blonde poker forum

I always find playing smallish pairs in early position at a crucial stage in tournaments very tricky. Just wandered how others would play in this situation.

Dave likes to play small pairs in early position quite unusually - he limps, then if he gets a Raiser, he RR's, representing a monster.

But in MilkyBarKids scenario, the Blinds v Stack equation would not make that workable, you'd be guaranteed a call to the RR.

I'd either Pass, or move all-in. It's not an ideal spot to move in, but it depends on the table. I'd probably bin, & look for a better spot.

mucking me.
I don't want a caller and the blinds, while not insignificant to my stack aren't a big enough prize for me to go for UTG with 6,6
a round or two later the chips are going in there but I hope a better spot will probably present itself.

This is very similar to a position I was in at the Luton £200 freezout.

19 players left. Blinds 1.5/3k. I'm under the gun with 7s and a 21K stack.

I mucked and let myself drop to 16.5K and then pushed it in asap.

a 21 stack with those blinds isn't a crisis just yet. A pot raise is 10.5K, only half my stack. I therefore deduced that I could let the blinds pass.

However, I do consider this to be a borderline decision, and , on another day, may have been tempted by shoved it in. HAs to be all-in or pass though mi thinks.

If the blinds are 1500 3000 I assume there will be a running ante of 300 as well which means you are in serious chip trouble. If there are 18 left the prizemoney isnt due a jump for another 9 places anyway (assuming standard structure for a 1k comp). Its may not be the cleverest play but I am looking to double up and get myself in the mix and a pair of 6s sure looks good to me. Id tank it all in and hope to win a race situation here. I dont like doing this out of position with small pairs but with the stack you have got I feel you have no option.

If there had been a running anti of 300 and an extra 3000k in the pot, then I probably would have gone all-in.

Thats the difference between nl and pot limit snoopy. Pot limit I fold instantly as there is no running ante which gives you a bit more breathing space.

It was a no limit tournament, but with no running antes.

close , all in or fold. Just raising less than all in not an option imo

To my mind it's important what type of table you are on and who is in the blinds...if its a scenario when most of your table is shortish and thinking about reaching the final then you may get it through uncontested, likewise if you don't havea big stack in the blinds

Recently I pushed in a similar situation (44) won a race with AK and made a final comfortably.

Another time I do it with 10 10, get 9 9 to re-raise all in to take me on heads up and an AK passes....

other times it doesn't work out and you wish you'd folded

I do think stack sizes and who isin the blinds is important 

Ok heres a situation I found myself in. I had 13k left with blinds of 1500 3000 and a running 300. We had just gone through the bubble (27 left) and were now getting 8k, the money didnt jump till 18 but the real money was the top 3. We redrew for tables and I was seat 2. I wanted to get back in the comp so I announced allin while the dealer was still shuffling and everyone folded- I was up to 20kish, I again announced allin blind utg and was reraised by K9 (correct play imo) and my "blind" 6s stood up. I was now up to almost 50k. Sure it was an unconventional tactic but I wanted to get back into the game and have a chance at a big payday (1st was 300k). Sometimes you have to gamble if you want to give yourself a chance imo.

i actually would raise less than allin, i believe it can be a stronger move than allin at this stage because people will look at your stack and see/think you aren't gonna fold to a reraise, therefore it LOOKS like you want action with a strong hand.
Though i suppose table image is an important factor here, either that or fold, though as folks have said you need chips here and you are just about to pay a quarter of your chips in antes..........
Ian

Ariston, It depends whether you are one of two schools of thought


a)  I can pass and scrape into the final with a bit of luck

b) To win this thing I am going to need to gamble, I need chips and I need them soon...all in, and there's always anoher tournament

In my limited experience amateurs and lower level players think a), pro's/experienced players will think b)

I would raise to 12k here i think. Not only does it give the illusion you have a much bigger hand than 66 but also if you get a call its still possible to push them off on the flop. Some players will fold for 8k on the flop, its like a stop and go, but its a go and go.

fold the money is too shallow to be messing about trying to catch a set much to shallow to be call folding and do ou really want to be putting you tourny on a flip of a coin which is te best thing that can come out of getting all in with a call

look for better postion to steal

hold on a minute, you have less than 7BB and very soon you have just over 5bb once the blinds pass you, how low do you have to be to be prepared to accept a coin flip?

at 5bb or less any pair you pick up may be called multi-way, reducing it's winning chance.

Go All in!


Maybe............. :D

i said postion not cards

Much would depend on the remaining payout structure for me.  If its the typical Grosvenor structure where you've now made back your money but 18th pays the same as 10th then I'm more inclined to push here than anything else.  You've got work to do to survive another 9 players so you might as well double up now or bust out trying.

Ordinarily if I was raising this hand  I would just push as any sort of 'standard' raise pretty much commits you anyway and you hopefully gain more fold equity (although some players will be more likely to call an all-in bet than a smaller raise).  However, with you being UTG here its possible that a min-raise might get through if the players are likely to be suspicious of it.  Much depends on your image at the table.

If the payout structure had any sort of incremental increase between 18th and 10th place then I'm more likely to consider the min-raise/limp/fold options compared to the push. If not, there's little downside to just pushing (I busted out of the £750 last week with this attitude but I'm still happy enough with the play).

Sheriff