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  #1  
Old 03-12-2004, 10:22 AM
hockey1 hockey1 is offline
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Default Push?

Stars 2 table $30+3. 4 left. I've got well over 1/2 the chips and have been doing more than my fair share of pushing people around, which I'm doing in large part because everyone at this table seems REALLY weak tight. Then this hand comes up:

Big Blind is t400 (4 handed)

UTG (t3640)
Button (t4385)
Hero (t15745)
BB (t3230)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
UTG raises to t800, Button folds, Hero raises to t15720, BB folds, UTG calls t2815 (All-In).

Flop: (t19385) 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

Turn: (t19385) 2[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

River: (t19385) 6[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

Final Pot: t19385

Results in white below: <font color="white">
UTG shows Kd Kh (two pair, kings and sixes).
Hero shows 9c 9d (two pair, nines and sixes).
Outcome: Hero wins t12105. UTG wins t7280. </font>

Too aggressive?
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  #2  
Old 03-12-2004, 10:45 AM
PrayingMantis PrayingMantis is offline
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Default Re: Push?

[ QUOTE ]
Too aggressive?

[/ QUOTE ]

In my book? absolutely. You say you are pushing them around. Miniraise from UTG looks very powerful to me, in these circumstanses. I would guess he's trying to trap you, and he's ready to call your push with a big hand. You are big anough to play this for a set value, in my opinion. Why not call him, and play the flop? I would even muck 99 here to a raise sometimes, it depends.

I think that you played right into his hands with your move here. Aggression should be used with thought. Why doubling up an opponent here, or at best - taking a coin-flip against him? that's not the right moment for it, IMO.

PrayingMantis
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  #3  
Old 03-12-2004, 11:10 AM
hockey1 hockey1 is offline
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Default Re: Push?

[ QUOTE ]
I think that you played right into his hands with your move here. Aggression should be used with thought. Why doubling up an opponent here, or at best - taking a coin-flip against him? that's not the right moment for it, IMO.


[/ QUOTE ]

Well hold on a second. There was plenty of thought that went into this move. First of all, your post assumes he's going to call. Why? Is it because you always read a min-raise from a steal position to be a big PP? Yes, it was in this case, but reading the results and then working backward is cheating. If you really do play this way then you'll get chewed up short handed.

So, rather than just jumping to conclusions, let's think about the situation. For starters, we've got weak tight players here -- generally not a min-raise trapping bunch. Moreover, I've got a pretty good hand, but one that will almost certainly be very hard to play after the flop because of all the overcards. Just call preflop? That seems like a terrible play to me. Just weak. Re-raising has got to be the right move, and if I'm going to re-raise, there's not much sense in re-raising any less than his stack. Do that and boy, do I ever put my opponent to a decision. What hands would you risk your whole stack with here? AA, KK. QQ and AK maybe. That's it. And IF I do get called, and IF I do lose, I'm still by far the biggest stack.

So, comments appreciated from anyone who doesn't auto-fold anything but AA to a minraise.
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  #4  
Old 03-12-2004, 11:26 AM
PrayingMantis PrayingMantis is offline
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Default Re: Push?

Hey hockey1,

I appriciate your thinking here, it's only that we see it differently. I'd rather raise them big with complete trash, than pushing against a min-raise from UTG (you say yourself they are tight-weak. mini-raising is, IMO, a clear tell of a strong hand by a weak-tight player) with 99, and no, I'm not reading that backwards from the results. You are at best 50-50 here, and as I see it, with weak-tight players, chances for a big pair are pretty good here.
That's my take here. As a big stack, I will attack all the time, but will not let small-stacks good doubling-up chances like you gave them here. Playing *too* loose as big stack, in situations where people show strength, can lead you to lose too much of your chips-advantage.

[ QUOTE ]
So, comments appreciated from anyone who doesn't auto-fold anything but AA to a minraise.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
Moreover, I've got a pretty good hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

You kidding, right? Are you comparing 99 to AA? There are MANY hands in between, and you should play any hand according to the situation. If you don't understand this, you have a problem. 99, as much as you don't like it, is a VERY mediocre hand in NL.

PrayingMantis
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  #5  
Old 03-12-2004, 12:03 PM
hockey1 hockey1 is offline
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Default Re: Push?

[ QUOTE ]
I appriciate your thinking here, it's only that we see it differently. I'd rather raise them big with complete trash, than pushing against a min-raise from UTG (you say yourself they are tight-weak. mini-raising is, IMO, a clear tell of a strong hand by a weak-tight player) with 99, and no, I'm not reading that backwards from the results. You are at best 50-50 here, and as I see it, with weak-tight players, chances for a big pair are pretty good here.
That's my take here. As a big stack, I will attack all the time, but will not let small-stacks good doubling-up chances like you gave them here. Playing *too* loose as big stack, in situations where people show strength, can lead you to lose too much of your chips-advantage.


Quote:
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So, comments appreciated from anyone who doesn't auto-fold anything but AA to a minraise.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Moreover, I've got a pretty good hand.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



You kidding, right? Are you comparing 99 to AA? There are MANY hands in between, and you should play any hand according to the situation. If you don't understand this, you have a problem. 99, as much as you don't like it, is a VERY mediocre hand in NL.

[/ QUOTE ]

First of all, thanks for setting me straight on that whole AA is different from 99 thing. You just plugged a big leak in my game.

As for the less silly things you say in your post, you skip THE most important aspect of the play entirely: You put tremendous pressure on the other player AND you have a strong hand HU. Of course it's not AA, but it's better HU than AK. And 4 handed, it's a pretty damn big hand, but ONLY IF YOU PLAY IT RIGHT. And just calling preflop shrinks it up a whole bunch. Go all in. Fold those mediocre aces and KJs and garbage like that. Hell, you'll fold TT and JJ and AQ and AJ enough to make this play highly profitable. But calling let's all of those hands in, and then what do you do when the flop comes K 8 7? You're screwed.

Maybe I just prefer to attack more than you short-handed, and that's fine, but your analysis of the situation is incomplete.
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  #6  
Old 03-12-2004, 12:25 PM
PrayingMantis PrayingMantis is offline
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Default Re: Push?

Let's make it clear: I didn't say you made a huge mistake here or something. I only insist that it is much much better to apply aggression in spots when you open the pot, or sense real weakness, and not against a mini-raise from weak-tight UTG, especially when you hold hands like 99.

[ QUOTE ]
but it's better HU than AK.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this is your mistake. I would gladly push here with AK. Saying that 99 is better HU than AK is the same common mistake as saying 22 is better that AK HU. This is a wrong way too look at it, and I suggest you'll check some very good threads on this in the multi-forum. The EV evaluation of a specific hand against another (like 22 vs. AK) is a misleading concept when you have to make decisions like yours here.

The question is always: what is the range of hands you are standing against. With your 99, as I said, you are AT BEST a 50-50 here. However, AK here gives you a huge advantage over a nice range of hands, and that's why it is much much better than 99 in this specific spot.

PrayingMantis
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  #7  
Old 03-12-2004, 11:55 AM
threei threei is offline
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Default Re: Push?

I don't think its a bad play to push here, 99 is a big hand when the table is 4 handed. With your chip lead you can put him to the test knowing you won't be hurt too badly. The only thing here is the min raise. Most people will only min raise with AA KK in early position. Its important to pay attention to his betting pattern. If he is normally coming in for 3x-4x the bb when he raises, be aware of the min raise. If he is one of those players who always just doubles the blinds when he raises then it could be a number of hands.
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  #8  
Old 03-12-2004, 01:18 PM
LetsRock LetsRock is offline
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Default Re: Push?

I tend to agree with mantis on this one hockey. You've been pushing the table around with your huge stack. If I'm one of your opponents, I'm going to look for exactly this kind of hand to get my chips in with, and I'd play it just like he did - lure you into feeling like you can steal my raise and then pounce with what I have left.

99 is not strong enough for this situation. Fold or call and hope for a set. If you call - I'm gonna check/raise (or minibet/raise) you on the flop - so tread lightly.

Something that I find curious, is that you asked for comments and then proceeded to tell Mantis that he was wrong. If you're going to completly dismiss opinions that you disagree with, why did you bother to ask? I'm not saying that everyone (including myself) who replies to questions is right, but to flat out say that he is wrong is telling the rest of us that you don't want to hear our opinions if we don't agree with you. You won't learn much that way.
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  #9  
Old 03-12-2004, 04:56 PM
cferejohn cferejohn is offline
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Default Re: Push?

Against a short-stack, I'd probably do the same thing. 99 is a strong hand 4-handed, but you don't want to call and let the BB to overcall (which he is getting very attractive odds to do with a min-raise and a caller). Make a note that UTG min-raises with big hands (unless he's been minraising everytime he's raised.
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  #10  
Old 03-12-2004, 05:12 PM
cferejohn cferejohn is offline
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Default Re: Push?

Now that I've read the rest of the thread, a couple randowm thoughts:

1. Someone (I think it was hockey) said that "the all-in will fold all non-pair hands except AK". I really don't think this is true. If I were UTG I would call 4-handed against an aggressive player with AQ, AJ, and possibly KQ. You did say they were weak tight, so maybe you can take out a couple of those, but I can't imagine he would fold AQ 4-handed here.

2. I would play 99 and AK exactly the same here. They are both coinflips against alot of good hands. If he does call with AQ, AJ, and KQ, AK and he will fold low pairs (say 5's one down), AK has a much better chance of being way ahead (dominates 36 hands, where 99 is an overpair to 18 hands). Similarly, AK be a big dog much more rarely than 99, since it is only behind 8 hands (4 ways to make AA and KK since an A and a K are already accounted for). In any case, they are both strong hands 4-handed and I'd often put a shortstack all-in with either of them.

3. The fact that the players on this table had been min-raising alot changes the complexion of the question entirely, and makes your all-in a much better move (if this player really was doing it alot, I would go all-in here without a second thought). I agree with Mantis that constant min-raising does not fit my description of 'weak tight'. I would call it 'aggressive-tricky'. If they had been very tight when someone else raised, I'd make a seperate note about that. Many good tournament players, in fact are simultaneously quite aggressive when entering a pot first and extrememly tight when there has been a raise before them.
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