Near bubble / On bubble help

[fluorescenthippo]

1.
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (6 handed) converter

SB (t810)
BB (t1370)
UTG (t1280)
MP (t1700)
CO (t1240)
Hero (t1600)

Preflop: Hero is Button with T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">5 folds</font>.

Final Pot: t300

Should I have pushed here?

2.
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (6 handed) converter

CO (t710)
Button (t1270)
SB (t1480)
BB (t1700)
UTG (t1240)
Hero (t1600)

Preflop: Hero is MP with 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#CC3333">UTG raises to t1240 (All-In)</font>, <font color="#666666">5 folds</font>.

Final Pot: t1540

Was this fold correct?

3.
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t300 (4 handed) converter

Button (t820)
SB (t2190)
BB (t3490)
Hero (t1500)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Button raises to t820 (All-In)</font>, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>.

Final Pot: t1270

Should I have pushed here?

[Apathy]

1) Push

2) Totally read dependant I may fold or push, def not a bad fold though

3) Good Fold

[FieryJustice]

push
call
fold

[RobertC]

1. I wouldn't go all in here because you're only going to get called by hands that dominate you: A-A, K-K and probably A-K. If your opponents put you on A-K or suspect you're on a steal they may call you with any pocket pair. There is no hand that your opponents might call with that is an underdog to your K-10. A bet of 3 to 4 times the big blind should get most inferior hands to fold. If you're reraised pre-flop or bet into after an unfavorable flop you can still get away from the hand with enough chips left to do some damage.

2. If you're the best player at the table you probably shouldn't gamble here. If you're not, then you should try to determine the range of hands your opponent might go all in with. There are only 5 hands (pocket 10s thru Aces) that dominate you. You're at least a slight favorite over every other hand. There are 6 combinations of each of the 5 pocket pairs that you don't want to be up against. So that's a total of 30 combinations that are really bad for you. Would he go all in with A-J? A-10? K-Q? 5-5? If so, then you will be ahead before the flop more often than you're behind, dominating the smaller pocket pairs. And you should call. If you opponent is tight and wouldn't go all in with less than a high pocket pair or A-K then folding is right.

3. There is no way that you should fold K-10 UTG in a 4-handed game. You should open for a raise. If you play safe waiting for the short stack to bust out then you'll probably do no better than third place.

[DasLeben]

[ QUOTE ]
1. I wouldn't go all in here because you're only going to get called by hands that dominate you: A-A, K-K and probably A-K. If your opponents put you on A-K or suspect you're on a steal they may call you with any pocket pair. There is no hand that your opponents might call with that is an underdog to your K-10. A bet of 3 to 4 times the big blind should get most inferior hands to fold. If you're reraised pre-flop or bet into after an unfavorable flop you can still get away from the hand with enough chips left to do some damage.

[/ QUOTE ]

You have 8xBB. You're basically pot committed to any reraise. Also, yes, against a tight player, you will almost always be called by something that dominates you. But, you're ignoring the idea of fold equity here. Against a player only willing to call you with, say, A9+ and 77+, he folds 90% of the time to your all-in. Even though you will be dominated when he calls, your folding equity alone makes this a very +EV move.