The more I look at this hand, the more I realize the TONS of different ways to play it. CactusJack, I think this is a great example of your point in your post about winning pots vs. winning chips..

PP $11 Sng

I think that after the bet and two callers what I've got here is me trying to get all of at01x's chips. jrkeene is all in and I don't see gotchya_HAHA folding for his last 130 chips (guy has AA twice and KK once in the first four levels, and STILL manages to lbe shortstacked..)

Do you push, and try to get the big stack to come along for the ride? Or do you wait till the turn to make a play? And do you check raise the turn or lead out? Or what about a minimum raise here?

I gotta think at01x would raise the flop with a set, so I don't really need to worry the board pairing up, which tells me slowplaying may be an ok move. Of course, in case he is slowplaying a set, he's not folding anyways, which lends itself to pushing.

So, do I have enough good reasons to make a WAY fishy call and slowplay it? Is the fishy call disguised by the other two fishy calls?

Finally, any reason not to be checking here? Do you lead out here?

100/200 Tourney Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) (Tournament 18116951) - Fri Dec 09 00:26:40 EST 2005
Table Table 67406 (Real Money) -- Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 8
Seat 1: Forgainstit (995)
Seat 2: Storytime3 (130)
Seat 3: jrkeene (360)
Seat 4: at01x (1160)
Seat 5: gotchya_HAHA (490)
Seat 6: agbanker2001 (2735)
Seat 7: twsa2006 (1305)
Seat 8: Ponko (825)
Ponko posts small blind (50)
Forgainstit posts big blind (100)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Ponko [ 5d, 3h ]
Storytime3 folds.
jrkeene calls (100)
at01x calls (100)
gotchya_HAHA calls (100)
agbanker2001 folds.
twsa2006 folds.
Ponko calls (50)
Forgainstit checks.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 2h, 6c, 4d ]
Ponko checks.
Forgainstit checks.
jrkeene bets (260)
jrkeene is all-In.
at01x calls (260)
gotchya_HAHA calls (260)

and you would....?

Are you kidding??? Man, I'd call that in a heartbeat and be licking my chops for the turn. This is your chance to get way more than doubled up. The only way anyone could put you on a straight is if you raise it up. What possible hands could hurt you at this point? Uh, does none sound about right?

This is a situation exactly as I talked about, and your question is the reason I posted it. If you check/raise the flop, you'll stand a very small chance of being called. No matter what the turn card is, you're still way ahead. You have to hope that at01x catches something which makes him want to hang in there.

On the turn, depending on the card, of course, I'd bet out pretty small, like I'm an idiot and trying to steal an empty pot. (How many opponents realize that once an all in is covered, you're starting again at zero against one or more opponents who still have chips?) So, I look like a moron. Chances are he'll just call.

Where you really have a problem is on the river. How do you get the most chips out of him? This is another reason why you have to hate being out of position. Again, another sublety of the game. We all know here how important position is, but most don't think about getting the most chips, so they don't realize that position is also very important for that reason, too. At this level, I'd put in all my chips and hope he calls. If I were playing a higher buy in, then I'd bet really small, hoping it looks like a steal and I'm weak.

There is very little to fear with this hand. If you get broke by some crazy twist of fate by the river, well, that's poker. The worst thing you could do is leave any chips in his stack that you could have gotten.

nh


CJ