Bodog $3500 gtd

sittng with 2400 in chips, blinds are 20-40, over 400 left

cutoff has 2400

2 limpers, cutoff raises to 120, button folds, i raise to 500 in the sb, folds to raiser who calls

flop: AA4, I bet 600, he pushes for 1200 more, i fold

thoughts?

This is a tough hand... because you led out, you open up the possibility to facing a re-raise for his entire stack... and he could make this move w/ basically any pair, as well as Ax.


I really don't know what I would do here... I'd probably fold, but you're only beat by 44, Ax here... and he may make this move w/ many hands.

Copernicus will know what to do.

Id push preflop instead of the raise. the raise to 500 gives the early caller 2:1 odds, and Id rather take this pot down or get a call from an underpair.

As played I guess you have to believe him and fold, but I definitely dont lead the flop. Either he has an A or the AA scares the hell out of him and he has to check it down.

ya leading the flop was bad... my friend said it best when he told me to check and fold to a push and call a small bet... if he bets small and we call he'll know we have a hand, so unless he has a big ace he will probly check down...

i dont really like pushing preflop because i think playing big pots with KK is +ev, however, you do know more than i do

how much bigger of a pot can you get than all in? depending on the likeliness of a steal by co here, i might just call the raise and then check-raise his continuation bet with a safe flop. otherwise, if villian has something, i might just do as copernicus said and have pushed us into the middle.

as the board came out though, i think a check-fold is in order.

This situation just sucks. The point is that the CO knows that you are more likely to have a pair JJ--KK than AK given that there are two aces on the flop. Therefore, if you check he might just run a bluff. And betting 600 gives you no value if he has a smaller pair. I think you should think outside the box and make a very small bet, about 200, as if you had AK and were trying to get paid off, knowing that there aren't many hands that will call a big bet. Seeing as the main reason to bet is to avoid being bluffed, and a bet of 200 in this spot from a decent player doesn't necessarily look like weakness, I think this limits our losses if villain does have the goods.

Pushing preflop is poor IMO. I would struggle to call a shove there with QQ, and I would easily fold AK. Raising to 500 has a far higher expectation unless your opponents will call with TT, AQ, etc.

With stacks this short and this far from the money, anything that calls 500 should call a push, which could be on a very wide range.

Let's see...

Pot is about 2,200, and it costs your 1,200 more to call.

You only need to win here 33% of the time, so pot odds look favorable.

This is a low stakes tourney, so a player's range for pushing on this board are huge. Your bet screams of a continuation bet (If you had flopped a good ace, you probably would have checked).

With all the other pairs that are pushing, I think you have enough equity here to call. I'm making the call, only because it is early in the tourney and I like to take a chance for a stack to work with.

I think pushing is creative, but the smaller raise probably has a higher EV.

What range would you personally call the push with?

Would you fold 99/AQ/etc to the 500 bet?

I can see a wide range calling the 500 but only a fairly slim range calling the shove. Shoving is a big overbet.

Stacks are deep enough to play this postflop.

With 1000 in the pot and each player with 1900 behind, the stack/blind ratio is far less important than the fact that there is no room to maneuver post flop. A 3/4 pot bet commits 1/2 the starting stacks, so all of the money is probably going in on the flop.

There is no hand that I would call 500 but fold to a push, because I know that once I commit the 500 the hand is going to be nearly impossible to get away from.

I would prob check/call and double him up. A check on his part on the flop would be more suspicious than a raise!