blonde poker forum

Final 8 in small, live £30 NL Tourney.  Top 3 get paid.  Average chip 7.5k, one large stack of 12k and one short stack of around 3k.  This is 3rd hand since we got to the final table, the 3 people involved were not on my table before we got down to last 8.  I only know one of them (seat 6) he is a quiet bloke, but seems to last until the last 5-6 most weeks, but rarely cashes.

Blinds 200/400

Fold
Fold
Fold
Raise to 1,000
Fold
Seat 6: Call
Me in SB: I look down at  Ac Kc, call.
BB: Short stack, raises up to £2,900 all in

Original raiser fold straight away, seat 6 again calls and its back round to me.    I have 6,500 chips left and seat 6 only just has me covered.

What would you do??

Deffo worth a re-raise. Say another 1.5k to 2k. You have a great starting hand.

If you have Seat 6 beat and he calls your raise but you both lose to the BB then you at least have Seat 6's chips to offset. If he folds then it only costs you another 900 (5-1) to go heads up with the BB who's probably getting desperate.

If he goes all-in, which you doubt because he's generally quiet, then you have a decent chance with a top hand. Unless you can put him on AA or KK then it's worth the raise.

Gil, apologies, the BB raised £1,950 more, £2,950 total.   Not sure if that changes your play.

In that case the BB doesn't have to go all-in just yet unless he has something certain  like a med-high pair but he may still be gunning for free chips.
You now have 5,500 chips. 1,900 to call leaves you with 3,600. But you have to at least call here with your hand.
Another raise of 1.5k leaves you on about 2k. You're SB so could lose that and play another 2 rounds before the Blinds eat you whilst you pray for a good hand to come along.

I'm guessing that Seat6 was on average chips or the same as you, so he's in the same boat.

A raise here then is going to leave you short-stacked if Seat6 calls and you lose to him, but other than AA or KK you may not see a better hand for a while and there's going to be a good pot here.
Seat6 could have raised you himself, so unless he is slow-playing he wants to see the flop. Don't let him......

...All-in  !

i dont think you can call afford to miss the flop then fold so its a decsion of either all in or fold.

short stack could possibly be making this move with any kind of rag ace etc and you have him dominated however the call from the seat 6 concerns me looking at your info info about him that he gets down to last few but never cashes suggests he is a tight player who cant change gears when it gets down to final table and waits too long for big hands. I think he wants you in the pot and i would be very cautious of his play showing no strength. However it is gonna be a big pot if you push all in and get called if its not AA or KK  you could be way ahead or getting great pot odds for a coin flip.

Anyway all in or fold would be my answer what would i do who knows but i wouldnt just call

seat 6 has JJ :) :)

I'm all in here.

6 handed and I get AK and nobody apart from the short stack takes any initiative.  I'm putting seat 6 on a mid-pair here 8's or 9's.  I reckon you could be up against anything with the short stack worse case scenarios I have him on JJ you still have the odds IMO to make a move.

What did you do?

I figure to not have enough to take Seat 6 off the hand.

By calling a raise that had already been called, you've already shown that you're not too strong. Re-raising here screams isolation and you will probably get a call from his 99 or JJ or whatever.

Seat 6 is the type of player who rarely cashes, so I'm guessing he's not too aggressive. With a player all-in he is even more likely to check after you if you miss unless he hits big stlye?

Why race for all your chips in a tournament with AK when you can race for half of them?

I call.

Big blind short stack likely to be "at it"
Seat 6 has made two passive betting actions, as he's not that great a player, I am confident this means he isn't too strong aswell.

Not a fan of folding because AK might be best hand and good chance I can showdown for free if I don't improve.

Seat 6 rarely raises pre flop and I have seen him call decent bets with a range of hands, from K10o-A5-AA.  I decided that i wanted to go heads up against what i thought was a desperate BB and wanted to push seat 6 out of it.  I did this knowing that if I was called by seat 6 and i won i would be clear chip leader down to the last 6, with a great chance of winning the tourney, I did not put 6 on AA or KK, I actually felt he had AK-A10.  I also knew I couldnt afford to call and miss the flop, so calling was not an option.    

I reraised all in, seat 6 called and turned over  Kh Kd and the BB turned over 67o.   The ace didnt come and a 6 on the flop and a paired board on the river meant I finished 3rd in this 3 player race.   Out of the tournament in 7th place.