Full Tilt Poker Game #5709755181: Table Hedge (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 10:10:28 ET - 2008/03/20
Seat 1: Zach65 ($6.60)
Seat 2: Rui11Costa ($9.85)
Seat 3: dbj8 ($16.45)
Seat 4: RichardMcBeef90 ($12.40)
Seat 5: SamboMemphis ($5.30)
Seat 6: mauricio378 ($3.60)
RichardMcBeef90 posts the small blind of $0.05
SamboMemphis posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RichardMcBeef90 [Jh Kh]
mauricio378 folds
Zach65 folds
Rui11Costa folds
dbj8 raises to $0.35
RichardMcBeef90 raises to $1.20
SamboMemphis raises to $5.30, and is all in
dbj8 folds
RichardMcBeef90 has 15 seconds left to act
RichardMcBeef90 has requested TIME
RichardMcBeef90 ?

There's 6.85 in the pot and i need to call 4.10, giving me odds of 1.7 - 1 so by my calculations i need 35-37% equity to call.

Is my math correct, and what % of hands do you think he's shoving here? He's been very donkish so far, a few hands before he lost an $8 pot with 64 no spade on a 457QT 4 spade board.

kind of a big raise on your part with k-j sooted, you deserve to lose the buck 20, no offense. and at those levels (which is where i tend to play) most shove a reraise with a-k every other hand.

maybe he had queens and wants you to run away with your own a-k tho. but that has nothing to do with math.... i can't add.

I would lay this down in a heartbeat. Unless you think the guy is a superdonk and he is trying this with something like QJ. Most normal players are going to have something here that is probably favored over you. Any ace, any pair or even something better like AK, AJ, KQ, things that have you dominated. Even if he has something like 64s he has a 35% shot at the pot. You are just gambling here. You do have a little equity in the pot that might tip you towards calling, but I don't think there is enough equity there. Are you playing the game to put your money in when you have the better chance of winning, or do you want to gamble?

And what's with the giant reraise with KJs? If the guy is the donk you say he is, why are you pushing his button with this hand? If you had not done this reraise, you would not now be in this situation where someone has stacked off on you while you hold KJ. I think you are better off just calling preflop against this donk. You have position and if you hit your hand you can drain him.

The fact is any preflop hand that does not have a pair and does not have an ace is usually going to be the underdog in a preflop all in confrontation.

The BB was the donk, the button was acctualy a fairly competent player who i felt comfortable re-raising here. My raise size is that big is it? i normaly re-raise between 3/4 X the origanal bet, here it was slightly on the large side but i don't think it's ridiculously big. What would you're standard re-raise be here?

KJ is the WORST and I do feel the absolute WORST hand in the deck to go to war with. You are dominated by almost anything ANYTHING that gives you action here.

Instamuck.

Ok, yeah I misread the hand a little. Did not realize that the button had started the action. The reraise looks a little better in this light and the amount is about right if you are going to reraise. I assume you reraised because you put the button on a steal? I like a little smaller reraise myself... say 2.5x, but the 3.5x is fine as well.

But still a laydown after the donk pushes.

The thing is, why give a donk an opportunity to beat you in marginal situations? Why not just fold this in the sb and take his money in situations you know you can outplay him on.

Folding would have been fine here and maybe the best choice. But I can't fault him for tangling with the button if he put him on a steal. If you are always folding this hand to a button raise, you are going to get picked on.

I don't mind giving up my small blind most of the time because they're so small compared to the relation of the pots in no-limit hold-em. Might be a leak, but I don't defend too liberally because I hate to play out of position. If I have a strong read that I may have the best hand, I'll play back at him. Like if this guy has attempted a blind steal a great deal of the time I've played with him for like 2 hours, then I'll play back. Also, in short handed limit hold'em, I definitely protect my blinds.

In this situation, for me, folding > reraising > calling. Once you get re-reraised, I think you fold and find a better spot to take down the donk.

3-bet is ok.

Fold to the shove.

I think against a competent player in a shorthanded NL game this should be a re-raise nearly every time, you're giving up to much folding KJ in this spot imo.

Calling with KJs in this spot isn't the end of the world preflop. I mean as an alternative to 3-betting. If we 3-bet, he will likely never call us with worse hands, but will sometimes shove worse hands on us. Since you are ahead of his range and have a pretty strong hand that plays better than average OOP, I wouldn't mind it if you just call preflop instead of 3-betting. Saying that this is a reraise nearly every time is excessive.

I remember hearing Taylor Caby say he usually had no idea whether to call or reraise with KJs blind on button.

I mix it up, but I'd say it's about 75:25 3-bet to call ratio for me.

BTW, folding isn't usually the best option unless you have a very good reason for it. You are too far ahead of almost any button opening range.

Yeah i guess I'm kinda nitty when it comes to playing the blinds. KJs is borderline for me. KQ is where I start to feel comfortable. It's just that I've lost a lot of money second-guessing my opponents who are playing from the button. I underestimate the button's hand strength and I end up being dominated with my KJ. Sometimes these button villains wake up with a hand.

Sounds reasonable. KJ is a great hand to defend your blind with. Calling can be a defense as well as reraising. If you call, sometimes bet out on the flop with nothing. Sometimes check when you hit your hand. Mix it up. But don't let someone make a habit of stealing from you.

Yeh i should change that to 'continue' every time over folding, i just think folding is not very good.

I guess it depends on who's running the button. If we have someone who's positionally-aware and is beating us over the head, then I might play it.

Still, it's a hand you play into a raise with that's easily dominated when the button has a legit hand. You can lose a ton and make a little.