some hand decisions from last night

[gabe]

hand 1
the small stack in front of me just lost most of his chips the hand before. i'm pretty sure i'm ahead. do i push, min raise, call, or save the chips?

Game #718575503: Texas Hold'em No Limit (600/1200) - 2005/06/01 - 22:59:04 (ET)
Table "$4000GTD 649179 - 5" Seat 4 is the button.
Seat 1: Carbine (18430 in chips)
Seat 2: AXILEAS (24095.56 in chips)
Seat 3: slappy (1959.84 in chips)
Seat 4: gabezor (8560 in chips)
Seat 6: Luckymoh (10761.04 in chips)
Seat 7: Rynomoney (10785 in chips)
Seat 8: tooncese (7205 in chips)
Seat 10: Truckone (15320 in chips)
Luckymoh: posts the ante 150
Rynomoney: posts the ante 150
tooncese: posts the ante 150
Truckone: posts the ante 150
Carbine: posts the ante 150
AXILEAS: posts the ante 150
slappy: posts the ante 150
gabezor: posts the ante 150
Luckymoh: posts small blind 600
Rynomoney: posts big blind 1200
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to gabezor [Ts Ks]
tooncese: folds
Truckone: folds
Carbine: folds
AXILEAS: folds
slappy: raises to 1809.84 and is all-in
gabezor: ?????

hand 2
sitting a little above average with 10bb (yea, the blinds go up fast). i get KQo in MP, but with two limpers in front, I couldn't decide whether to push/raise 3bb/ call. thoughts?? utg is a solid player, but i doubt he would limp AA or KK utg, and no read on the other guy.

Game #718590113: Texas Hold'em No Limit (600/1200) - 2005/06/01 - 23:05:36 (ET)
Table "$4000GTD 649179 - 4" Seat 9 is the button.
Seat 1: -morrey- (3641.76 in chips)
Seat 2: ronjfudd (16885 in chips)
Seat 3: Janin0609 (9941 in chips)
Seat 4: Gennadiy1 (13045.24 in chips)
Seat 5: marshal7 (7835 in chips)
Seat 6: gabezor (13800.16 in chips)
Seat 7: AXILEAS (26945.56 in chips)
Seat 8: Mike39 (13225 in chips)
Seat 9: eeeeee (10360 in chips)
-morrey-: posts the ante 150
ronjfudd: posts the ante 150
Janin0609: posts the ante 150
Gennadiy1: posts the ante 150
marshal7: posts the ante 150
gabezor: posts the ante 150
AXILEAS: posts the ante 150
Mike39: posts the ante 150
eeeeee: posts the ante 150
-morrey-: posts big blind 1200
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to gabezor [Kc Qd]
ronjfudd: calls 1200
Janin0609: folds
Gennadiy1: folds
marshal7: calls 1200
gabezor: ???

hand 3
another KQo hand...I'm top 5 with about 30 left, top 40 pay. is this worth my chips?
Game #718621973: Texas Hold'em No Limit (800/1600) - 2005/06/01 - 23:20:23 (ET)
Table "$4000GTD 649179 - 4" Seat 7 is the button.
Seat 2: ronjfudd (15735 in chips)
Seat 3: Janin0609 (5991 in chips)
Seat 4: Gennadiy1 (9095.24 in chips)
Seat 5: marshal7 (17485 in chips)
Seat 6: gabezor (32991.92 in chips)
Seat 7: AXILEAS (22995.56 in chips)
Seat 8: Mike39 (4175 in chips)
Seat 9: eeeeee (7210 in chips)
Mike39: posts the ante 200
eeeeee: posts the ante 200
ronjfudd: posts the ante 200
Janin0609: posts the ante 200
Gennadiy1: posts the ante 200
marshal7: posts the ante 200
gabezor: posts the ante 200
AXILEAS: posts the ante 200
Mike39: posts small blind 800
eeeeee: posts big blind 1600
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to gabezor [Qs Kc]
ronjfudd: folds
Janin0609: raises to 5791 and is all-in
Gennadiy1: folds
marshal7: folds
gabezor: ?????

hand 4
comments on both streets are welcome:
Game #718639733: Texas Hold'em No Limit (1200/2400) - 2005/06/01 - 23:28:57 (ET)
Table "$4000GTD 649179 - 2" Seat 5 is the button.
Seat 1: Luckymoh (7235.72 in chips)
Seat 2: gabezor (49491.92 in chips)
Seat 4: Awpman (35570 in chips)
Seat 5: Paradigm (23919.88 in chips)
Seat 7: marshal7 (13185 in chips)
Seat 8: Nokia6600 (4980.78 in chips)
Seat 9: Rynomoney (535 in chips)
Seat 10: Gennadiy1 (7495.24 in chips)
marshal7: posts the ante 300
Nokia6600: posts the ante 300
Rynomoney: posts the ante 300
Gennadiy1: posts the ante 300
Luckymoh: posts the ante 300
gabezor: posts the ante 300
Awpman: posts the ante 300
Paradigm: posts the ante 300
marshal7: posts small blind 1200
Nokia6600: posts big blind 2400
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to gabezor [As 2c]
Rynomoney: is all-in 235
Gennadiy1: folds
Luckymoh: folds
gabezor: calls 2400
Awpman: folds
Paradigm: folds
marshal7: calls 1200
Nokia6600: checks
----- FLOP ----- [Ac Js Tc]
marshal7: bets 10485 and is all-in
Nokia6600: folds
gabezor: calls 10485

[zenbitz]

hand 1 - I doubt you have 2 overcards, so you are at best a 3:2 favorite, more likely a coin flip or slighly behind (to AX). I think you have to push to keep the blinds out, if you want to play it. The other danger of just calling is that if the short stack HAS a hand, you could triple or quad him up (I hate that). I would probably just let it go - KTs is marginal, and the BB will almost certainly call.

hand 2 - push or fold. Probably one of them has a small pair or weak ace at least. Bigger stack probably won't want a coin flip with you, but the guy with 7K might. be looking to gamble. Solid UTG player, if his raises have been highly respected might have a monster here. If you were s00ted, you might call and see a flop.

hand 3 - my "rule of thumb" on short stacks is to let the first all-in go by (this guy is pretty close to blinding out, but I bet he has an ace or pair. If it was short handed, easy call.

hand 4 - not sure why you are playing A2o 10-way for a limp. I think SB is on a flush draw, maybe straight draw. I think I call here, it's "only" 1/5th of my stack.

All of these hands are real "slim" moves I think. They are all "think tankers".

I think I stay out of the first two, because I have to risk alot of chips to isolate. The last two, you are probably ahead and won't be crippled, so it's reasonable to call.

[vqc]

1) save chips
2) save chips, if sooted think really hard on whether or not to push, and sometimes maybe even gambool and push, but now, save chips.
3) save chips. You have 2 live cards. I gurantee it. Id be really tempted to call. REALLY REALLY TEMPTED. But when im on the sidelines, Id say fold. and save chips. UNless you want to gambool it up.
4) If its the final table, I fold preflop, and fold after the flop. Other than that, I really dont kno.

[gabe]

the a2o hand was kinda lame...i was thinking i was ahead of the guy who went allin utg, but i didnt feel like raising. that hand was on the 2nd to last table, btw.

[drmcboy]

All are folds pre flop.

How 'ahead' can you possibly be with K10?

The KQos - you have people to act behind, you must fold if you are raised, and even if not best case you're in a flip. Unless you think you're the worst player at the table you can find better spots than this.

Possible exception might be hand 2 if you have a read the 7K stack is very tight... most people are going to call you with almost anything worth limping with the pot odds here. You can't call, but AI is an option in that case.

A2 again I think is a fold pre flop, you can't fold when the A comes after you call the flop. Either raise to try and isolate the uber small stack or get out (with my vote being get out).

[DimitriT]

1 KTs is nothing too exciting. Pretty good position. If there wasn't an AI I would have raised it. But in this case a fold is the right play.

2 KQo in MP. I would minraise to show strength with big stack right behind you.

3 No I wouldn't risk it without an A or a pair

4 I wouldn't play that unless I was on the button and then I would raise to steal. The call is also very risky. I find I lose the majority of AI calls after the flop. I would fold.

[gabe]

All are folds pre flop.

How 'ahead' can you possibly be with K10?

if you read the comment i wrote at the top of the hand, you would see the guy lost all most all of his chips the hand before. now he only has 1.5bb and it was folded to him. if i were him, i would make this move with almost any two cards. this leads me to believe i'm ahead.

[Sed]

if i were him, i would make this move with almost any two cards. this leads me to believe i'm ahead.

Don't assume they play like you. Don't assume they don't play like you. Use your reads.

- sed

[DWDuck]

Hand 1: Based on your read.... I push. Tough though.... but you need to get some chips soon.

Hand 2: Tough. I'd be tempted to raise here to get position, then bet the flop hard if checked to me.

Hand 3: Reraise to isolate... I'm surprised everybody finds this an easy fold. Pot is laying you 2:1 odds, and this guy is desperate. I'm betting he has a low pocket pair or a medium ace. So while you're a small dog, the pot odds are great for you. It's not for a lot of your stack either, so you don't stand to lose a whole lot. There are too many chips to leave on the table though. Easy raise for me.

Hand 4: Ew gross. If you're going to play this hand, raise to isolate and for information. If somebody calls your raise, you're ready to play the rest very carefully. By limping you got no information, and then called on that very scary board. Ew. Raise!

Darkwing

[drmcboy]

K10 - you can't think you're better than 65/35 ahead. Combine that with the chance that you're dominated, the chance that it's a flip, and the chance that someone behind you has a real hand, K10 is not playable here, even if we allow for the chance he has a worse K or 10. If he's making the move with any two cards, the blinds are going to pick him off anyway. If you lose this hand, you've crippled yourself, you are not in a position to put the badge on him. I'd much rather try and steal the next pot with any two cards then call and hope here.

[DWDuck]

Maybe I'm missing something... but where are you getting the 65/35 number? There is about 4800 in the pot with 1800 to call... that's giving him 8:3 odds... over 2.6:1 odds.

4800 in the pot... you stand to increase your stack by over 50% while only risking 20% of it. The danger is a real hand behind you, but at this stage I'm willing to take that risk.

Darkwing

[drmcboy]

65/35 would be about the best you can expect if all the cards are live. If he has one in between (say J3o) I think it would drop to around 60/40.

If I'm in the BB I'm calling, I agree with you there, pot odds say go.

But in order to get the pot odds you indicate, you have to put your whole stack in there, because if you just call both blinds are coming with you. Or one of them raises, in which case you're screwed.

Was a re raise possible here? I always get fuzzy on this rule, but the AI raise was not the size of the blind, so calling may be the only option. If you know you can't be re raised pre flop, it's a little more tempting, at that point you're probably right that it is time to gamble. Although short of picking up a flush draw or two pair + you're not going to be happy with any flop.

[gabe]

yea, look how much extra is in the pot! even if i'm not a favorite, the call is justifiable.

[DWDuck]

drcmboy... a raise is still possible here. Just because somebody before you couldn't raise the full amount doesn't limit your ability to push your stack if you haven't been in the pot yet. I get confused sometimes too.... I'll have to go over all the betting rules before hitting a B&M place.... tough when you don't just have buttons and sliders to press.

With my calculations I'm assuming you're pushing to isolate the initial pusher. Obviously you carry a risk of having a blind call you... but that's a risk I'm willing to take here. Even factoring that into the odds, you still have easy pot odds to make this move I think. I don't think you can just call here... the blinds would have overwhelming odds to go in with any 2 cards. It's push or fold, and I'm pushing every time.

Darkwing

[gabe]

do you think min raising could be a safeguard against running into a bigger hand? if one of the blinds pushed, i could still fold if i just min raised.

[DWDuck]

Minraise isn't nearly enough. Suppose you raise to 3000. That means there will be 7800 in the pot, and only 1800 for the BB to call... that's outstanding odds for the BB. I think it's definately a push or fold situation. Pushing gives the BB less than 2:1 odds.

Darkwing

[zenbitz]

I guess hand 1 is the controversial one.

I really don't like a call here. Not only does it make it 3 or 4 way (although you have a pretty decent drawing hand) - you run the chance of tripling or quading up the short stack which puts him right back in it.

You don't have the stack to raise a little, so it's push or fold. It's too bad, because you do have position, and wouldn't mind seeing a flop.

I think the decision depends on your read of the two players in the blinds. If they are typically tight, I think you push. If they have shown some maniacal tendencies, you might want to let it go.

Another factor to consider is your table image. If you've been tight, now is a good time to make a move. If you've been stealing twice an orbit, you might want to let this one go.