Hand from WSOP 2000 NLHE

[mikeyworm]

My tounrnament was going great and we had just burst the bubble a couple hands ago. I had been at my new table for about 2 hours and had built my stack from 27K to 39K without showing down a hand. I had recently been raising a lot as the short stacks stalled to get into the money.

The villain in this hand was very TAG. He had twice folded KQo faceup from the BB against shortstack all-ins and had discussed folding pairs up to 10s in the same situation. He and I have been sitting two seats away from each other and have talked about not tangling with our large stacks. While we were seated together he never called and always entered a pot with a raise or reraise.

Hero: ~39K
Villain: ~50K

Table Average: ~23K
Tournament Average: ~21K

Hero is UTG and raises to 2200 with K [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]K [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. Folded to Villain in BB who quickly makes it 10K. Hero ...?

I don't think this is as easy of a decision as it seems. Would love to hear some opinions. Thanks.

-Jason

[Prime Time]

[ QUOTE ]
My tounrnament was going great and we had just burst the bubble a couple hands ago. I had been at my new table for about 2 hours and had built my stack from 27K to 39K without showing down a hand. I had recently been raising a lot as the short stacks stalled to get into the money.

The villain in this hand was very TAG. He had twice folded KQo faceup from the BB against shortstack all-ins and had discussed folding pairs up to 10s in the same situation. He and I have been sitting two seats away from each other and have talked about not tangling with our large stacks. While we were seated together he never called and always entered a pot with a raise or reraise.

Hero: ~39K
Villain: ~50K

Table Average: ~23K
Tournament Average: ~21K

Hero is UTG and raises to 2200 with K [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]K [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. Folded to Villain in BB who quickly makes it 10K. Hero ...?

I don't think this is as easy of a decision as it seems. Would love to hear some opinions. Thanks.

-Jason

[/ QUOTE ]

It is an EZ decision.
Just Push and if he has the rockets so be it.

This also keeps from making a tuff fold, if an Ace hits.

[slickpoppa]

[ QUOTE ]
It is an EZ decision.
Just Push and if he has the rockets so be it.

This also keeps from making a tuff fold, if an Ace hits.

[/ QUOTE ]

My thoughts exactly

[DeadMoneyOC]

Insta-push. Being afraid of AA at this point in the tournament when you hold KK should not even be a thought.

[sdplayerb]

due to his 4.5x reraise, i do not think he has AA, so i would push.
If he had made it more like 6 or 7K, i do think it does start to become more debatable.
You also said you had been raising a lot, so he won't have you as tight.

[billyjex]

he views you as tight and conservative when it comes to playing against his big stack. he can do this with less than AA. push.

[The Student]

I know that everyone else has said push, but I can understand why this hand requires some thought. You have a very healthy stack if you fold here and can still increase your stack without messing with the big stack villian. Obviously you're only worried about aces here, but you don't want to risk your healthy stack in the tournament against the one guy at the table that can take you out. So I can understand why you might fold this, but I do think that's a weak-tight way to play it.

You've been raising a lot, so he knows you're betting some less than stellar hands. He also knows that you do not want to tangle with him, so he probably thinks that you will lay down the overwhelming majority of your raising hands to a big re-raise from him. I think he makes this re-raise with Js - As and A/K (maybe A/Q too). I also agree with the poster that said that he probably wouldn't make a re-raise this large with As, because it will likely drive you out of the pot when he would do better to keep you in the hand to milk you for some more chips. You are well ahead of the majority of hands that he would make this re-raise with, and even if he has aces, you still have a chance to catch him.

Personally, I push here for two reasons:
1. The cards: The chances that he has aces are very slim (this is largely based upon his large re-raise), and you are a large favorite over all other hands. Even if he has aces, you still have a shot at outrunning him.
2. The tournament situation/stack sizes: Assuming he doesn't have aces, he will be very hard pressed to call you without Ks or Qs here, so you will likely increase your stack by 25%. It will also send the rest of the table the message that they can not just assume you are stealing all the time and can be moved off your pre-flop raises. If he does call with an inferior hand, the odds of you ending up with a huge stack (3x the average stack) is great, and then you really have some leverage to bully the table.

Of course, you could just call and hope not to see any face cards, but I prefer the push because just in case he has aces, I want to see all 5 cards.

I guess it comes down to this:
1. how confident are you that the only hand he could have here is aces? I would say there is at least a 80% chance that he doesn't have aces here (yes, I'm just making that number up).
2. how comfortable are you that a fold here still gives you a good chance to get to the FT? you have a healthy stack, but it would be a lot nicer to double up here and have a huge stack.

ts-

[Jason Strasser]

[ QUOTE ]
due to his 4.5x reraise, i do not think he has AA, so i would push.


[/ QUOTE ]

huh?

[USCUNC]

I think the analysis throughout this whole thread is right on. In this situation, you have to play back at him. See if he wants to play you?

[Ian J]

I may just be thinking about this oddly, but against the player described I think calling is far superior to pushing. It sounds like this is that guy who will only call you here w/ Aces. QQ hits the muck if you move in here.

So yeah, I think you should call and stack off after he bets the flop.