Nico_Ban
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005, 8:13 AM
On the button with 10,J

. It folds around to you and you have about $1700T. SB has $1400T and BB has $900T. Blinds are 50-100. I like to raise to 300 or 400 in this spot nearly every time. Lately Ive been running into an insane amount of PP or AQ in the BB. and they move in on me. At this point I feel Im committed for the last 300 chips so I call and don't get lucky. Whatever, thats expected. But my question is am I wrong to raise here so often? Or am I just getting caught in unlucky situations lately? I play at PartyPoker mostly and the blind structure forces you to move fairly quickly which enters my thought process. And while I dont like commiting half my chips preflop with J10 the blinds will go up soon and I will have like 5 rotations left. So any tips would be appreciated. Thanx.
speedz99
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005, 8:24 AM
If you are going to call the raise every time, you might as well just move all-in.
garamond10pt
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005, 8:27 AM
You have to especially careful with small stacks in the blinds because they're liable to push in at any moment. Granted, JTs won't be a huge underdog to most hands they'll push with, but you still would rather take it down right there.
I'd cut down on the steal raises against the small stacks. An alternate method against one or two small stacks is to just push in. There are fewer hands they'll call an all-in with. You can't really do that here because the SB isn't really short stacked and could cripple you with a decent hand.
Nico_Ban
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005, 8:28 AM
If the SB pushes I dont wanna put in another 800T or so, but if the BB moves i feel I should call. If the SB pushes I can still get out with 1400T or so.
PitJedi221
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005, 8:31 AM
I would agree with you raising 3 times the bb on the button to try and buy the blinds, if you do this too much the BB or SB may catch on and make a move back at you. But in the case that the BB or SB goes all in you have to think to yourself, is BB tired of you always trying to steal in this position which is why they went all in. If so they may have a lesser hand then you calling would be profitable. I would fold my 10Jsuited to the BB going all in, unless the BB is the Loose Aggressive type, or aggrevated and making a move back at me.
Knucklehed
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005, 8:36 AM
i like pinball.
Nico_Ban
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005, 8:43 AM
QUOTE (garamond10pt)
An alternate method against one or two small stacks is to just push in. There are fewer hands they'll call an all-in with. You can't really do that here because the SB isn't really short stacked and could cripple you with a decent hand.
I thought this too. but is it smart to fold that hand from the button when stealing the blinds increases my stack by over 10%? Limping and having to fold to a raise is the only other option and that seems tremedously weak to me.
Smasharoo
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005, 9:39 AM
On the button with 10,J Suit: Heart. It folds around to you and you have about $1700T. SB has $1400T and BB has $900T. Blinds are 50-100. I like to raise to 300 or 400 in this spot nearly every time. Lately Ive been running into an insane amount of PP or AQ in the BB. and they move in on me. At this point I feel Im committed for the last 300 chips so I call and don't get lucky.
What's the point of not just moving if you're going to donk off all your chips if they do anyway?
mk
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005, 10:35 AM
You must realize that any hand you decide to play at this stage of a S&G (or a final table) could easily be for all your chips. The way to combat this is to:
a) generally wait for strong hands and go large (hellmuth's book is kind of a jopke, but his advice, "bring your big guns to the final table" is sound).
and

in situations like this (position steal w/ marginal holding), don't raise so much that you commit yourself pre-flop. 2x-2.5x bb raises will often steal here against medium stacks because they too know that all their chips are going in if they play a hand here, so if they're strong they'll come over the top and you can get away.
cgrohman
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005, 4:26 PM
If the big blind moves in, you are by no means pot committed. You have invested $300, he has raised to $900 and there is the small blind for $50. Pot total is $1250. You are not even getting 1.5 to 1 on your money, you still will have $1400 if you fold. If you think he has something liek A7 suited, you still shoudl consider folding, espeicaly since top 3 spots get paid.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please
click here.