5 times in the last 20 opportunites. My range of hands for him was any pair, any ace, KQ, KJ, possibly KTs and QJs, and the occasional strait bluff.

a) Does anyone else make that call? Or is my range of hands way too wide?
b) Assuming that my hand range is correct, should I call or fold?


Hand #2

Three left. I'm in the small blind. Button folds. I've been unrelenting in stealing the BB in this situation, probably 5 out of 6 times since we got three handed, maybe more. Blinds are t1,500/3,000, I open for standard t9,000 with KK. He calls. Flop comes out Q98r, i lead for t6,000 (standard, and my opponent and I had butted heads quite a few times). He calls. Turn is a 7, setting up a possible flush draw with a board of Q987. There is t30,000 in the pot, and my opponent has t40,000. I have him covered by t20,000. To him I've been playing pretty strait forward on the flop and after, so he knows I have a little something. This guy has definitly been to a few final tables, he knows what he's doing.

c) What's my plan for the turn and river?


Hand #3

button t22,000
sb t110,000
bb t100,000.

Button pushes, sb pushes. bb has AKo.

d) should the button call in this situation?

[Rushmore]

#1. Impossible to say.

#2. I assume you intend to get all of your chips into the middle on the turn. I suggest pushing them there.

#3. I assume you mean should the bb call?. The answer is that it depends on how much money difference there is between 3rd and 2nd and 2nd and 1st, and how much that money difference means to you. I would have no problem calling here, as it's a pretty wide range of hands for both players, and I suspect the blinds are prohibitively high at this point.

[Simplistic]

2.5:1 on the A8, i'll fold it here and wait for a better hand. like you said, very borderline.

2) push the turn

3) AK to me is an aggressor hand not a calling hand. so much easier to push with AK then to call off your chips with it. how strong is your read on the SB? i'd probably end up calling here and stare down AQ

[schwza]

1: yeah, you're range is too wide, in that you think villain might push A2o, but you know for sure he will push AK. if your range is correct you have an easy call (i assume, have not run numbers).

2: there are 3 of a suit on the board or 2? if 3, do you have one? assuming it's 2, i'd go ahead and bet. you really don't want villain to check behind and then see a straight card hit. and you don't want to stack a Q, so you need to get chips in while you can.

3: i assume you mean "should the bb call?" and yes, yes he should. the question would be more interesting if he had AQ.

[gumpzilla]

[ QUOTE ]
Hand #3
button t22,000
sb t110,000
bb t100,000.

Button pushes, sb pushes. bb has AKo.

[/ QUOTE ]

Something you need to consider here is that getting all your money in the middle here can only cost you 2nd place if your hand gets beat by both players AND the shortstack beats the SB. When you're holding AK, you're in great shape for that not to happen. So you can view this as almost a freeroll for a chance to essentially lock up 1st, with very little risk of getting worse than 2nd. This is a very easy call.

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
Something you need to consider here is that getting all your money in the middle here can only cost you 2nd place if your hand gets beat by both players AND the shortstack beats the SB. When you're holding AK, you're in great shape for that not to happen. So you can view this as almost a freeroll for a chance to essentially lock up 1st, with very little risk of getting worse than 2nd. This is a very easy call.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a great point, especially seeing as the button is clearly likely to have far and away the worst hand.

[rwperu34]

In hand #2 I reasoned that the chips were going in, so I pushed. I'm wondering if a better play, assuming I was fairly certain that he would take a stab at the pot if I checked, would be to check/raise, check/call. I guess the question is, are all those extra chips worth it if he had a hand like QJ or QT or AJs (with the flush draw)...etc, or if I'm better off just pushing those draws out? In retrospect it would seem that even if he had a 15 outer, I would be better off with a check/call or check/raise....if I was fairly certian he would bet, which I was.

He had the nut strait on the flop, so that set up hand #3, which was the very next hand. I was obviously the small stack, the sb had TT and it held up. My original thinking was that AK should fold in this situation. The payouts were $3000, $1800, $1300. At the time I over looked the fact that by calling the bb reduces the short stacks chances of winning, meaning he is risking significantly less then the $500 difference between 2nd and 3rd. If was put in that situation yesterday, I would have made the mistake of folding. If I'm put in it today I'll call.