255 people remain in the 25+2.50 25K guaranteed on stars and 198 spots pay and right now 255 remain, The blinds are 300/600 and 75 ante and I have 9800 chips. Around 15 BB.

Been card dead for so long anyways, but picking the spots etc, I get dealt pocket 88's in the cutoff, UTG+1 raises to 1800 (he has been active, but nothing unusual, but one thing I noticed was, once he raised, he never laid any of his hand down). I mean at the 25/50 level he raised 150 and the guy next to him shoved for 14K (yes 14K) and this guy snap calls with 33 and had like 12K stack and hits the set.

He has 34000 chips and I barely have any FE equity once he raised to 1800. How would you play this. Can't call for 1800 and then fold when he leads on the flop.

I shipped it and he had 99 and that was good going me.

How you you play say 1010 here?

Let's say you didnt have much of a read like (he never laid his hand down) and you been at this table only for a few hands, and u have 15 BB and 88's

Just thinking if there was ever a consideration, that may be I should have open folded this and waited for a better spot to be the aggressor rather than call of my tourney with 88 albeit with 15 BB and the blinds going up in 5 mts.

thanks guys.

What I meant to say was 3-4 hands I saw him raise and he never folded in-spite of a huge raise. My question is if he was not like that, then what would you do. Would you still ship it here with 15 BB? situations like this screw me up.

Just trying to find out if this was ever an +EV play.

Thanks for replying,a appreciate it.

 

Originally Posted by jesterwords

Sadly, the best possible answer is, it depends.

I would rather play the 88 in an unopened pot, as opposed to a raise.* Good chance I am open mucking with 15BB and looking for a better spot with position to pick up chips.

this*

it's all dependent on who is opening

are they tighter or looser when opening?

Are they tight to 3 bets?*

Are they loose to 3 bets?*

What is their stack size?*

Against loose players I'm jamming.

Against someone who is raising a tight range I am folding

Based on the read you have of this player, who will call your reraise with anything from 22-AA, probably AT+, KJ+, I would ship it with 88 (or TT) 100% of the time. Although you're taking a risk, you have a very short stack and you have to take risks. If you had 30 BB, I'd still look at shipping in this case... 50 BB would be a tougher decision.

One thing I still have difficulty with is learning to trust my reads. What is the point of observing your opponents and picking up on their tendancies if you don't take advantage of it when given the chance? I have a hard time pulling the trigger when my observations tell me that I need to, but it gets easier the more you find out you were right.

If I didn't have a read on this player, it'd be tougher. You still have a very short stack (your M = 6) so you should be looking for spots to get it in with any advantage. TT would be an easy overshove in this spot, 88 is a little trickier.