Been working on MTT play since the beginning of the year. Played quite a few in January and early February. I frequently go deep enough to just miss cashing. Tonight was no exception.

Table had tightened up. 216 left, bubble breaks at 180.

Is 9-9 reasonable enough to push with here, in my position with the stack I've got? I don't like waiting until I have 0 fold equity against marginal hands.

That said, is A-J a reasonable call from slabstract, considering his stack size?

Thanks in advance.

Full Tilt Poker Game #11319902396: The Fifty-Fifty (84479773), Table 86 - 250/500 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:31:30 ET - 2009/03/25
Seat 1: Amused (13,850)
Seat 2: BadBeatCity0 (13,323)
Seat 3: Pili Speis (5,874)
Seat 4: slabstract (14,064)
Seat 5: hossnhoot (8,504)
Seat 6: PokerInRear1 (29,619)
Seat 7: CassetteCounty (6,660)
Seat 8: iM8kUrSeatEmpty (6,504)
Seat 9: viktorious11 (6,033)
Amused antes 50
BadBeatCity0 antes 50
Pili Speis antes 50
slabstract antes 50
hossnhoot antes 50
PokerInRear1 antes 50
CassetteCounty antes 50
iM8kUrSeatEmpty antes 50
viktorious11 antes 50
slabstract posts the small blind of 250
hossnhoot posts the big blind of 500
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CassetteCounty [9c 9h]
PokerInRear1 folds
PokerIzMyJOB (Observer): i tried to cash it out, and didnt let me, i emailed ftp i should be able tomorow
CassetteCounty has 15 seconds left to act
CassetteCounty has requested TIME
CassetteCounty raises to 6,610, and is all in
iM8kUrSeatEmpty folds
viktorious11 folds
Amused folds
BadBeatCity0 folds
Pili Speis folds
slabstract calls 6,360
hossnhoot folds
CassetteCounty shows [9c 9h]
slabstract shows [Jc As]
*** FLOP *** [8c 3s 4c]
PokerIzMyJOB (Observer): im gonna watch til you make bubble burst
*** TURN *** [8c 3s 4c] [Ks]
*** RIVER *** [8c 3s 4c Ks] [Ac]
CassetteCounty shows a pair of Nines
slabstract shows a pair of Aces
slabstract wins the pot (14,170) with a pair of Aces
CassetteCounty stands up
The blinds are now 300/600 with an ante of 75
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 14,170 | Rake 0
Board: [8c 3s 4c Ks Ac]
Seat 1: Amused folded before the Flop
Seat 2: BadBeatCity0 folded before the Flop
Seat 3: Pili Speis (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: slabstract (small blind) showed [Jc As] and won (14,170) with a pair of Aces
Seat 5: hossnhoot (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: PokerInRear1 folded before the Flop
Seat 7: CassetteCounty showed [9c 9h] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 8: iM8kUrSeatEmpty folded before the Flop
Seat 9: viktorious11 folded before the Flop

Had I known the flop was going to come unders, a push on the flop would've probably worked. I just didn't want to get into a situation where I

a) raise pre, get called, and see overs on the flop and have to get it in hoping he didn't hit, or fold - which wouldn't make sense with my stack.

b) raise pre, get reraised, and have to make a decision. I felt I still had a deep enough stack to make hands like AJ, AT, etc have to make a decision.

In the end, I'm not sure slab made the right one. I put myself in his place, faced with an EP raise of 6k. I'm sitting on 14k. I've got a big hand, but is it big enough to risk half of my stack?

I'm not just saying this because his call knocked me out, but I don't know if I can make the call for half my stack that late in the game with a hand like AJ against a TAG player. I'd think at best I was flipping, at worst I'm dominated.

Thanks for the reply.

Knowing stack sizes, your push could have looked like you had a hand that you didn't want called and were stealing blinds with a semi-legit hand. From a higher chip stack at your table who can take a 6k hit and still be doing just fine, AJ is a completely reasonable hand in my book to call your all in with. In his shoes I would see you with pretty much any pocket pair, A7o+, KQo, KJo, and maybe K10/QJ depending on your image. If you had a high PP then oh well, but your range in my book is somewhere around there and with AJ I feel I'm beating or at least flipping with you most of the time so I would feel comfortable making this call. Although AK, AQ, AA, KK, and QQ dominate me, I'm willing to make a risk before the bubble to try and take a commanding chip lead that I can use to my advantage to push around others. I'm fine with his call. Your push was completely fine as well I think because you've provided a lot of fold equity and got your money in with a good hand. You lost a flip and it's gonna happen.

I'd probably just raise preflop, but I guess a shove isn't awful. It's risky though. That being said, the call is very, very bad.

 

Originally Posted by srooney3

If you were to raise small, I'm guessing he's coming over the top of you. So one way or another you're going to get it
in.

That was the predicament. 13bbs is awkward. I was well aware of the other stack sizes at the table. Most were hovering around my size, which I felt gave me massive fold equity on a push. I was at a point where I was happy taking the blinds/antes, or getting a coinflip call (preferably only one!) and hope to fade overs.

Hypothetically, say I raise pre to 1500, leaving me about 5000 behind. Now I'm left with 10bbs and have put myself in fold/push territory anyway, so I'm not folding to a reraise.

If AJ just calls the 1500, there's around 4000 in the pot and, if the flop comes all unders like it did, I'd push and maybe take it down. But then again, my bet there would now be barely over half the pot. If he still thinks I'm trying to steal, I may get called here anyway.

I appreciate all the replies. Thanks again.