small pair short stacked.

[nortonmalc]

I'm curious if anyone thinks I sohuld have played this different. I think the guy I was up against made a bad call, but it worked for him anyway.

I've been short stacked in a NLHE tourney for pretty much the entire time. I took a bad beat early and spent the entire 1st hour pretty much under 1k chips (you start with 1500) and much of that under 500. After the first break I started coming back a bit and had worked myself back up to 3830 chips, still low, but not terribly so. Blinds were 100/200 and the table chip leader had 20k. I get dealt a pair of 5s 2 seats in front of the button. It folds to me and I make it 800 to go. I am hoping to either buy the pot right there or discourage mutliple callers, figuring low pairs are a lot better off heads up. If folds back to the BB and he re-raises to 2k. I called the extra 1.2k.

Flop comes Jd Jc Qs. He checks without too much thought, and I figure the flop has missed him. I had him covered by 300 chips so I figure I will put him all-in for another 1510 chips to see if he wants to put his tourney life at stake on a draw, knowing there is the possiblility that he is dominated if I've got a J. He calls and turns over Ah-Kh, leaving him 10 outs. Of course 4th st is an A, and to rub it in even more, 5th st is a K knocking me back down to 300 chips.

Was it a good play to make the guy make a call for his tourney life after the flop as I did, or would it have been better to check again?

After the hand he said that he had to call because he was pot comitted. Personally though I don't think it was a good call, despite the fact that he won. I mean, when I pushed him all-in, he knew that he had at best 10 outs and quite possibly as few as 4 outs plus running kings or aces. I had been playing tight the whole time due to my short stack and every time I showed my cards, I had the goods. And in a tournament, you not only have to take into account pot-odds, but your tournament life, which is more valuable than the actual pot odds you are getting. Does anyone else think he made a bad call?

[schwza]

pre-flop: i would make it 600 (or 550) instead of 800. it will fold out almost all of the same hands, and will leave you with room to maneuver if you are reraised or if you see the flop.

i would fold to the reraise. calling the extra 1.2k is 40% of your stack. your stacks are not deep enough to play for set value, and you'll have no idea where you stand post-flop.

flop: hard to say. i'd probably check from the BB if i had a hand and bet if i didn't. the big question is whether he'll fold a hand like 88 or AK if you push. if you think he's loose enough to call with those, you should just check and hope to get a free showdown.

if i were him, i would definitely push that flop. villain should figure he has a lot of outs if he's behind, and a lot of fold equity. with 4k in the middle and 1.5k in his stack, i think it's correct to call a push. he just should have pushed to try to fold out hands like 55. and he also should have pushed pre-flop to avoid putting himself in this spot.

and btw, he had 13 outs on the flop (3 A, 3 K, 3 Q, 4 T) and was likely picking up 3 more on the turn. he was ahead.

[Bernas]

I like his call here.

[schwza]

[ QUOTE ]
I like his call here.

[/ QUOTE ]

do you like check-call better than pushing?

[2005]

His call is fine, but a push would be much better.

Gavin

[nortonmalc]

Thanks for the input! You guys are helpful.