PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t600 (7 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FCP)

Button (t17525)
SB (t27855)
BB (t28332)
UTG (t9550)
MP1 (t20176)
MP2 (t390)
Hero (t9802)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 5 , 5 .
3 folds BEAVER HMMM's AND HUMMMM's And...????

1. Jamaments?
2. Muck, play to cash; then play to win.
3. Limp.
4. Standard raise.

5. ___________

I make standard raise and go from there. You still have enough to hurt the button, SB, and BB so doubt they'd make a total play at you pre-flop. A raise to 1800 will leave you with 8K (13+ BB's) so if there's a push behind you, you still have room to dump it and leave yourself with a little room. The 4.40's are so top heavy in payout that there's not much difference between not cashing and 10th. No need to eek into the money by open folding hands like this. Plus, alot of other players will play uber tight around 30 left until the money, so I will usually try to hammer them up. My 2 cents...

And do what, fold to a re-raise? I say push.

Without a read that one of the big stacks is an aggressive table captain, I just shove it in the middle. I don't like a standard raise...It shows strength, but it's cheap for the big stacks to call with junk to try and knock you out. Make em commit 1/3 of their stack to knock you out.

Folding to the money in these is a waste of 2 hours IMO. Build the stack now while others have tightened up.

I just don't get the point of a 16+ BB shovel here. Maybe because i'm not a big "shove it in and pray" player, but that kind of a bet at this stage is just not what i'm looking to do. And I love the "and what, fold to a re-raise? i push" comment. I never said to fold to a re-raise. Play accordingly based on information you have. I love the open push for 15-20 BB guys at my table.

So you put in a standard raise of 1/3 of your stack and fold to a flop bet? You are better open folding then doing that.

Look, Hero's M is 7.2; at this stage any hand you are playing is for your whole stack. Might as well put it in PF and increase your likelihood of winning PF, or at least getting it head's up and not against both blinds.

Standard raise but we have to call a shove. If we get called we c-bet the flop. Never play for 18th in a 180.

Shove looks weak..and is weak.

If we make the standard raise pf, shouldn't we be shoveling the turn regardless of what it is?

We either flop the set and win pot, have the other people fold, and we win pot, or we get called and most likely lose pot.

With an M of 7 I can't see us not playing this hand for our stack, unless we open fold, which I don't think is the right play at all.

Jam it. You may not get a good hand for a while. You are a 4.5 - 1 dog at worst, but it's probably going to be a race if you get called. I think they will fold more often than not here. Unless (as mentioned), the big-stacks are playing sheriff.

Am I the only one that noticed the player to Beaver's right has ~400 in chips?

That alone is a great reason for not risking your tournament life on a hand so easily dominated as 55. Not to mention you are shoving into the 2 chip leaders at the table.. They'll call you with weak paint or a marginal PP still higher than yours.

I considered this fact too. I actually think it's what made the fold easier.

Standard raise. You should be staying aggressive and this is a nice time for a blind steal. If they move in on you, you can fold. However, I've never seen aggressive big stack bubble play in a 4.40. The worst that will happen normally is one of them will call, in which case playing flops in position isn't a bad situation.

This M talk is kind of misleading I think because we still have 16 times the bb, allowing us to not risk too much of our stack in trying to pick up the pot. 1500 for raise, 2200 for a c-bet still leaves us with 6000~ if we have to fold. I'm all for aggressive short stack play but there's no need to play the shove game yet.

Standard raise which should NOT be 1/3 of your stack as one poster suggested. 2.5BB is fine here. That's 1/6th your stack... you can still fold to a shove. Any reads on the blinds? Have they been sheriffs, or have they tightened up? That makes it easier to decide how to respond to a shove.

An open shove here is absolutely horrible IMO. Too deep to risk it all for the blinds on the bubble.

And while I'm at it, even open-folding here is not horrible. 55 is no monster, and you cant expect to be better than a flip against any hand that plays back at you. The bubble is almost certainly going to break before the blinds come back to you. While I agree that the optimal strat in these is not "Playing for 18th", I still think we lock up the cash, and then build on that.

I open-folded. I actually think this is the best play in the spirit of trying to make the most money. Chip preservation/protection at this point is the best play. The blinds at this stage won't have a huge effect on our chances of winning. However, simply waiting to cash with a stack around 10-12kish I think is the optimal strategy. We have a decent amount of time when 2 tables are left, and I've found re-stealing against medium sized stacks are a great way to accumulate chips. Basically, another 1-2k at this point in the tourney doesn't have a huge effect on our chances of going deep.

Thoughts?

The problem with a standard raise IMO is that it takes absolutely nothing for the BB to call. He has 600 invested and only has to call 900-1200 more with 27k behind. If I was in his position, I would call almost 100% of the time with ATC. I'm aware we are on the bubble too, so if the flop comes low, or I catch a piece, I'm pushing the shorty around assuming he has high cards.

But if OP shoves PF, then I have to invest a very large portion of my stack to be a hero. I need a lot better hand to call with than I do with a standard raise.
Folding is not bad, but this is prolly our last chance to steal before the bubble breaks. People loosen up once the cash is in hand and we will need to tighten our range.

What's it like to get to the bubble in one of these? I wish I knew.


Your two options here are fold or raise to 1500-1800. I don't mind either. I don't like limping.

I find the most difficult poker to play is when you have around 11bb-16bb. You aren't deep enough to make a standard raise with most hands, but you are too deep to open shove most hands. The only solution seems to be to play pretty tight. With 8xbb you can open shove a large range, and with 20bb you can open raise a wide range. In between is where it gets more awkward.

If you were button I think it's an easy raise. If you are MP1 it's a fairly easy fold. If you had $2k more it's an easy raise, if you have $2k less it's a fold (after some thought).

You're in a whole world of inbetweens here.

I fold because if you get called you are going to be dominated or in a coin flip, you have enough to chips that you don't need gamble so yeah fold.