Bluffing into two players?

[bdawg56kg]

Heres the scenario. I am playing a small tournament with my friends, and I'm in the CO seat with 88. It is down to 5 people, and I am sort of short stacked with about 9xbb. So I limp, button min raises, BB calls, and I call. (BB and button are medium stacked with about 12-15xbb). Flop is Q74 rainbow. BB checks, I check because I figure one of these guys could have the Q and I don't wanna get involved with that. Button checks, and turn is a Q. BB checks, I check, and button raises 3xbb, BB calls, and now its on me. I fold.

Here are my reads. Button is very loose and will raise with practically any two cards, and I think BB is calling preflop just b/c its cheap. Therefore I really can't put them on any sort of hands. I faced a really tough decision after the button raised and BB called on the turn. I didn't put either of them on a queen, because they would've probably raised on the flop with top pair, so I thought my 88 was still good. However, I just didn't have a good feeling about bluffing for all my chips into two players. If it was heads up, I would've really considered it. If I did push and won the pot, I would've been in really good shape (in terms of chips). What do you guys think?

[zenbitz]

Never call short stacked like that.

The limp itself is marginal, but calling the raise is bad. a stack of 8BB is basically push-or-fold territory, but not push with any two territory (although it's close)

I think the button is trying to steal it UNLESS you guys have been playing really tight and they are trying to trap you into pushing into thier set or two pair or something.

With 8BB left... you are going to have push eventually. I would rather do it when I had some kinda outs though.

[michael1123]

I would've bet the turn here for sure. After you checked and there was a bet and a call, you gotta fold. You can't call half your stack away on this board, and raising isn't going to push anyone off of anything after they've already put 3xBB in and you just have at most 4xBB more to raise with.

[a500lbgorilla]

I would've bet the turn here for sure. After you checked and there was a bet and a call, you gotta fold. You can't call half your stack away on this board, and raising isn't going to push anyone off of anything after they've already put 3xBB in and you just have at most 4xBB more to raise with.

Agree wholeheartidly.

-'rilla

[FlyingSaucy]

Regarding preflop:
If you are down to 9xBB, push preflop in CO with 88. Especially with your reads on the players, and especially with only 5 players, 2 of them already folding.

[Humphrind]

Short-stacked. If you decided to play 88, push all in. Expecially after that min raise pre-flop. I agree with everyone else here when I say that.

But let's look at post flop. Why did you assume someone had a Q. It seemed like they told you on the flop neither of them had a Q. Then on the turn, the 2nd Q coming out practically confirmed it, and someone tied to bully you out. If you had more chips in front of you, would you make this call? I would have. And as short stack, I have to trust my read that tells me neither have a Q and push all in.

[bdawg56kg]

Thanks for all your replies. Well, button had King high and BB had Ace high, so I would've ended up winning, but that's history. I normally would've pushed with 88 in that situation except that the blinds had just gone up and I still had around 12-13 minutes before they increased again, so I figured if I didn't flop anything big (set or all unders), I could get out and look for one more hand to push with before blinds increased again. But looking back perhaps I should've just pushed. Also, in regard to Humphrind, I didn't necessarily put them on a Q, I just didn't wanna start betting into them if they did have a Q. In other words I didn't have a good read, so I didn't wanna do anything stupid, but I think I should've pushed on the turn for sure now that I look at it.

[Yeldud]

[quote="bdawg56kg"] Button is very loose and will raise with practically any two cards, and I think BB is calling preflop just b/c its cheap. quote]

Do not let the BB see the flop at a cheap price. At 8x BB with 88, I would have pushed AI. Based on your post, BB probably would have folded and at worst, you are a coin flip against the button.