What to do in Tournament Masters Final Table Hand???

[Greg Zabawa]

This hand came up at the final table of the Tournament Masters tournament at Empire in which 1 seat is given to the WSOP.

NL Hold'em Trny:8539430 Level:11 Blinds (400/800) - Sunday, January 09, 19:44:35 EDT 2005
Table Tournament Masters Final Table(200347) Table #1 (Real Money)
Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 8
Seat 3: bigt5311 ( $18708 )
Seat 4: increible77 ( $21072 )
Seat 5: Jwosoto ( $13140 )
Seat 6: RiverRatfafa ( $5620 )
Seat 7: tirarcondine ( $17002 )
Seat 8: Cacacacall ( $7146 )
Seat 9: Radagility22 ( $12126 )
Seat 10: PureSmoke47 ( $4186 )
Trny:8539430 Level:11
Blinds (400/800)

OK, my brother was bigt5311 in the SB. Everyone folded to Puresmoke47, who was on the button and shortstacked. The BB was increible77 who had a large stack.

Anyway the hand is folded to the button, who puts in a minimum raise (1600). My brother is in the SB with AJs and decided he wants to play. The 2 options he is pondering are to raise to 5,000 which would effectively move in the button or to just move in himself.

Moving in will not only force the button to call of the few remaining chips he has, but will also most likely knock the BB out of the hand and get you heads up vs. someone with what could be a weak holding. In addition, if you just raise to 5,000 here, the BB, a big stack, might move in on you, knowing you won't want to call someone who has you covered without a premium hand. So just moving all in effectively isolates you against the button with a hand that is very strong compared to their range of hands.

On the other hand, if the BB has a monster hand and calls your all in move, you could be in trouble. The table was somewhat tight and the only likely hands to call are pairs AA-JJ and possible AK or AQ. A raise to 5,000 followed by an all in move by the BB would give you a chance to fold without too much damage to your stack, and you are not short-stacked enough that you need to become desperate.

So which do you think is the correct play? raising to 5000 which drives out most of the BB's hands and gives you a chance to fold if he does have a monster or just moving in yourself to isolate against the button and prevent the BB from trying a steal with a marginal hand to pick up your 5000?

[jslag]

I would raise it to 5000, not move all-in... for the reasons you already mentioned. You want to be able (and should be able) to get away from AJs if the BB wakes up with a monster. I think it is unlikely he would put in a steal over the top of your 5000 chip raise without a real hand.

It depends on the type of player he is, but he would have to be pretty ballsy to "steal" by coming over the top of your 5000 chip raise.

Notice that he also can't do this so easily... he has to have a hand that is favored over the short stack's hand. I can't see him making a "steal"... he would probably have to have at least AK to make such a move. And BTW, if he did make such a move... I would insta-muck my AJs.

I am very suspicious of the short stack's min-raise from the button. In my experience, this often means he has a very big hand and wants a call, but is afraid that by moving in for his entire stack (4186), he may get no action from the blinds. Just a thought. He could also be very weak here, but I agree that playing with AJs is the correct play unless the short stack is an ultra tight player.