Pocket 4s Bubble Deep

[daviebhoy]

There was a hand I struggled with last night. I am in quite a soft 6 seater $33 sng. Finding lots of good ones on full tilt for $50 and $33. The first three players have been knocked out already and we are 3 handed on the bubble but still pretty deep with 50+ BBs. Notes are that mboz is a losing player who likes to raise 3.5 the BB all the time. He does seem reasonably tight - I didnt have HEM running for this game due to issues I'm having with it the now.

In these soft games I am often finding tricky spots and wonder if I should be sticking to a low-blind/cash gamey strategy 3 handed or as chip leader I should be aggressively accumulating blinds. I think I am falling inbetween at the moment and not sure it is anywhere near optimal.

Full Tilt Poker Game #11486039312: $33 + $3 Sit & Go (Turbo) (86267397), Table 1 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:56:16 ET - 2009/04/03
Seat 4: McKeen88 (2,245)
Seat 5: bigdeal_dn (3,785)
Seat 6: mboz1 (2,970)
McKeen88 posts the small blind of 30
bigdeal_dn posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bigdeal_dn [ ]
mboz1 raises to 210
McKeen88 folds
bigdeal_dn has 15 seconds left to act
bigdeal_dn has requested TIME
bigdeal_dn ?

My problem is I want to re-steal here but I don't want him calling and having to play a big pot OOP on a board I'm likely to miss or even worse have him come back over the top of me. I think we are far too deep to push all-in. Should I set mine ? Stacks are a little bit awkward for that but could be best play. I feel I am the best player at the table and think better spots may come up as the game progresses. What should I do ? I ended up using up time coz I really couldnt decide what to do here.

[Longy]

I like a call against the opponent, we are deep enough to set mine but i would playing for a bit of pair value postflop as well.

Repopping is not great as this villian is probably calling/shoving us light and we don't want to be flipping for stacks here or playing a big pot oop.

Folding is a no no this deep imo we are getting about 20 to 1 in implied odds (150 to win 3000), so yeah call.

[boldie]

I like a call against the opponent, we are deep enough to set mine but i would playing for a bit of pair value postflop as well.

Repopping is not great as this villian is probably calling/shoving us light and we don't want to be flipping for stacks here or playing a big pot oop.

Folding is a no no this deep imo we are getting about 20 to 1 in implied odds (150 to win 3000), so yeah call.

I like this.

[MANTIS01]

Yeah, I agree with Longy, especially about the pair value. You say this...My problem is I want to re-steal here, and that's not a very good mentality to have when you stop and think that you prob have the best hand right now. Of course you can call and hit a set and the game's virtually over, but you can also call and still like your one pair depending on villains bet sizing and timing etc...so the hand's far from over.

[silverslick]

call and set mine only a 3 bet if you are the weaker player

[daviebhoy]

I ended up folding this hand which I knew was far too weak. I wish I flat called.

I think this fold made me continue to play weakly as in this hand :

Full Tilt Poker Game #11486062432: $33 + $3 Sit & Go (Turbo) (86267397), Table 1 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:58:03 ET - 2009/04/03
Seat 4: McKeen88 (2,245)
Seat 5: bigdeal_dn (3,695)
Seat 6: mboz1 (3,060)
McKeen88 posts the small blind of 30
bigdeal_dn posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bigdeal_dn [ ]
mboz1 folds
McKeen88 calls 30
bigdeal_dn raises to 180
McKeen88 calls 120
*** FLOP *** [ ]
McKeen88 checks
bigdeal_dn bets 180
McKeen88 raises to 1,065
bigdeal_dn has 15 seconds left to act
bigdeal_dn has requested TIME

Can anyone find a shove here or is there anything to be said for calling ? His overraise is ridiculous and this player has been very active winning lots of pots like this on the bubble.

[Longy]

Looks fine to me and I fold to the overraise.

[TheChipPrince]

AK hand:

Don't beat yourself up, players just dont get crazy on the bubble with a hand that A high beats often enough for us to call/raise here, fold, and use the info...

You've lost less than 7% - 8% of your stack, not a problem, the info he's giving you, ie ''he's going to massively check-raise when he thinks he's ahead'' is worth the money you've lost in itself...

[gatso]

davie, why do you think you've played the AK weakly? looks pretty much spot on to me

[daviebhoy]

davie, why do you think you've played the AK weakly? looks pretty much spot on to me

This was early on still and as we played on he became the big stack by making similar plays like this. It just didn't feel right at the time but I agree the fold was correct. I just wondered if anyone has seen anyone playing like this before and if there were any thoughts other than fold ? I tend to think this player may lay down his hand if I came over the top of him and I still probably have outs if I get called and shows me 72o. I just don't think he can be strong here.

The real reason for these posts are I think I am weak at these short-handed deep situations and I like to fold too much until the blinds become big enough to make decisions easy. The villain in this hand seemed to handle the situation well by being super-aggressive and getting the other two players to fall into line and I wonder what I can do about this other than wait until I have something to play back at him with ? If AKs isn't good enough what is ?

[EvilPie]

I ended up folding this hand which I knew was far too weak. I wish I flat called.

I think this fold made me continue to play weakly as in this hand :

Full Tilt Poker Game #11486062432: $33 + $3 Sit & Go (Turbo) (86267397), Table 1 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:58:03 ET - 2009/04/03
Seat 4: McKeen88 (2,245)
Seat 5: bigdeal_dn (3,695)
Seat 6: mboz1 (3,060)
McKeen88 posts the small blind of 30
bigdeal_dn posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bigdeal_dn [ ]
mboz1 folds
McKeen88 calls 30
bigdeal_dn raises to 180
McKeen88 calls 120
*** FLOP *** [ ]
McKeen88 checks
bigdeal_dn bets 180
McKeen88 raises to 1,065
bigdeal_dn has 15 seconds left to act
bigdeal_dn has requested TIME

Can anyone find a shove here or is there anything to be said for calling ? His overraise is ridiculous and this player has been very active winning lots of pots like this on the bubble.

This is such a beautiful flop for any pair it's untrue.

This is an easy pass for AK. You show no weakness here whatsoever. Your oppo is being too aggressive. Just be patient and wait until you hit.

AK is great for shoving or calling once you become shortstacked. While you're deep though unless you get it in pre then it's always best to give up on any flop that you miss.

[AlexMartin]

the 44 hand. Ill go against convention and say its fine to fold pre. We are only getting 15:1 implied and are out of position with a hand that wont connect enough and im not hapy to play postflop with and im not happy to 3b with.

[daviebhoy]

Thanks Alex. If it is fine to fold do you think its bad to flat call looking to set mine ?

Villains range is so wide I really don't fancy playing the flop OOP if I miss.

[TheChipPrince]

Thanks Alex. If it is fine to fold do you think its bad to flat call looking to set mine ?

Villains range is so wide I really don't fancy playing the flop OOP if I miss.

Its never 'bad', its very marginal...  All 3 options are viable...

[AlexMartin]

Thanks Alex. If it is fine to fold do you think its bad to flat call looking to set mine ?

Villains range is so wide I really don't fancy playing the flop OOP if I miss.

Its never 'bad', its very marginal...  All 3 options are viable...

+1

 davieboy, if he was a super tight nit, then we DEFINITELY call as we have true implied odds (ie he will have a big enough hand enough of the time to get allin with us if we flop a set).