Two hands from late in a sitngo that I played real tight. Should I have played either one of these situations?

I wonder most about the second hand, since I was small blind and already in for 150. But I felt most likely it would have taken more than the flop to develop the 9Ts into a hand and I didn't see a percentage in potentially putting that much of my stack at risk chasing 300 chips. I guess I was most concerned about catching half a flop and making a bad decision or getting sucked out on.


Blinds(100/200) - Tuesday, March 15, 23:06:02 EDT 2005
Table Table 35244 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 3: ircam ( $1530 )
Seat 4: BTO27 ( $2210 )
Seat 5: Dafn8tr ( $1230 )
Seat 6: Bazza75 ( $2030 )
Seat 7: DrTongue ( $1000 )
Trny:10427266 Level:5
Blinds(100/200)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to DrTongue [ Ac 9d ]
DrTongue folds.
ircam folds.
BTO27 folds.
Dafn8tr folds.
Bazza75 does not show cards.
Bazza75 wins 300 chips


Blinds(150/300) - Tuesday, March 15, 23:09:58 EDT 2005
Table Table 35244 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 3: ircam ( $2310 )
Seat 4: BTO27 ( $2560 )
Seat 5: Dafn8tr ( $780 )
Seat 6: Bazza75 ( $700 )
Seat 7: DrTongue ( $1650 )
Trny:10427266 Level:6
Blinds(150/300)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to DrTongue [ 9c Tc ]
BTO27 folds.
Dafn8tr folds.
Bazza75 folds.
DrTongue folds.
ircam does not show cards.
ircam wins 450 chips

looks alright to me. The first one you'd have to be shot if you wanted to play that utg. With the suited 109 you want to take a flop, under nomal conditions, but you are shortstacked and do you really want to push with that hand, no I didn't think so

First fold looks fine - you're the short stack but not by much and there's time to wait for a better opportunity.

On the second one, it would depend on how how aggressive or passive the BB is. If you're fairly confident that you can check and he won't blast you with a big raise as his default response, it might be worth it to see a flop.

Even if you have to fold it to a raise pre-flop, you're still comfortably ahead of the #4 and #5 players.

I'd have folded them both too, but I've been way to tight lately.

Especially in MTTs.

Thanks for the replies! Feels good to get a couple plays right. Here's one more from later in the tournament. I kind of folded my way through this one. Still the right play?


Blinds(250/500) - Tuesday, March 15, 23:17:32 EDT 2005
Table Table 35244 (Real Money)
Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 2
Seat 4: BTO27 ( $4740 )
Seat 7: DrTongue ( $3260 )
Trny:10427266 Level:8
Blinds(250/500)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to DrTongue [ 9h Qs ]
DrTongue folds.

I think you folded nicely with Q9s. Your on the button so a limp would often be raised by Blinds. And if you raises, one of them may have called you,(SINCE IT IS ONLINE). Even though you may have the best hand, whatever came on the flop may put you in a situation that you dont wanna be in. I think, if you really have to ask about hand to play or not play, then my answer is: you shouldnt play it. If you dont feel confident in your cards, then its not worth playing. Youll kick yourself later on wondering why you played that hand.

Hope this helps.

--Jack

I guess I would have to disagree with your play. Head up in the sb with q9, I would have raised 500 chips. Your sitting on two decent cards against a random hand. Try for the blind steal or if he calls you may hit the flop, if he re-raises then you need to re-evaluate, if he raises just 500, I would still see the flop, if he goes all in then fold.

The only exception I could see is if he has been going all in on every hand that you enter, then wait for something better.

Oh I didnt realize it was heads up. I thought you were in seat 7 and guy was in seat 4 as a quick example of a play.

-Jack

I think your first two folds were fine. Lots of time left to get your money in the pot with better hands than those.

Your fold when it was heads up though was probably a mistake. When it is down to two people and I am on the button, I like to raise every time when the chip stacks are fairly close (which I think the chip stacks you have shown could be considered). If he raises back, you can fold or go over the top. That is just me though. Q 9 offsuit isnt that bad heads-up. I think the fold is better than a call in that situation, but I personally wuld have raised.

there's nothing wrong with calling the big blind with the Q9 offsuit. You don't have to raise, just because your opponent may raise you doesn't mean they have a hand, it might still be worth it to call and see a flop if your raised. Q9 is a better than average hand against just the big blind. I think by raising here, often times you either just pick up the big blind if your opponent has junk and at worst, he puts you all-in and in an uncallable position, just calling would be the better option IMO. By calling, you give no information away. You could be limping in with AA for all he knows. Also the big blind usually assumes you have junk when you limp in and they think they can get you to fold your hand by raising. So, it's often a good play to limp in with a decent hand, so they can put you on junk. The only time to raise from the small blind is on a pure steal attempt. Q9 isn't really stealing, it's a decent hand headsup against a random hand. Situations where I'd raise from the small blind are if I have AX or a junk hand that I want to try and steal with. If I have a marginal hand, it's a really bad hand to raise with, because if they call, you have no clue where you are, if your re-raised all-in you can't call. If you raise with junk, at least you know exactly where you stand and can easily let it go if you miss the flop whereas you might get suckered in playing a marginal hand and hitting a pair on the flop and throw your chips away. If you raise with the AX, at least you can flop top pair and usually have the best hand. With a junk hand, you may hit a disguised flop that looks like no help.