bubble: short stack needs a double

pkrfce9

i've been playing few more SNGs lately. we are at the bubble. i had been severely short stacked but have managed to make up some ground in the last few hands.

table has been fairly tight - pretty much any raise PF takes the pot, unless someone else has a decent hand but there have not been a lot of showdowns recently.

i have about 14 BBs so i'm not desperate. others have slightly more but no one is comfortable. the two blinds have been fairly aggressive post flop in terms of betting to try to take down the pot. they've been shifting the chips back and forth and have given some to the button, who just recently went from short stack to big stack with a couple nice hands.

i am UTG and have QQ. i don't want to just raise and take down the blinds here. i need to make some serious coin here, both to give me a great shot at winning this plus pushing someone ELSE much closer to busting out. i am willing to risk busting out here by letting some garbage hand get in cheap as long as i get a great chance to get lots of chips.

call/raise/push?

GTA Poker

hand histories are your friend...i assume this is online?

stacks?

i think your stack is about the same as the sb and bb? i always raise in this spot unless someone is being crazy aggro -- standard raise vs open push depends on table image and how bad opponents are.

as a note, i have open pushed ak when folded to my button in the first hand of a sng and been called by aj, so pushing is often a good play and you will often get called by small to mid pps and medium aces.

caps went to sleep an hour ago

actyper

I would say 95% raise and the other 5% call/push depending if either of the blinds are

1) calling light (push)
2) super aggro (call)

Since you said that the table has been pretty tight and pf raises take down pots, it pretty much suggests 100% std raise in this case.

MCflip73

pkrfce9;152861 wrotei am UTG and have QQ. i don't want to just raise and take down the blinds here. i need to make some serious coin here, both to give me a great shot at winning this plus pushing someone ELSE much closer to busting out. i am willing to risk busting out here by letting some garbage hand get in cheap as long as i get a great chance to get lots of chips.

call/raise/push?

Based on your situation, I'd take the chance and personally limp in here with any big PP (QQ-AA) UTG to see if I can get additional callers in. If a player tries to go over the top and raises, gamble and shove it all-in! If you are against a higher PP then so be it!

If the board does not show an A, a K or is not coordinated in any way that beats your hand, I'd try to min bet accordingly post flop - just enough to keep players in and drive up the pot. If someone decides to chase you till the end and you get rivered, so be it!

That's the difficulty and the chance you take in the hopes of getting more chips in the end but you also have to take the risk that goes along with it and sometimes it pays, sometimes it doesn't.

That's why we play the game!:)

m_dolens

normally, i'd say raise the standard 3X BB for sure.

however, i do understand what you're trying to suggest here in the OP. i don't recommend this as a "normal" play, but it seems like you want to try something fancy here. i'd suggest taking a LONG time to just call the BB. wait until you're almost out of time and then just call. i really find that people react differently to you when you take longer than usual to make a play. taking a while to just call BB preflop usually makes people think you're weak and leads them to look to raise/reraise you - at least in my experience in online play.

might want to give it a try sometime in such a situation as you outlined. again, however, i don't recommend this as a normal or regular play.

BigChrisEl

What has been your standard action lately?

Have you been raising 3xBB or pushing pre-flop?

Are people min raising and folding to the min raise?

How are limps being treated?

I think I would limp and then see what happens behind. If some one raises I shove, if the blinds limp in, I then would bet 2/3 the pot if checked to me on the flop, or if some one bets at the pot then I would shove unless there is an Ace or a King on the flop.

_obv_

standard raise or shove are both fine... i absolutely hate limping in this spot unless for some reason you have been limping a lot of hands. I don't think limping in will get opponents to put their money in with a hand that they wouldnt put their money in with if you just make a standard raise, in fact it may do the opposite. Limping with AA and limping with QQ are very different since with the chances of a bad flop coming are way greater with QQ.

GTA Poker

limping is ghey...i would assume you are always open raising throughout the game which disguises the strength of your hand. Limping all of a sudden UTG sets-off alarms fo sho.

pkrfce9

GTA Poker;152895 wrotelimping is ghey

well colour me rainbow.

normally i would raise here and expect to take down the blinds unless someone has a huge hand (i.e. almost 95% of the time). not what i wanted.

so i limped. guy on button raises to 4xBB. blinds fold.

now i suppose you want me to push?