3 way with TT?!!?

[mjrevie]

Home game last night. 5 players left and I've just won a huge pot off the player 1 to my right when i hit an ace high flush v a set. This was the very next hand.

Blinds are 200/400. I have approximately 30,000. Total chips on table are 75,000.
Villain 1, 1 to my right is UTG. Before hand is dealt he says he is bored, wanting to go home to watch BB and goes all in dark for 5500. He feels he's not been playing well all night and not likely to win.

I look down and see TT.  Call, Raise or Fold?

I decided to flat call - the reason i didnt raise was simply because i expected it to go fold, fold, fold and for people to let me and villian 1 fight it out.

Villian 2, 1 to my left, goes all in almost immdiately. He stacks out the 5500, looks at the rest of his chips and says "you dont need a count, you have to call" - this was his exact words.  Both blinds fold and its back on me. Knowledge about player - can be quite erractic between tight and loose. Generally pre-flop play is relatively tight in these sort of situations - his post-flop play is where he loosens up going all in with a lot of draws. At this point i dont know his exact stack, i dont ask for an exact count but i guess looking at his chip stack he has about 3/4000  more. I have been playing super tight all night (whether or not he noticed this is another thing) but i'm known to be a bit loose at times. There is about 21000 in the pot and its 4000 max more to me - Call or Fold now?

I thought for a bit and then called. I put him on an overpair, more likely AA than KK, or QQ as he appeared to be inducing a call with his talk. I felt that with chips in middle, the max of 4000 extra made it +ev to call and i still had plenty of chips back to play with. Will post result later. Its not a bad beat story - I lost the main pot to villian 1 but won side pot to villian 2 - interested in your read on villian 2, his cards, and whether or not either of my plays are poor.

[Colchester Kev]

Phew ... thank god for that, I was expecting a kiss and tell about some sexual shenanigans between you and Tinsel Town.

im off for a lay down, moderating is stressful

[AdamG]

would have shoved all in after the guy whos "bored" pushes all in in dark.

[AlexMartin]

Insta. Ur so far ahead of their ranges here a fold is criminal.

[TheChipPrince]

easy call, even if he has an over-pair your almost getting the right odds to call...

[jakally]

Villain 2 probably has JJ - AA or AK.

In this situation, it doesn't make any difference if you call or push on your initial action, as he is effectively calling all in anyway.

Insta-call BTW.

[mjrevie]

Cool. To me it seemed obvious that once i made the initial call of 5500, i had to make the call of 4000 on top of that.

Villain 1 was in the dark, turned over 85 and hit two pair to take the main pot.

Villain 2 turned over AT. He believed that he thought it was possible that i would have called the blind all in with a wide range of hands. He didn't improve and i won the side pot.

The reason i ask about the hand is because me and villain 2 (supported by villain 1) got into an argument after that about the hand and whether or not my or his play was good/poor. So one more quick question is given that one player is all in dark, one played has looked at his cards and called, is there any reason at all, however small, to going all in and committing all your tournament chips with AT in that position when you know the original caller is almost definitely going to call you? Even if i had originally called with a marginal hand, AT cant be a big favourite against two all ins and the side pot wasnt worth enough to make it worth winning on its own.

[AdamG]

Cool. To me it seemed obvious that once i made the initial call of 5500, i had to make the call of 4000 on top of that.

Villain 1 was in the dark, turned over 85 and hit two pair to take the main pot.

Villain 2 turned over AT. He believed that he thought it was possible that i would have called the blind all in with a wide range of hands. He didn't improve and i won the side pot.

The reason i ask about the hand is because me and villain 2 (supported by villain 1) got into an argument after that about the hand and whether or not my or his play was good/poor. So one more quick question is given that one player is all in dark, one played has looked at his cards and called, is there any reason at all, however small, to going all in and committing all your tournament chips with AT in that position when you know the original caller is almost definitely going to call you? Even if i had originally called with a marginal hand, AT cant be a big favourite against two all ins and the side pot wasnt worth enough to make it worth winning on its own.

as u know hes blind u can call with a wide range of hands yes but as u said u were playing tight you wouldnt call the bet with less than A10....A10 shoulda folded unless HU and he made a good enough play to TRY isolate it but he didnt have enough chips to do this and he probly put u on middle pair or KQ or something in that range?

[MANTIS01]

This type of situation is common in tournament poker and it is essential that you isolate the short-stack with your solid pair.

Villain 1 is all-in blind and as such you know that your 10s are a firm favourite against any random hand. In your position you have the chips and the hand to slam the door shut on the rest of the table and take on this favourable gamble in order to improve your position and domination still further.

There is absolutely no need to play this hand weakly and flat-call....just take the initiative and raise.

Villain 2 doesn't have enough chips to pull off his squeeze play effectively but the fact that you still put him on A-A and consider surrendering a pot you are mathematically committed to demonstrates what a powerful move this really is. In a bigger tournament if your opponent comes over the top for a big chunk of chips you really put yourself in an altogether avoidable predicament. 

I think the real mistake you make is this....

I decided to flat call - the reason i didn't raise was simply because i expected it to go fold, fold, fold and for people to let me and villain 1 fight it out.

What tangible evidence is there that this is going to happen? If you think it just will then this is clearly an ill-conceived plan. Your opponents are not there to fold like a row of deck chairs...they are there to play. So it is important that you make their minds up for them.

Take a moment to look at things from the perspective of the other players. Villain 1 is all-in blind and could have anything....and you just flat call. You have almost half the chips in play. You have just won a monster pot and have plenty enough chips to make a loose call (K-Qs perhaps). Was the kicker from the last pot you played lower than a 10? These facts...plus the 3-1 pot odds and the need for your opponents to get busy to try and catch you mean that there is every justification for Villain 2 to push his hand.

Although things worked out this time...giving other players the luxury to make this sort of move on you, possibly get you to fold the best hand, and possibly win a pot they shouldn't even have been allowed to enter in the first place is quite unnecessary considering your current position of power.

[BigTomatoes]

 easy call , and i agree you should raise to let the rest know you have a real hand.

[boldie]

yep I agree with Mantis here. you simply have to push all-in with tens and isolate all-in blind guy, why would you encourage more action behind you when you only have a middle pair?

Once A10 guy pushes all in (which is a fair enough move after your weak play) you actually have a desicion to make...you ultimately made the good one obviously as not calling here is very poor play but you shouldn't have been in this position to start with.

If that guy looks down at KQ suited he would still push because of your flatcall and then you're up against two overcards from him + whatever shortstack has. A push from yourself would make KQ fold here (if they're half decent )

[kinboshi]

As has been said, push all-in with TT here - as you're more than likely ahead (and probably a big favourite agaisnt the UTG player) but you don't want anyone else in the pot with you.