bubble hand - disconnected player

[Paul2432]

I'm pretty sure I screwed this one up. The BB was disconnected and had been for some time. I essentially had a lock on third. How strong a hand do I need to play here?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t400 (4 handed) converter

UTG (t2045)
Hero (t2055)
SB (t5675)
BB (t225)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, Hero??.

Paul

[se2schul]

A lot has to do with how the other players have been playing. If they're super tight, I'd minraise or push. If they've been aggressive or calling a lot, fold and let the other two fight over the disconnected player's blind. If possible, I'd use this disconnected player to bully the other 2 players, but this really depends on what type of player they are.

ss

[jah0550]

I fold AA here. No matter what 2 cards you have, calling/raising is very -$EV. It might be +EV in terms of chips, but in money it is hugely -EV. The BB will blind out on the next orbit and you have enough chips that once it gets 3 handed, you still have plenty of FE with the big stack. Don't undervalue 3rd. Playing for 1st every time isn't always the correct strategy.

[Paul2432]

I don't know if I'd fold AA, but I certainly should have folded A9s. Instead I raised all-in, SB called with AJo. BB had 86o and hit an eight on the flop. I'm out fourth.

Paul

[se2schul]

I wouldn't fold AA here, or KK or even QQ. If everyone were playing super tight, then I'd play much weaker hands, but likely with minraises as opposed to pushing.

BTW, I think that the player calling with AJ made a horrible play. Pushing with A9 is MUCH better than calling with AJ. If I had been the big stack, there would only be 3, maybe 4 hands I would've called with.

All this of course depends greatly on how the SB has been playing up to this point. It's truly hard to make a decision without this information.

[Scuba Chuck]

Paul, you didn't post what buyin this is, but put yourself in super big stack's shoes. What do you think he's thinking about (assuming he's a semi-smart player)? The one thing you know for sure is that you cannot mini-raise as you are just feeding chips to him.

This is a very tempting steal/play against short stack hand. I'd be very tempted to push. I hope you took a little time to think this through, before you did so, but I think the best play here is to call or fold. Any raising whatsoever is unwanted danger, IMO.

[se2schul]

Good point.

Calling, folding, and even pushing are probably better than minraising. Would you even do this is the SB had been extremely passive up to this point?

[Scuba Chuck]

FWIW, I'd call with AJ here if I were big stack, because I'd call with AJ if this were 3 way, and this hand is essentially a 3 way hand. I hope you're able to see this. If you're the big stack, you have to call with AJ here. If you don't, it's a leak.

Back to your point se2schul. If SB had been extremely passive, I might consider other options. By passive, I assume you mean very tight. I guess if I had that read, then the mini-raise comes back into play. But without any strong reads, I think a call here is the best play. Then folding.

[Paul2432]

This was a 109. In retrospect, I think calling is probably the right play. I was multi-tabling, so I may have missed something, but the SB seemed straight forward.

Note that it can't be a steal. The short stack is all-in for less than a BB.

Paul

[Nottom]

[ QUOTE ]
I fold AA here. No matter what 2 cards you have, calling/raising is very -$EV. It might be +EV in terms of chips, but in money it is hugely -EV. The BB will blind out on the next orbit and you have enough chips that once it gets 3 handed, you still have plenty of FE with the big stack. Don't undervalue 3rd. Playing for 1st every time isn't always the correct strategy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not another attempt to fold AA [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]