Who calls and why?

[gingerwizard]

An example of how freaky plays can be at the $6 level.

Ive been watching bigrich all night. He has slow played trips and straights and managed to suck me in a couple of times. He only played when he had a hand and raised about 4-5BB if it was good.

Then this happens

#Game No : 5247267858
***** Hand History for Game 5247267858 *****
NL Texas Hold'em $6 Buy-in Trny:29213110 Level:4 Blinds(100/200) - Thursday, November 23, 17:11:11 ET 2006
Table Table 111805 (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 7: eecurry ( $3640 )
Seat 9: CDR2075 ( $994 )
Seat 1: GingerWizard1 ( $3865 )
Seat 6: JaredGC12 ( $4821 )
Seat 10: bigrich72 ( $6680 )
Trny:29213110 Level:4

Blinds(100/200)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to GingerWizard1 [ Js Jh ]
CDR2075 is all-In [994]
bigrich72 raises [1788].
GingerWizard1 folds.
JaredGC12 folds.
eecurry folds.

I figured he must have an over pair. Also Party always manages to put a few people on pockets at once. So i laid the JJ down.

** Dealing Flop ** [ Kc, Jc, 9d ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4d ]
** Dealing River ** [ 5c ]
bigrich72 shows [ Ts, Td ] a pair of tens.
CDR2075 shows [ 3h, 3d ] a pair of threes.
bigrich72 wins 794 chips from side pot #1 with a pair of tens.
bigrich72 wins 2288 chips from the main pot with a pair of tens.
CDR2075 finished in fifth place.

33 and TT!!!

My reads on bigrich were fine and i used them to get him in the end. Given them and the size of the raise would everyone else have laid down the JJ?

Was there any excuse to call? Would this have happened at a higher buy in (or am I the fool for not spotting an obvious attempt to get it down to two players)?

[drmcboy]

Also Party always manages to put a few people on pockets at once.

danger, will robinson

i don't hate the fold, if he is super tight like you say this is probably about the worst hand he could have had, along with may AK/AQ. JJ three way is pretty meh.

[ripjohngotti]

there idiots nice fold a+++

[GatorJH]

CDR's push is standard. His M is down to 3 so pushing with any PP is not a bad move.

I can also see BigRich raising to isolate with that pair as he realizes that CDR's range is pretty wide.

I don't think either of them made a horrible play on this hand, however with that said I would lay down J's here as well. Nice fold.

[JeffreyGB]

I lay down JJ there as well. I think there's a reasonable argument for the ability to manipulate a tighty on the bubble, and ultimately the best decision might come down to how easily you can beat out the rest of the table.

Even with your read on bigrich, I think his range 5-handed while looking for isolation can be expanded a bit. I'd probably think 99+/AJ+ (with both of those marked possible by pretty unlikely).

Giving him that range and shorty a range of any pair, any broadway, any ace, you're getting good odds to play. Even if we remove AJ and 99, your odds for the larger side pot are reasonable (basically coinflipish with some semi-dead money on the side in the form of the mainpot).

Mathematically, I think this is a call. That said, good players shine at this portion of the tournament. If you can out play the rest of the table, I probably still advocate taking your time for a later shot. If they're all reasonably skilled, this might be the best place to play - you're a coinflip for what is likely to amount to the win.