A hand?

sweetjimmi

Here is some hand history from last night's $5 rebuy @ PokerStars. We are in the money and two places from the next pay level (not really paying attention as I'm only interested in the final table specifically final three). The table has tightened up to the usual "close too the next level" and no real tricky players and some really bad players (way overvaluing dominated hands).



PokerStars Game #1336502064: Tournament #5833417, Hold'em No Limit -
Level XV (3000/6000) - 2005/03/10 - 22:28:05 (ET)
Table '5833417 17' Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Fezzer130 (51572 in chips)
Seat 2: TylerK (131589 in chips)
Seat 3: 0788559 (79968 in chips)
Seat 4: sweetjimmi (61394 in chips)
Seat 5: Pachonga (92090 in chips)
Seat 6: luisfran (131990 in chips)
Seat 7: RollmeIn (142083 in chips)
Seat 9: kyhusker (89225 in chips)
Fezzer130: posts the ante 300
TylerK: posts the ante 300
0788559: posts the ante 300
sweetjimmi: posts the ante 300
Pachonga: posts the ante 300
luisfran: posts the ante 300
RollmeIn: posts the ante 300
kyhusker: posts the ante 300
0788559: posts small blind 3000
sweetjimmi: posts big blind 6000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to sweetjimmi [2 :diamond: 4 :diamond: ]
Pachonga: folds
luisfran: folds
RollmeIn: folds
kyhusker: raises 6000 to 12000 (This player has been playing ABC (bets big with big hands, bet SMALLER with better than average hands, calls with average/drawing hands, and folds the rest) and this raise tells me he has at least an Ace. I'm not really worried about a wired pair bigger than 55 or 66 since he would have raised more. I really "felt" that he was on some sorta Ax with x being any card lower than a King since I "felt" he would raise bigger.Fezzer130: folds
TylerK: folds
0788559: folds
sweetjimmi: What do You do here?

Chugs

i pass, he is stealing your blind, and i think at this point you let him. unless you're willing to come over the top pre-flop on the flop it'll be really hard to read where you're at, since any broadway card or even down to 8 may still connect with his non-ace card. calling also will involve another 10% of your stack, wait and pick a better spot.

ScottyZ

An easy fold.

You're obviously contemplating some sort of re-steal/blind defence play.

Your stack is too small here to call with the intention of seeing the flop, even given the tantalizing immediate pot odds. You want to make speculative plays like this when you have a deep stack against a non-ABC playing opponent, specifically, an opponent who is non-ABC in the sense of being a calling station. You want to be quite sure you'll be paid off big if you hit a big hand.

Calling with the intention of moving in blind, or moving in immediately seem to be the remaining alternatives. Both of these plays are too much risk for the return.

You're putting your opponent on a "medium strength hand" but seem to have a loose definition of this opponent's medium strength box. You're saying that he could have AQo or A2o here. If this is so, he may decide to call you with some of these hands.

So, what kinds of opponents would it be worth making a play against here? Short answer: almost none. Longer answer: an Uber-rock or somene who has been *very* far out of line with his pre-flop raises and continuously folding to re-raises. This play is even dangerous in the latter case, since this sort of opponent may suddenly decide that he's sick of laying down hands to re-raises and will make a stand against a shorter stacked player.

ScottyZ

Flint Bones

Fold.

No question he is trying to buy the blinds but you don't really have much to fight with. If you put him on an Ace rag, one of those rags could be a 2 or 4 which would kill you. The only way you might scare him off is by going all-in. If he just has the ace it would be hard for him to call. Either way, I would fold this hand, no question.

sweetjimmi

You're obviously contemplating some sort of re-steal/blind defence play.

LoL...what gave it away? I really didn't think this hand was so cut and dry at the time...maybe 'cause I really wanted to double up and have a shot at this thing. Still, I must agree that folding in this situation is the best option. I just thought there may be more to it...I guess I'm just over-thinking the hand.