$26, AQs shallow on monotone flop

[fjuanl]

I had trouble deciding what to do here because villain was 38/15 thru 30 hands. Haven't seen him show down any hands or do anything out of the ordinary

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 800/1600 Blinds 200 Ante (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO (t44746)
Button (t18548)
SB (t76090)
BB (t41143)
UTG (t69340)
UTG+1 (t16162)
MP1 (t21016)
Hero (MP2) (t28704)
MP3 (t40184)

Hero's M: 6.83

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with Q, A
3 folds, Hero bets t4000, 1 fold, CO calls t4000, 3 folds

Flop: (t12200) 7, 8, 2 (2 players)
Hero ...

[baudib]

Seems his CO flatting range hits this board harder than yours.

stack size is awkward, do you think minraising or shoving could be better than 2.5x?

[stardustakos]

Fjuanl why don't you shove pre? I agree it would be better, but then again if you raise 2.5x you must havea reason. I wouldn't minraise ever here, but then what do I know

[fjuanl]

On the flop I was thinking to either bet/fold or check/shove. Anyone have any strong feelings about one of those options? Bet/calling doesn't seem out of the question either

As for preflop, I really don't know if shoving is better than an open but I hate giving players easy decisions. I want KQ/AJ/AT to put money in and I'm sure plenty of people fold those to a shove. I made a bigger than normal open because my range from this spot with my stack is pretty strong and it lets me cbet flop and shove turn without making a big committing-looking cbet

[baudib]

check-shove i like, bet-folding is meh unless you think he'll fold a lot to 1/6th pot

[stardustakos]

I always shove here cause I want easy PF descisions but I definately agree with the justification of the 2.5x raise. Now for post flop, betting the flop and folding to a raise leaves you w about 10BB which is not cool, but then again if you don't bet what is the reason of raising PF? you will get folds a ton from the range you mentioned (KQ/AJ/AT). Let alone that your raise pre looks really strong (AA,KK,QQ)
If he calls then what about turn?

I am at a loss in situations like these, so that is why I shove pre. Any thoughts guys?

[drmcboy]

I agree with idea that b/c, c/shove, and b/f are all +EV.

I think bet/fold is better. He'll often call with the draw rather than shove with it and we can shove the turn, or make a pair.

c/r I doubt he'll fold many made hands because i think the only hand that makes sense to c/r is a big spade.

[chardrian]

I shove w/ a 38/15 on my left there because getting called here sucks balls 2/3 of the time and he is going to call you a lot.

[drmcboy]

2/3 doesn't count us flopping a draw but I hear what you're saying, it also ignores times it comes KQx. Are you shoving any hand you play? I think it is hard to stay balanced in these spots and can never decide if it matters.

[donkbee]

Is it bad that I never worry about staying balanced in donkaments like these? I mean, unless I'm at a table full of regs I'm not really gonna balance my pushing range here.

[drmcboy]

I don't think it matters tourney to tourney. But if we shove here what do we do next orbit when we pick up KK?

In winning poker tourneys Pearlj talks about 'never' raise folding 20 BBs stacks but to me in this 13-20 BB range I think it's worth having some raise/fold hands to balance when we want to open raise monsters?

[donkbee]

I totally see what you're saying when you wonder whether it actually matters. Do most people pay attention enough to make it worth trying to balance your range in this spot?

I tend to think that it doesn't matter at the stakes I play (I only player higher than $55 on Sundays). At my stakes, if I get KK the next orbit, I'm definitely standard raising. If I'm raising into someone I think might be paying attention, then I might shove... but is it worth it if no one else notices?

I imagine it must be different at your stakes because you don't play versus idiots all the time.

[drmcboy]

I play $10-300, I don't have a stake. Leads to many clowny plays!

beyond them noticing, they also have to interpret correctly. Esp if you've been running nitty due to cards or position or stacks or w/e, some people might expect you to raise/fold on steals and shove your good hands for value or so people don't suck out on your JJ.

[baudib]

isn't our raise-fold range balancing our raise-call range