All In...

This is my first post as you will probably tell. I was playing in a home game and was wondering if you guys can help me out and tell me if I made the right move. It was the final table of a 20 person No-Limit tournament. I was at the final table with 5 other people. The blinds were $2 and $4 and I had about twice as many chips as I had started out with- about $100. I was in mid-position and recieved the J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and J [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. I raised it about twice the size of the pot which was about $10. It was folded around to the big blind who re-raised me $5. He was the chip leader who was a semi- tight player but could also be trying to push me around. When it came back to me I pushed all in. He flips over K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] and Q [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. It was pretty much a race and he caught a K on the turn. Did I push the JJ to far? Anyways thanks for your help.

[smoore]

I think you did:

1) You're up against the chip leader, it won't kill him to try and bust you
2)He's actually a LAG player if he's calling allins w/KQo
3)JJ is really just a mid pair
4)You still have 25BB left, not desperation mode yet

In this situation I'll just call the reraise to see the flop. If you think you could have laid it down when that king hit, you bet and he raise you then you have just learned something about playing him. If I'm in desperation mode (sometimes as high as 12BB in home games), it's an easy push. I think point 4 is the swing vote that lets me just call preflop.

edit: Your preflop raise wasn't quite large enough. From what I gather, I would have preferred to see an opening bet of $12-15. This shows more strength and basically commits you to the pot *if he reraises you*, making the push decision correct.

[TomHimself]

how can he raise 5 more?

[smoore]

Probably like this:

SB: 2
BB: 4
OP: raise 5 to 9
villian: reraise 5 to 14

"about $10" so I'm just assuming.

[Lottery Larry]

I've played in a home game (tourney and cash game) where you could raise less that the required amount. It takes a bit of mental adjustment to hear "Raise $5" and then "reraise $1"

[4_2_it]

Call the pre-flop raise and open push the flop if no over cards show-up. If he is sane he will fold (especially since you are way ahead with any PP or Ax. He call wasn't hideous pre-flop since he is the stack, but I doubt he would have call a push when he misses the flop.

If has AA, KK, or QQ that's just the way it goes. Don't be in a hurry to push pre-flop unless you've got AA or KK or are short stacked.

I think you could have won this hand with a little more patience.

[Huhmare]

If this guy calls your all in with a hand like KQo, you should absolutely make this move with JJ.. You lose only to a bigger pair, which is unlikely in 5max. And the most important part is, that he propably call with AJ, AT, A9 etc...

Don't have all the info, but I probably would have called the reraise and then bet the flop (if you still had 25 blinds). Or you could always do the "stop-n-go," as Raymer calls it, if you want to push through the river either way. Call the reraise and then all-in on the flop no matter what comes. The KQ may have been mucked seeing that the flop didn't hit.