A Couple of Pre-flop Decisions from the Stars $10+1 Rebuy

[DougBrennan]

These two pre-flop situations are both from last night's Stars $10+1 rebuy. Neither of them is earth-shattering one way or the other, but I questioned both my decisions before and after the fact, and I was interested in some second opinions.

Hand #1

Very shortly after the 1st break, no more rebuys. The table played loose the first hour, but not maniacally, and play is now proceeding sedately.

Blinds 75/150 I'm in the CO-1 position with t7190, maybe a hair above average, and I"m looking at A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. Folded to me, I rase to 450, Button calls, SB folds, BB raises all-in to t6320. It's to me for most of my stack, Button to play after me with a stack of t12330.

What is your play?

Hand #2:

I have not been at this table very long, have not played a hand yet, but all the play that I have seen has been reasonable, and it is late enough in the tourney that most of the maniacs are gone.

Blinds 800/400 ante 50. I'm Mr. Little Blind with t24289 and looking at 9 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. I like nines. They've been good to me. I would like to play these. UTG, with a stack barely smaller than mine, raises to 2400. I like nines. I don't love them, particularly with a UTG raise. All fold to me.
Big Blind toplay after me with a stack of t3800.

What is your play?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Doug (results below)


RESULTS (in white, hopefully) well, it didn't work for me, so I'll just put in some extra lines before the results. No reading ahead, now!
















Hand # 1: I called with my AK. BB had 88, flop came 10 4 A and my hand held up from there.

Hand #2: I folded. BB folded. We'll never know. But I'll say this, looking at it this moring I think I was weak. My thinking at the time was that I wouldn't know how to play any flop that didn't have a nine in it, since I had no feel for whether UTG had a pair or high cards, and rather than guessing I folded.

[eMarkM]

Hand 1, I call everytime. This is a good situation in these rebuys to be in. These are usually very large tourneys and I would rather have a big stick to wield to go the distance or be out early. So I'd call without hesitation. You'll often dominate someone overplaying AQ or something similar. I'm willing to risk a coin flip here unless I'm one of the biggest stacks going against someone similar.

Hand 2, you say you have the UTG barely covered. I would just call. You're out of position and your nines wouldn't like a reraise. But you gotta see a flop with this hand. I'll often lead out 1/2 pot bet on any non-threatening flop and see how he reacts.

[Che]

Doug-

Hand 1: I don't think you're dominated here since AA/KK should raise to 1200-1500, 2000 max. But I don't think you're dominating either. Basically, a call is volunteering for the short end of a coin flip most of the time with an occasional AK or AKs mixed in. Glad it worked out...

Hand 2: I think there are arguments for calling, raising and folding.

I like calling the most. 2:1 from the current pot for the call. It's only 1/12 of your stack so you can hit or quit the set if you want to avoid a questionable confrontation. I think the implied odds on the set alone justify the call. Additionally, you can make a pot-sized bet on many one overcard flops (e.g. J85) and take it down if UTG missed with overcards. This bet (when you make it) will probably also work often enough to be +EV so your situation is a good one overall. Of course, BB may call or raise and throw a wrench in the whole thing but I'd probably risk it anyway.

Reraising will probably keep BB out of the pot (unless he has you killed) but it opens you to an UTG push that you don't want to call so I would only reraise when my read on the raiser justified it (i.e. not in this case).

If the BB is likely to come over the top, folding is OK (I guess) since you don't want to get into a shootout. However, I would expect a reasonable BB player to wait for a better opportunity than playing against an UTG raiser and SB caller that both have him covered by a mile so I expect BB to fold most of the time. If he does come in and UTG raises, you're probably buried anyway so you can get out with minimal damage (and then cry when a 9 flops [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]).

Just my two cents...

Che

BTW- I saw the hand you busted on. Tough one. And you were getting close!

Hope to see you at the final table tonight. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[DougBrennan]

Thanks for your thoughts Ed and Che.

Che, I was thinking about that bust-out hand on my way to work this morning, and realized my mistake was on my read (at least). I had played with that opponent, a sometimes 2+2er, for about 2 hours on my first table, and had seen him make several moves on a flop and back off when raised, including once when I knocked him off a pretty hefty raise.

So I thought the same thing was going on here, thinking he thought I was stealing an un-bet flop from the Button and that he would try a re-steal (can YOU say overthink, boys and girls). My misread, I decided this morning, was this: all of the "plays at the pot" I had seen him make were bets, not raises. And I knew he was a solid player. So I should have realized my top-pair-10-kicker was real vulnerable. Ah well, it will make the next victory that much sweeter. And maybe I learned something in the process. One can only hope.

I'll be looking for you at that final table.

Doug

[Che]

I like your analysis. Betting "plays at the pot" and raise the opponent all-in after he makes a decent bet "plays at the pot" are definitely in different categories.

But didn't he only have you beat by one rank? (I was playing a SNG at the time since I busted 200th [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] so I don't remember all the details.)

That's the part that must have been frustrating: his raise was somewhere between a "play" and a powerful bet. Seems like he probably could have done this with K9 or K8, maybe even second pair which means the call may not have been so bad after all.

FWIW,
Che

[DougBrennan]

Actually, he just raised me about half my stack. I had 37K to start the hand and he had 74K. The board was KQx, and I put him on Q at best, which would have made my K10 best. I figured the only raise I could make that would be meaningful to him was all-in, so I did. He called my all-in, showed KJ, and that, as they say, was that.

I'm happy that I had an idea that hand and went with it, I just wish it had been a better idea.

Doug