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December 22, 2006
Hand Quiz: The Warning Track
I called up a friend of mine (who is a much more superior poker player) after going deep and busting in the 7,500 Guaranteed this morning.
"Hello?" He answered.
"So I've Got Ace-Queen...." I replied immediately, which got a chuckle. I wasn't hung up on because I typically don't call people with Bad beat stories, I just want to know whether played something right.
So, with 35 people left and in the money, I felt like the lone tight player in a sea of horrid play. I was playing rather well and picking my spots right, and my table image was nice and solid. I'd only shown AQ, AK, KK, and QQ in the last hour. The player to my left, Horseshoe, had gone from micro-stacked to big stack in a matter of an orbit and a half, sucking out on three all-in hands, one of which tripled him up by spiking a deuce on the river. With blinds at 600-1200-100 ante, his loose passive play had taken him from 1100 to 19,000.
Meanwhile, i sat at 18,500 with AQo on the button.
Folded to me, and I made it 3600 to go. Horseshoe flat called from the Small Blind without much hesitation, which made me raise my eyebrow slightly.
Then, complicating matters worse, the Big Blind, who I had no read on, pushed from the big blind with 8,000 chips.
There's only two moves here: Fold or All-in.
So, your move?
Posted by Chris at December 22, 2006 04:59 PM
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Comments
I would have folded, with the no read and all, and waited for a better spot. But I'm weak tight, as we all know.
What did YOU do?
Posted by: gracie at December 22, 2006 05:38 PM
I'd fold, fearing a bigger ace or pocket pair from one if not both players. But I suck at poker.
Posted by: April at December 22, 2006 06:20 PM
I think jamming is probably +EV there, as even a lousy player is unlikely to flat-call with a bigger ace.
When I'm in a situation like this I like to compartmentalize. First, do I call the BB's jam? Math says obviously yes since you have to call 4400 to win 15kish; the only hand you could fold AQo against here is aces, which, if it happens, hey, at least you still have chips.
But you still have SB to think about. Probably he has either a medium pair or a hand you're either slightly ahead of (KJish) or crushing (KQish). The smooth call is troublesome, but I think there's too much money in the pot to try to outthink yourself and folding leaves you very shortstacked against players who by your description aren't going to lay down the kind of hands you need them to for you to steal your way back to a comfortable stack.
I jam and hope for the best. If I'm up against KK and AK (and thus only have like 10% equity), I say nice hand and hope for a miracle. If I'm up against 88 and JJ I'm in line to nearly triple my stack if I hit, and against loose players late in the game I'll take those odds, especially once I've put money in the pot.
Posted by: Absinthe at December 22, 2006 08:19 PM
If I was just up against the push, I'd jam immediately. The smooth call from the other player in the hand, however, makes me pause.
If you fold, you have 14,900 or so. But, with those blinds, you're already getting eaten alive every hand.
Jam it. The goal here is to get Horseshoe to fold, which he won't if he's slowplaying KK or AA. The BB is making a standard shortstack push, so I wouldn't worry too much about him.
Posted by: Pokerwolf at December 26, 2006 04:19 PM
Plus the BB raise is slightly more than a min-raise. Jamming creates a sort of reverse squeeze play (from the front end) that would put tremendous pressure on the smooth caller in the sb if he doesn't have a premium hand.
Posted by: Poker Cats at December 27, 2006 11:17 AM