You make the play again
PokerStars $5 sit-n-go, Hand #1, blinds 10-20, 1500 initial stack.
UTG with QQ, raise to 60.
[I am getting a strange sense of deja vu...]
Player two seats before the button raises the minimum to 100. Button calls 100 cold.
(Everyone else who was not already mentioned has folded.)
What do you do here, and why?
ScottyZ
UTG with QQ, raise to 60.
[I am getting a strange sense of deja vu...]
Player two seats before the button raises the minimum to 100. Button calls 100 cold.
(Everyone else who was not already mentioned has folded.)
What do you do here, and why?
ScottyZ
Comments
A reraise would send me out, and a flat call could be AA or KK or even AK (at best), so maybe not such a good idea. I could still play with 1200 if I have to let go. But I might be trapped. That's my first inlination though.
What about the caller... do you know anything about his play? I guess not.
Or fold, but that's pretty tight.
Or just call, and hope for a Q flop, or at least no A or K. Maybe so early in the tournament just calling is correct. I don't know, it seems like QQ might be behind. Just fold.
No. 300 shot. That's probably what I'd do.
(I'm not saying I'm a great player either...;)
Since it's hand #1, I don't know anything beyond the fact that this player is playing in a $5 SNG. That actually does give you some more information. 8)
I like your reasoning of raising to gain some information. At a more "serious" level of play, I am worried if someone calls, and most of the time I'm folding to a re-re-raise. But at the $5 SNG level, I usually think the Queens are good if I am just called (after I re-raise) pre-flop, and I am folding for sure if someone raises again.
Okay, so let's say you do make that raise to 300 or so. Suppose the original raiser just calls, and the button cold caller now folds.
Flop comes
532
(rainbow) and you're first to act.
Now what?
ScottyZ
I would just call and see what the flop brings.
I would bet 300 and hope he doesn't raise.
He thinks his has is worth a small re-raise. It might not be, but *this* player in *this* situation thinks that it is. What does he have? In a $5 sit-n-go it's likely that he has a wide range of hands. Arbitrarily I will put him on almost any pair, AK to AJ and KQ. The big problem is that he will probably call a re-raise pre-flop. My thinking is "why lose money with Q-Q when my hand is not yet well defined."
I probably bet out.
The problem you have in this hand is that this player will probably not lay down ANY overpair (remember it a $5 tournament). So... bet out. Overbet the pot a little. Say... $400. If I get re-raised I probably fold. If he flat calls I assume I am the best and will press the attack on the turn and river.
I do not favour a check-raise since that will tend to freeze him up no matter what overpair he is holding. Check raise and his A-A might go in to "call mode" causing me to lose a lot of chips. Bet out and you give him a chance to tell you that he has A-A or K-K. He might raise with other overpair and get me off my Q-Q but I will still have $1000 which is lots to go with.
This hand is a good illustration of the POWER OF POSITION. A raiser with position on you makes a hand as strong as Q-Q a difficult hand to play.
The phrase "betting out" is often used with the connotation that you are betting a strong hand, as opposed to slowplaying or going for a check-raise, but it depends on the context.
ScottyZ
Now I'm not adding much to the question you posed with this story, but I think my (as you will see, quite boring) play-out is as strange as any at these games:
I was UTG, QQ, and raised to $60.
Every last $5 S&G'er folded! I couldn't believe it. I thought I was into my first ever $5 tight table. Alas, the very next hand had about 8 people in it(lol) and all was back to normal.
I just saw this thread and thought I'd share. In your case, I think I agree with calling to see what the flop brings, IN THIS PARTICULAR GAME, a $5 S&G. My experience is that the raiser and caller COULD be in with any Ace as well, and a hand like K-J suited often brings raises from these folks. I tend to emphasize tight play at these $5 games and as Dave says, wait for the flop and see how your hand looks. With the flop you mentioned, turn the heat back on, with overcards, put on the brakes.
I have found that conserving chips and waiting to pick my spots down the road in obvious places almost always pays off (at these $5 tables). Against a tough solid player, I'd assume a lot stronger hand then I do here. Either way, I call, because I'm a chip conserver early, while I try and learn the table as much as I can.