Calling a Baddie AI

[Taicho]

The villain in this hand has been selectively shoving over raises or limpers for the past 30 minutes, but he's doing it with terrible hands. For instance, I raised UTG from 200 to 700 with AQs, he shoves (6k stack), gets called by a small stack and I fold...he flips 78o. Another time two people limped and he raised AI (again, 6kish) and showed 79s. He's been fun to watch, but now I find myself low on chips as the bubble draws nearer and I'm looking for a good opportunity to double up.

In this hand, I tried to see a cheap flop as most hands made it to the flop without a raise pf. Unfortunately, he decided whatever two cards he had looked good and shoved

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.50+$0.25 Tournament, 125/250 Blinds 25 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t2425)
UTG (t12543)
UTG+1 (t13185)
Hero (MP1) (t3765)
MP2 (t9407)
MP3 (t9060)
CO (t2845)
Button (t6154)
SB (t4770)

Hero's M: 6.28

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with 5, 5
1 fold, UTG+1 calls t250, Hero calls t250, 4 folds, SB bets t4745 (All-In), 2 folds, Hero ???

No matter how terrible his hand is, he likely at least has two overcards. Also, the one time he actually had a legit hand (AQs, flopped A) he played it pretty normally - 3x pf raise, led out on Axx flop. I only see him shove with bad hands, which he always shows.

So what's your line? The bubble is approaching and while my bankroll is certainly not in desperate need of $4, I'd obviously like to survive!

[Sprayed]

My line would be to shove over the first caller if I am going to play 55 with a 6M stack. Over limping with a large portion of your stack when you are getting short isn't optimal. I would either push over UTG+1 or just fold preflop.

As played, against SB's range you are probably ahead if your read is correct.

[Taicho]

My line would be to shove over the first caller if I am going to play 55 with a 6M stack. Over limping with a large portion of your stack when you are getting short isn't optimal. I would either push over UTG+1 or just fold preflop.

As played, against SB's range you are probably ahead if your read is correct.

I can definitely see your point and I considered it, but with the bubble approaching and most hands going to the flop with no raises, I felt I could risk 250; if it goes to the flop, I can play it however, and if it got raised I planned on folding. However, this guy pushed and I'm certain I'm ahead of his range, but I can easily coast into the money and find a better place to get my chips in instead of a coin flip (even if we put him on 67o, I'm not that far ahead].

I guess I'm really just looking for confirmation that this wasn't an awful play. I wanted to call, but as mentioned, I felt I could coast into the money instead of risking it all against any random hand.

[baudib]

Your read seems to strongly indicate he does not have a legitimate hand, although you never know when he could be switching gears and shove JJ or something.

Still, I think this is a call. If he can push 87o and 97o, he can probably push A5- or 65 or K2. So if you start including a couple hands that we have dominated and most likely discount hands that have us crushed, pot odds make this a pretty easy call.

[mcatdog]

Unless you're in the small blind, stop limping small pairs when you have 15 BB, period. You will instantly get better if you stop it.

Seems like an easy call of the all-in with the reads you've given us.

[Sprayed]

even if we put him on 67o, I'm not that far ahead].

If you put him on a range, you are probably miles ahead. You can do this yourself, but here you go:

123,285,888 games 0.005 secs 24,657,177,600 games/sec

Board:
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 53.146% 52.40% 00.74% 64604412 916542.00 { 55 }
Hand 1: 46.854% 46.11% 00.74% 56848392 916542.00 { 76o }

[mcatdog]

I guess I'm really just looking for confirmation that this wasn't an awful play. I wanted to call, but as mentioned, I felt I could coast into the money instead of risking it all against any random hand.

Actually it was two awful plays. Both the limp (especially with a spazzy guy behind you who shovees a lot) and the fold to the all-in.

[Taicho]

Oof, I played this worse than I thought then. Thanks for the input guys.

[Raoni_Poker]

In my modest opinion, I would shove it, not limp in. However, I see your point...trying to see a cheap flop, playing cautious (if you get a set on the flop, thats it!).
55 seems a better hand for shoving than for calling a shove.
Anyway...he could have anything here. Using the gap to intimidate opponents can be very deceiving. Considering his broad range of hands...i would call it. 55 is better than any unpaired cards...thats something.

[baudib]

You can't afford to try to see a cheap flop with 15 BBs.

[Taicho]

You can't afford to try to see a cheap flop with 15 BBs.

And I think that's the main point I learned from posting this (after all, the point of posting hands is to learn...). I incorrectly thought that it was worth trying when 9/10 hands went to flop without pf raises, but really I should have just opened with a shove. Of course, I made it worse by not calling an all-in when I knew I was ahead.

Again, thanks for the help. You won't see me limping like this anymore