What I usually do is start reading a post like this and then stop myself, go back to the top and fill in my thoughts as I read the post. It is, I think, a more honest way to answer the question...
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Small home tourney - 11 people to start, $60 buy-in with rebuys and optional "top-up" at the end of the rebuy period back up to the initial 1500 chips. Basically $10/500 chips, you can only buy back up to max 1500.
Weak field, I am the only player who plays for money regularly... some others are play-chip players online, some have come out to a few low limit games. This is the first NL HE some of them have played. They all know I play regularly.
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This is a ROCK tournament. The way to play is to acquire the best hand (cheaply) and get it paid off. The error that most of your opponents will make is overvaluing hands and calling too much. Bluffing is, generally, not in the toolbox (I will list an exception at the end).
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5 handed, top 4 pay. My tournament game is quite rusty as I haven't played much NL lately. I have been somewhat cold-carded and have been playing pretty passively without making any significant "moves". Nonetheless, at this point I am still alive and "average-stacked". In fact, the 5 players left have roughly the same amount. We are all shortstacked compared to the blinds.
Lots of folding to the blinds with the occasional steal - not seeing many flops, when this hand happens:
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This is where I stopped reading and went back to the top.
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Blinds 400/800, 5-handed.
I am in the Cutoff with 2800.
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I am desperately short. But, so is everyone. I favour limping in or moving all in. I can't imagine raising for less than my whole stack.
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I am dealt 76s. It is folded to me - I open-raise to 1600 in an attempt to steal (min raises have been stealing the blinds at the last few levels, so i'm thinking the least amount of chips I need to bet that will get the job done is the right move...) Button, SB fold. BB (approx 300 more chips than me) calls.
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I favour moving in or folding. I am often one to say "bet only enough to get the job done," but in this case "winning pre-flop" is the job. Maximizing the likelihood of that occuring would be my plan.
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Flop comes A x x, none of my suit.
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OK. I have 1200 left. I am done with the hand. He has called pre-flop. What has he got? He could easily have an ace. He could easily have any pair (new players LOVE aces and pairs). And, he could call with either of those. He might have a hand like K-T, but I am going to bow out gracefully.
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BB is a simple player, not much "play" in his game. I hesitate to call him an "ABC" player, because I believe his game lacks the "B & C" elements. He bets if he has it, doesn't if he doesn't. That's it. He is not one to set a trap. At one point in the tournament I had seen him call a complete bluff on the river for all his chips with bottom pair (K5o, 5 on the board with 4 overcards)*
He doesn't bet (meaning no ace) I do... all in for 1200 more. BB goes into the tank for about 5 minutes and finally calls. He shows QTs (same suit as mine) We both go unimproved and IGHN.
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Whereas his check means "no ace" I know that he will call with *anything* -- witness the K5o hand. So... I am not bluffing him.
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Questions:
Is my push on the flop reasonable? Knowing that he would be crippled if he lost, coupled with my not playing many hands I put a lot of fold equity into my decision (obviously)
Is pushing preflop a better option?
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I prefer all or nothing. Although, you still would have lost because he would have called. If he called you on the turn, he would FOR SURE call pre-flop with a hand like QTs.
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Is folding a speculative hand like this preflop a better option?
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Given the character of the table and the size of the stacks, folding would, I think have been preferable. 76s is an "implied odds" hand, but in this case, there aren't enough implied odds. So, then it's a "bluffing hand" and I favour as much pressure as you can muster.
