5.50 SNG hand

Jay845

Here is the hand. Villian has played a solid game to date. I just took a nice pot with AK, and my image is likely tight. I have trouble figuring out the best course of action when reraised. Comment please:

POKERSTARS GAME #3160369524: TOURNAMENT #15635741, HOLD'EM NO LIMIT - LEVEL III (25/50) - 2005/11/26 - 00:48:40 (ET)
Table '15635741 1' Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Jay845 (2815 in chips)
Seat 2: DIRTDOG05 (1040 in chips)
Seat 3: MonkMaster (1155 in chips)
Seat 4: drumper1 (1230 in chips)
Seat 5: Drinko (1415 in chips)
Seat 6: Cellika (1010 in chips)
Seat 7: surandrew777 (2885 in chips)
Seat 8: SEMAJ 01 (1950 in chips)
surandrew777: posts small blind 25
SEMAJ 01: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Jay845 [Qd Qs]
Jay845: raises 100 to 150
DIRTDOG05: folds
MonkMaster: folds
drumper1: folds
Drinko: folds
Cellika: folds
surandrew777: raises 150 to 300
SEMAJ 01: folds
Jay845: ?????

pkrfce9

You have position, I would smooth call and see what comes on the flop. He could be playing a range of hands and isn't trying to chase you out. He could be on AA, KK, AK maybe something else I guess. If the flop comes lower than a queen I guess you have to be ready to go to war or lay it down.

SirWatts

I would call and proceed carefully. He's going to have to give me a lot of heat before I lay it down. The small reraise is either big strength (AA,KK) or slight weakness (maybe a middle pair or a scared AK?). Edit: Actually at the 5.50 level this could probably be a lot of things, but I would still try to play a small pot here unless I hit a set.

specialK

I agree with SirWatts here, i think that a smooth call is best here and you should be very carefull... he could have a range of hands AA KK AK AQ or even JJ or 1010... so see the flop, see his action and assess your standing then. What ended up happening?

Jay845

I am embarrassed to say...but let me put it to you this way, I didn't follow your advice. Any guesses to what I did?

Chris

you got nervous and shoved all-in?

ScottyZ

I would simply move all-in (when facing the raise to $300) in a $5 SNG. Expect to be called by some weird shiznit at this buy-in level.

ScottyZ

Jay845

ScottyZ wrote:

I would simply move all-in (when facing the raise to $300) in a $5 SNG. Expect to be called by some weird shiznit at this buy-in level.

ScottyZ

Well I see I am not the only one who thought this.  I shoved all-in and after about 30 seconds get called by AK.  My thinking was that he either had AQ or AK, feeling that he would have smooth called with AA or KK.  I thought he would likely lay it down to all-in since I was the second biggest stack, but I thought I was in a great situation to take a commanding chip lead if I get a call.   He turns an A and I am out.

In analyzing my play after the hand, I actually like a re-raise of him or smooth call.  Given a second chance I would likely take one of those 2 options.

Anyone else care to comment?

SirWatts

Maybe Scotty is right and I'm being too passive here. Against an unknown i think that's fine but with a read that he's tight I would at least wait for no A or K to fall before I started betting big.

Chris

Jay845 wrote:

Well I see I am not the only one who thought this. I shoved all-in and after about 30 seconds get called by AK. My thinking was that he either had AQ or AK, feeling that he would have smooth called with AA or KK. I thought he would likely lay it down to all-in since I was the second biggest stack, but I thought I was in a great situation to take a commanding chip lead if I get a call. He turns an A and I am out.

In analyzing my play after the hand, I actually like a re-raise of him or smooth call. Given a second chance I would likely take one of those 2 options.

Anyone else care to comment?

whenever i consider ak to be a possible holding, i much rather use the stop and go play. too many times i've been called preflop and lost to an ace or king on the turn or river. if you decide you're going to commit to the hand preflop, instead of raising all-in just call and move in on the flop regardless of what hits.

in a $5.50 sng he could have jacks, any ace-face, or even a lower pair. if he pairs his ace or king on the flop and you move-in don't worry about it because you would have had the same result getting it all-in preflop. just remember that you commited to the hand before the flop and you were giving yourself an extra chance to win. you should never feel like a donkey for moving in with an over on the board using the stop and go play.

let's say you have qq and decide to use the stop and go. you call and take the flop and a king hits. that sucks and maybe you're behind now but since you commited to the hand preflop you shove your chips in like you're supposed to. many times in $5.50 sngs your opponent will flip over or fold: aq, aj, jj, tt, any pair, or my personal favorite qq. (that actually happened to me last night. he folded and told me he had queens.) sometimes they will have ak, or even worse kq or kj, but that's okay.

in your situation i think a stop and go might have been a better option than shoving. we now know he turned the card that beat you so it probably could of worked.

anyways, it's just another option for you to consider next time. i personally love it! good luck!

Wolffhound

I'd have gone pkrface's route with the smooth call and then try to figure out where I am on the flop.

You said he turned an A...so, the flop wasn't going to help you from getting all your chips in. Chances are he'd have
called your push, or you'd have called his all in on a raggy flop. So, no matter what you are going broke.