3 Handed w A9 against an Aggressive Players Raise

Graham · May 13,2008, 11:15 PM

Button has been playing super-agressive, I have been ultra-tight and have only been involved in under 5 pots all tourney. Only one where I shoved that was called I held JJ so I think my table image is pretty strong. I had been card dead most of the game and looked at A9 after he has put in a standard raise in that position 3 handed. What do you do at this point? I think I have 2 options, shove or fold. Does he have odds to call almost any bet?

PokerStars Game #17415090173: Tournament #88276515, 500FPP Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2008/05/13 - 23:23:20 (ET)
Table '88276515 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: soiwinha (4170 in chips)
Seat 5: closemaster (3295 in chips)
Seat 8: yankfan (6035 in chips)
soiwinha: posts the ante 25
closemaster: posts the ante 25
yankfan: posts the ante 25
closemaster: posts small blind 200
yankfan: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to closemaster [9h Ad]
soiwinha: raises 800 to 1200

RESULTS IN WHITE
closemaster: raises 2070 to 3270 and is all-in
yankfan: folds
soiwinha: calls 2070
*** FLOP *** [Qc 7s 2h]
*** TURN *** [Qc 7s 2h] [Kd]
*** RIVER *** [Qc 7s 2h Kd] [8d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
closemaster: shows [9h Ad] (high card Ace)
soiwinha: shows [Jc 8c] (a pair of Eights)
soiwinha collected 7015 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7015 | Rake 0
Board [Qc 7s 2h Kd 8d]
Seat 1: soiwinha (button) showed [Jc 8c] and won (7015) with a pair of Eights
Seat 5: closemaster (small blind) showed [9h Ad] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 8: yankfan (big blind) folded before Flop

GTA Poker · May 13,2008, 11:31 PM

I push, you're ahead of his range and if he's gonna keep raising this is a good spot. He can still fold with 3k behind but these type of players tend not to fold IMO. If the other player were shorter I'd fold, but here you need to chip up.

westside8 · May 14,2008, 12:18 AM

Pretty easy shove based on your description of him

JohnnieH · May 14,2008, 05:11 AM

Short stacked with an Ace? Get it in there!

ReefAquarium · May 14,2008, 05:18 AM

Easy shove.

pkrfce9 · May 14,2008, 08:00 AM

as long as you don't have a dominating hand, he has odds to call. (i.e. YES he has odds to call getting around 2.5:1 on his money)

your play is fine. you were ahead and short stacked. his call is fine. he had proper odds with live cards. sh!t happens.

as an alternative, you might consider the old stop n go. in this case, it likely would have worked (or at least he would have been getting his money in as a severe dog and you could have called him an idiot in observer chat afterwards).

cadillac · May 14,2008, 09:46 AM

It can't be that bad here to shove because you are ahead of his range as described.

He is calling here like always and most likely you are still pretty much flipping on this hand. He is never folding here unless he is absolutely terrible so essentially you are calling off your chips. This short in SNG's I would much rather be shoving unopened pots and avoiding confrontations.

Why not stop and go?

Graham · May 14,2008, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pkrfce9

as an alternative, you might consider the old stop n go. in this case, it likely would have worked (or at least he would have been getting his money in as a severe dog and you could have called him an idiot in observer chat afterwards).

I had never even thought about that... will definitely try that one in the future though. Thanks for the advice!

pkrfce9 · May 14,2008, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graham

I had never even thought about that... will definitely try that one in the future though. Thanks for the advice!

the part about calling him an idiot? ya, for sure.

oh, the stop n go? ya, it is one more tool when you have a good but not monster hand and you're pretty sure he would call your push pre-flop with pretty much any 2. when it works, you feel like a genius!

cadillac · May 14,2008, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pkrfce9

oh, the stop n go? ya, it is one more tool when you have a good but not monster hand and you're pretty sure he would call your push pre-flop with pretty much any 2. when it works, you feel like a genius!

The strength of your hand is not really the issue with a stop n go.

The idea is that it gives you more fold equity than a simple pre-flop shove.

In this spot pre-flop you are getting called if you shove because he has odds to do so. He is likely 60/40 at worse so calling off against your push is a no brainer.

Since you are OOP you can flat his raise and see a flop. You know he is missing the flop 2/3 of the time and you can shove on him. 1/3 of the time he makes some sort of a pair and 2/3 he's got nada. When he misses he is basically calling off the chips with 6 outs (twice) and those outs may not even be good and he will likely be able to talk himself into a fold.

Good players know exactly what you are doing here. Bad players will not.

Pantsonfire · May 15,2008, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cadillac

Good players know exactly what you are doing here. Bad players will not.

I had KK in BB with a short stack and button who was a good player raised me. I did a stop n go on a flop of Q 7 2 rainbow. He called me with A9 and I assume he called because he thought his A high was ahead right now. Ha, got him!

Oh wait, A on the river, gotta luv this game.....