Four-handed in the BB

[cjmewett]

I don't know if maybe this is more appropriate for the SNG forum, considering that the tourney started with only 16, but I'll post here.

This hand took place in a $100+10 live tournament. Four players left, two of whom have been riding unlikely double-ups to their placing and only one of whom is a comparable (actually better) player to/than the hero.

Bad player in the SB (TC ~7000)
Hero in the BB (TC 7700)
Best player UTG (TC ~10000)
Weak unknown UTG +1 (TC ~8000)

32,000 TC in play
Blinds TC 700/1500
Ante TC 200

SB posts TC 700
Hero posts TC 1500

Hero dealt K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

UTG raises to TC 4000
UTG+1 folds
SB folds

My action, TC 2500 to call with TC 6000 left. What's my line here? I know that I'm clearly better than the two other medium/small stacks, and the villain is a better player than me.

Anyone push here? The blinds are so significant that you're seeing raises with any ace, which seems like a good reason NOT to push.

If I call, is 3500 enough to fold with if the flop misses me (with 5500 in the pot)?

Does anyone fold here with just over two orbits worth of chips left? Please save the comments about how I should play tournaments with a better blind structure. This structure sucks (especially towards the end), but it's the best one around.

Next post I'll elaborate the rest of the hand.

[cjmewett]

As it happened, I called. I figured I could at least milk my 3500 chips into third place if the flop missed and I had to fold. All the superfluous information about being the second-best player isn't really relevant, considering that we weren't seeing many flops at this point and there weren't a whole lot of opportunities to outplay anyone.

So here's the situation:

UTG raises to 4000 straight
UTG+1 folds
SB folds
Hero calls 2500

Two to the flop with 9500 in the pot

FLOP (TC 9500) J T 6r (one spade)

Hero is first to act.

I don't see many options here other than a push. As I see it, I get a fold if the flop missed the villain, which puts me in the chip lead. If he DID hit, then (figuring in his call) I'm being laid 13000 to 3500, about 3.7 to 1. I also figure that my two overs are probably good, giving me 14 outs (6 to pair my overs, 8 for the OESD).

I wish I could say I had considered the math involved at the time, but really I just decided that if the flop came near me, I was going to push. I didn't expect my 3500 to scare the villain off a pot of around 10,000, but I could always hope he missed or that overs scared him. Having said that, the pre-flop call had to cause some confusion, making my push seem to represent a real made hand.

Any opinions here? Could this have been played differently? I was upset with myself after the hand (which probably foreshadows the result), but after thinking about it, I think it was probably the right play.

As it happens, the villain had ATo for middle pair, top kicker, making my two overs AND my OESD clean. Unfortunately the turn was a ten, and the river didn't help (though by that time I had only the four nines as help). Turns out the math was right, and I was actually a favorite with two cards to come. Obviously the right play can't be determined by results, but I'm interested in opinions. I'm primarily a cash game player and I often fail to consider factors that solid tournament players would.

[jwvdcw]

I like your post flop play. Preflop I think I'll lay that down. You said people were pushing with A-x....if thats the case, then I'm even more scared of a smaller raise because it appears as if he wants calls(although thats clearly not how it turned out as he only had A-10).

You're about a 50% chance of being ahead prefop there imo, maybe even a bit less since any ace is ahead of you. Addittionally, he has position. Addittionally, you feel like you are the 2nd best player, so why risk so much on such a coinflip? I'd almost rather bluff all in preflop with a hand like 7-8s than to call a big portion of my stack out of position like that.

Similar situation to Williams' call of 1/3 his stack with 55 during the WSOP although obviously he didn't have 2 fish at the table with him.

[cjmewett]

Thanks for all the useful input everyone.