Altruist

Ditto.====As played, insta-call. A set is unlikely as even 9,9 should raise p/f on a short table. If we see a str8 on the river Villain was making mistake after mistake and got paid for it... Most likely holding is K,9 or a dry Ace where he couldn't put you on an Ace to begin with. He might have even made a 2nd pair on the turn with A,5. Great turn bet btw.

Pretty standard....On the original question, if we're going to isolate the short stack we know we're likely playing for his whole stack. Why not re-raise the rest of his stack pre-flop and make him decide now? It gives us the fold equity and further ensures a true isolation. There are only 2 hands, maybe 3, that you need to fear behind you and since you're holding some of that it reduces that chance. If UTG+1 is on a middle pair he might re-think his opening and let it go p/f.Otherwise, if we're not ready to play for his stack we call p/f and check/fold when we miss... right?My $0.02

I play a lot of SnG and agree with everything said here. It's an easy pre-flop fold because 1) Donks love to limp with dry Aces, reducing your broadway draw; 2) You're not closing the action, 5 active players behind you and they love to limp with premium hands and then push when dead money hits the pot; 3) There's more advantage to playing like a rock in the first few levels -> Your Larceny License is in full force when the blinds are worth stealing. I watch that flop come and go and just laugh at the lil' donkey as I set him up for later...My $0.02

They would limp. Then push OOP w/ middle pair and 2 players behind. That kinda thing. In this structure, every pot you enter is likely to be for your whole stack. In any real tourney with a real stack and time to look for opportunities I'd muck the flop on this one with a smile. In the present structure, given what I know about this table, their image of me and considering it's the first flop that hit me at all in some time, I had to see one more card to see how it plays out. With the Q on the turn I slid my $1200 stack to the middle offering 1.75:1 hoping the draws knew it was incorrect t

Oh well. You weren't going to get anything out of him anyway. Before I saw the results I was with Wasp in smooth calling the flop and moving in on the turn if it's 9 or less. Either way you were all done getting money out of this Villain.Nice start to the night.

File Villain under "Loose-Aggressive" but you really can't file him under Donk (he's getting 4.3:1 from the pot in late position with a middle connector) since he thought he was pushing with the best hand. Paired boards usually go to the highest bidder so I really can't fault him here. He just didn't put you on a PP. And I don't fault you since a Q is one of the cards that might show up in the hand of a pre-flop caller. I think you made the right decision and were very lucky that Villain showed. Infact, showing down was probably the only mistake Villain made here.....

Single Table SnG - $250 buy-in - $2000 starting stack. 10-hand levels starting at $25/$50. $1,075 1st place. 8 players remain. Current level $100/$200. Our stack - $1800 after doubling up through the chip leader with a very, very tough all-in call with K 9 against K,8 offsuit on a 9,8,7 flop. (I was being pushed around for my rocky image and made a stand after tanking for 4 minutes)Hero with squeaky tight table image in BB with Q 9 sees a flop along with 3 very loose and extremely aggressive limpers. This was the maniac table. Unreal. Worse than micro-stakes. All-in's made and calle

That image held up too. I sat for another 4-5 hours and was able to conduct a fair amount of theivery but only on occassion. The only meaninful pot I lost after that was with the 2nd nut flush against the Table Rock but I lost the minimum on that, around $350 the way it played out. Real timid player. He'd fold the nuts to a big enough bet.....

That was my first thought. I hate seeing a flop with that hand. Your raise looked more like A,A than J,J from UTG....

I think you meant "flat calling BB's raise here". In as much as I remember Phil Gordon's famous quote, "The 4th raise means Aces", I'm guessing you're drawing to 2 outs here 50% of the time and it could be either player holding it....... As for getting the most value, if you're confident your hand is best, there's more value in slow-calling BB's raise as you're more representing Big Slick than a premium pair. If he's got JJ or QQ he's more likely to shovel in that situation. But I still think you're up against AA 40-50% of the time when he does push.

Lemme guess. Overplayed bullets? J/K. I don't know Villain's skill level and whether he's willing to call a 5x BB preflop with cards that hit that flop other than 55,77,99. I don't see anything wrong with shoveling here. If he's still on a draw you've taken away the odds. If he had you beat it was all probably going in the middle anyway.

I've got Villain turning a boat. With the way it played out he's got you on a big pair or praying you have a Big A x The $100 value bet on the river wants to be raised all-in...IMO. Why would he bet into that river if he couldn't beat the nut flush and still get paid? It's also possible he flopped the wheel and was confident in his read of your big pair by your bet on the turn, except that you should have bet more if that were the case but we know nothing of Villains skill level..Either that or Villain is capable of representing well. If I knew I'd be seeing him often I'd probably pay f

Hachem did it in '05. How prophetic...

I like the way you guys played it better. I've learned enough from all the reading and study that we should play with a primary goal of playing well and a secondary goal of receiving good results. In this case I felt that Villain was a weak player and was married to either A,A or K,K by the way he carried himself and re-peaked at his hole cards to see if he had a heart. The second the 4 hit my plan was to CRAI. When I checked I made it look sheepish as though I had failed to steal the pot on the flop and was praying for a free river. Part of selling the CRAI as a bluff was how quickly I

I really like that play. One of the leaks in my game is fearing the flush or the bigger str8 when I've got the nuts. I tend to be like a mama bear and get too protective sometimes. Must have suffered one too many suck-outs in online play. I know in my heart it's correct to take the pot odds away and hope Villian makes a mistake in those situations but I'm gun shy and leave a lot of equity in Villian's stack sometimes.....Great input. Keep it coming. Thanx.~M