OK, first post here, ready to be flamed. I played the Boo Ya Tunica tourney and was 3rd in chips with roughly 65 people left. Bubble was at 60 so I had been stealing lots of blinds. I had roughly 38k in chips and was the button and dealt 5-5. folded to me, blinds were 1k/2k. SB had roughly 21k, BB had roughly 9k. I made it 5k total, with the thinking of not overcommitting myself against another large stack and letting it be enough that the BB knew I wouldn't fold for 4k more. The SB reraised to 10k of their 21k stack, BB folded and I ended up folding. Do you guys think this was a re-steal, or did I have no fold equity by tapping back and was probably in a race at best?

Oh, to have small pairs on the button (K8!!! Are you kidding me?!?!? Ahhhhhhh!!!!) with a big stack. (Feel free to ask for the HH if you want it.)

That being said-your raise to 5k screams weakness (I used to be under the impression that a raise to 2.5 times the BB worked as well as a raise of 3*, but now I am not so sure). Also, his reraise to 10k screams strength. If you think he is capable of making this raise with any broadway and whatnot, then feel free to fire away and hope for a flip. If you don't, and you put his range at 99+, AQ+, then feel free to fold, as you are not getting the proper odds at his entire stack.

Min-raises always tell me that I am up against a monster, especially the farther into a tourney that you are (I've said before that 80% of the time its a monster, 20% of the time its because your opponent hasn't got a clue). The farther along you are in a tourney, the less clueless players you should run across in general.

Since you are against a potential monster, this tells me to fold. However, it may be an automatic call based on the pot odds (its sstill too early in the morning to figure that out or not)... 8)

Don't let this sleepless fool confuse you-this is not an automatic call :wink:. Pot odds are a little worthless here because he has invested 10k preflop and has 21k total-the rest is going in no matter what. Odds here are 28:16, or 1.75 to 1.

Bolded is key!!! 8)

With blinds this large 2.5x raises arent that unusual, especially live...you grab 5 chips, seems like a good number...and throw them in. I doubt it would be read as weakness, at least not weak enough to incline someone to play back at it with a shorter stack.

What may be in the SBs mind is the frequency of steals that OP has been making though. So I think the chances of being played back at with a solid Ace are a little higher than normal.

I think its a probably a coin flip..not all that great to start with, but still significant chance of pair over pair and would fold.

If my steals and the blinds seem to be getting frustrated over it I would fold pre-flop. That can be a fairly easy read live.

Thanks for the responses so far. My main questions/concerns were whether I had any fold equity by pushing back (I don't believe I do) or if I want to take a flip here (assuming I knew it was AK) to try to win the tourney. A loss sends me to 17k with blinds of 1k/2k, not crippled, but no room for error. I haven't played many MTT's, more of a cash player, so I don't know if you need these to win rather than cash.

I don't think you have any fold equity, as pretty much any hand has to call your reraise. If you've been stealing a lot, definitely fold a small pocket pair on the button, or limp in, which will freak out everyone who has seen you raising so much.

You sound a lot like myself at this stage in a tournament: excited that it's the bubble, but not because you're about to make the money, excited because you're going to start building your chip stack for that final table you're about to run over.

2.5 the BB is entirely normal with no ante's, and Im not familar with FCP's interface, but I know the only reason it's look at funny on a site like stars is because of the ease of raising 3x the BB as opposed to typing in 2.5x. ANYWAY the fold is extremely easy beacuse you're goin to continue to pick up small pots. So you got caught for 5k this ONE time, that's just 2 more blind steals and it's not even an issue anymore. I'd probably fold anytying up to 88 and consider tossin 99-TT too. Good play, and if you keep this up you'll show good results.

I definitely don't think you have any fold equity. As for whether you should call if you know he has AK...there's an easy solution. I'm assuming you're playing to win and not just to place (although of course everybody would rather place than not). If you think that in general the players left in the tournament are better players than you, then call with your slight advantage, trying to build a stack that will protect you for awhile. If you think you are as good or better than the average player still remaining, fold, hang onto your big stack, and wait for better opportunities.

Since, of course, you didn't know what he had, it's definitely a good fold.

I fold my 5 5 to a reraise here preflop. When I am one of the chipleaders, I will make attempts to steal blinds (and antes, if there are any) when I am in good position, but calling a raise here is definitely a gamble. While the possibility of SB having AK, AQ, AJ, or maybe A10 is possible, I am worried about him having an overpair and me drawing very slim going into the flop. You know the rest of SB's money is going in on the flop, meaning that it's an automatic fold from you if you do not hit your set. I fold and look for a better spot, as my steal did not work that time.

This is an easy fold IMO. You're either against a higher PP so you're down 4:1 on your money or two overs, where you are 50/50. Also, does it seem weird that he has not reraised all-in here? Usually, if someone was trying to re-steal they would re-push, but instead he makes a very small re-raise that is asking for a call. Not to mention your going to see a S&G on this flop anyways and calling the 10k bet is essentially calling the 20k bet. People do not tend to watch this when people raise 1/2-2/3 of their stack without pushing all in. He has essentially made himself all-in without going all in. You need pocket 9s or stronger to make this call (and by call I mean re-shove).