Oh, those annoying reraises!

[fnurt]

I hate when I raise with a legitimate hand in LP and the BB comes back with one of those massive overkill reraises all-in. I shouldn't hate it, but I do. It's just the cavalier manner in which they toss all those chips in, and the way they never seem to do it when I have AA. Anyway, when you're raising from an obvious steal position, it's clear people will play back with less, so when can you justify calling? Here are 3 examples from last night?

1: Folded to me in SB with A9o, I raise 3xBB, BB goes all-in. He is a short stack so the pot is laying me 3-1 on my call.

2: Folded to me in CO with JJ, I raise 3xBB to like 900, BB goes all in for 10k (which is about 1/3 of my stack).

3: Folded to me in CO with AJs, I raise 3xBB to 6000, BB (same guy as #2, and his stack is equal to mine) goes all-in for 25000 or so.

What are your actions in all 3 cases (and yes, I realize the results from #2 might help you answer #3, but bear with me for now)? This could be a serious leak in my game.

[mrbaseball]

If I have them covered in each situation I probably call them all. Situation one and two for sure. Situation 3 I'm not sure? Depends on if I feel I can lose 25K and still compete. I realize this may be a leak in my game [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[MLG]

Call. Call. Fold.

Knowing that the BB will do this I will sometimes just move all-in with a massive overbet with A-J in the situation you describe. I know he will play back at me with weak hands and that I won't call, and I want that blind money. 88 shrinks up on him awful fast in that situation. So, if you want to call with A-J in that situation, then massively overbet the pot to begin with. I know its a situation of only getting called when your losing, but with A-J its success rate is high enough to perhaps merit it.

[ohkanada]

1) Easy call.

2) Call against most players.

3) Fold.

Ken

[fnurt]

Oh, and for those who want to fold #3, I wonder if it is more important that (1) AJ is a crappy hand against a raiser, or (2) the BB has you covered.

Obviously they are both factors, I just wonder which is the more important factor in this case.

[tripdad]

sit 1: raise preflop to around half of BB's stack. this way, if SB comes over, you can safely fold. realize that BB may be sitting on a monster, but it is a gamble you must take. 2 1/2 or 3xBB raise is clearly incorrect here.

sit 2: need to know what the stack sizes of Button, and SB are and what level is the tourney at to give solid advice here. assuming none are short, a 2 1/2 to 2.75xBB may be better so if someone comes over, you lose less when you have to fold. no way i call there, knowing i am likely in a coin flip situation.

sit 3: by this level of blinds, i am definitely raising less than 3xBB. 2 1/2 is my SOP. fold if someone comes over the top. again, though...it would be helpful to know the other stacks of those yet to act.

cheers!

[MLG]

sit 2. Likely in a coinflip??? You are possibly in a coinflip. He could be playing over you with 1010, 99, 88, A-J. I think this one is an insta call.

[durron597]

1) Easy easy call.
2) Call against most players, unless he has to have AA-QQ to make a play like this.
3) Easy easy fold. You are ahead of nothing he would do this with, unless you know he is LAG. I would probably fold unless I had him covered 3:1 or more, or if busting him could increase my $ right now (deep in the money) - then I'd probably only need 2:1 to consider it.

This happened to me last night, actually: I have TT in MP, UTG limps (he does this alot). I have about T2600, he has T5000, blinds are T50/T100. I raise to T400, folded to UTG who pushes in. I briefly consider folding when I remember how he built his stack: he did the same thing to someone with 77, they had 88 but he hit his set to bust them. So I call, and he says "Wow that was a fast call" and turns over A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. I win the coinflip - though he ended up my T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] short of a royal - and he's mad that I made that call. Then I point out that I'd seen him do that with a small PP before so I assumed that's what he had - no response from him [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img].

[tripdad]

you may be right, but if i have a T30000 stack, and he has T10000, i don't want to end the hand tied with him in case you aren't. myself, if i were BB, i would not make the all-in move with anything that loses to JJ (other than AK) unless i think he is stealing. in which case, i would do it with lots of hands. maybe folding to the all-in makes me weak, but right now, i've got 100xBB and i'd like to get my money in in a bit better spot.

cheers!

[ohkanada]

"3: Folded to me in CO with AJs, I raise 3xBB to 6000, BB (same guy as #2, and his stack is equal to mine) goes all-in for 25000 or so."

Okay I may have to revisit this one. I was thinking your raise was much smaller compared to your stack. I think this is a tougher situation here and a call is correct in a lot of cases. Assuming this player has any brains, he understands you are in steal position. So he clearly can re-steal with a lesser ace as well as a few other non-pair hands. So if he plays straightforward and isn't likely re-stealing it is an easy muck, otherwise a call may well be the play.

I find the situations when your typical raise is 20-30 percent of your stack the toughest. You hate getting called with a steal hand because you likely will miss but if you go all-in instead and overbet the pot you will only get called by better hands or underpairs.

Ken