88 on the bubble...

[buhler26]

4 people left in a UB 10-player SNG. Top 3 get money.
Blinds are 100-200.
Blind chips are about:
UTG - 2800
Me - 1500
SB - 1100
BB - 4400
I have the button and pocket 8's.

UTG calls 200.
I call 200. (I would have raised had UTG not called)
SB folds.
BB checks.

Flop is A 7 2, rainbow.

UTG bets minimum (200).
I raise to 700 (my thinking here is that if UTG had an ace he would have raised preflop, and I am trying to take the pot here.)
BB folds, UTG calls.

Turn 4

UTG checks, I move all-in, he calls.
UTG shows A6o.
I don't improve and I'm out in 4th.

Should I raise pre-flop?
Should I drop on the turn?

Given his hand and how he played it, I'm not sure I could have won the hand, but I think I could have given myself a better chance to. Any thoughts?

[Jason Strasser]

I push here preflop 100% of the time in my game.

-Jason

[edge]

Hard to just call with eights preflop. I'd either push or fold; most likely push, unless that limp was very suspicious.

[NegativeEV]

Strasser,
You say that this is an auto push preflop for you in this situation. I've reviewed enough of your hand histories to know this is true. My question is why wouldn't you bump it up to T700 or so rather than pushing all in? With a chip stack of T2800, you are not at 10xBB and you are not putting yourself below 10xBB with a 600-800 raise. I would think that a 600-800 raise would eliminate other players effectively and would still allow you to bail out if you were beat. Maybe this is a difference between the $11-$33 games I play and the $55-$215 games that you play, but typically a caller of T700 in this situation would also call all-in at my tables. A 600-800 raise would allow me to shut this down post flop if I didn't take it down with my preflop raise. Thoughts?

[Jason Strasser]

Reread the inital post. Hero has 1500.

[jedi]

[ QUOTE ]
Strasser,
You say that this is an auto push preflop for you in this situation. I've reviewed enough of your hand histories to know this is true. My question is why wouldn't you bump it up to T700 or so rather than pushing all in? With a chip stack of T2800, you are not at 10xBB and you are not putting yourself below 10xBB with a 600-800 raise

[/ QUOTE ]

Hero has 1500 in this hand. It's a push or fold for me here and I'd lean towards pushing.

[NegativeEV]

Yup. Agree- push.