$10+1 TT UTG with nutcase in BB

[RockyMoose]

Had this hand yesterday, sorry, no hand history:

Situation: FullTilt $10+1 STT. 6 players left. Blinds are 60/120. The chip leader with 6000+ chips is in the BB and is a complete idiot. He is a mega-negative ROI fish and plays almost every hand. This is one of those rare situations where he has gotten lucky and amassed a big chip lead.

I am UTG and in second place with 2500 chips. The other 4 players are ~1400 chips, one is under 1000 chips. Everyone is paralyzed by the mega-donk. He will call any shove, randomly raise any hand pre-flop or after the flop, etc. We've all seen these guys before: they act like their fold button is broken. I have been picking on the tight players and staying away from the donk.

Anyway, I now have TT UTG. Normally, this is an easy 4x raise for me in this situation. But in this case, I know the BB donk will call me with ATC, and there is a 50% chance he will raise a limped pot.

What do you do? Raise for value? Limp? I am second in chips and do not need to go broke on this hand. I do not want to limp and then shove over his raise with just TT (or do I?). Also, I have three other players to act that will not play back without a real hand. They will fold to my limp without a hand because of the donk in the BB.

My thinking at the time was to just limp, even though it goes against my normal rules of poker:

1. If the tight players raise back at me, they must have a hand and it is a coin flip at best. Pot odds and stack sizes will determine my action.

2. If the maniac raises me, call his raise if I can still get away post-flop and be ~2nd in chips. Look at the flop and go broke if the texture is favorable.

3. If the maniac raises me all-in . . . fold.

In other words: I know I'm going to see a flop, since BB always calls, so I might as well try to see it cheaply.

[baudib]

You should try to get it in against anyone at the table.

If you are correct and the BB maniac is going to raise your limp 50% of the time, limping is OK and I like shoving over his range. I don't think you realize how strong TT is against his range.

This is top 50%:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 68.045% 67.68% 00.37% 4234573140 22848552.00 { TT }
Hand 1: 31.955% 31.59% 00.37% 1976488572 22848552.00 { 22+, A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J4s+, T6s+, 96s+, 86s+, 76s, 65s, A2o+, K5o+, Q7o+, J7o+, T8o+, 98o }

I still prefer to raise and get it in on the flop. If he's going to call with ATC, raise to $700 and shove any flop.
I really find it hard to believe the other players are as tight as you say, but we are well ahead of shortstack shoving ranges in general.

[mcatdog]

This guy is playing every hand and you have tens, what on earth are you waiting for? You most likely won't get another hand this good for the rest of the tournament.

[RockyMoose]

I don't think you realize how strong TT is against his range.

Thanks, you're right. I didn't realize how good TT is in this spot.

FWIW, I limped. three folds, SB completed, and maniac checked. Flop came all undercards = easy decisions.

In hindsight, I agree now that a raise is better here -- I don't want the sb to see a cheap flop, and I get more money in a pot I'm a favorite to win. ABC poker. Thanks for the reality check.

[TLR]

Limping is a mistake here IMO; you have a villian that calls any raise preflop - you have a great hand vs his range, make a big raise preflop - I would raise it to 1000, and hope he calls, push any flop that does not have 2 overs