33 partway through a $55.. wtd?! SRS DISCUSSION!!?!!?

[supafrey]

Hand History taken from PokerStars $50+5 $25k Guaranteed...

Final 3 tables, 7 handed,... ~90k avg. stack
Seat 1: (241429 in chips)
Seat 2: (160179 in chips)
Seat 3: (174892 in chips)
Seat 4: (63517 in chips)
Seat 5: (87656 in chips)
HERO: (77501 in chips)
Seat 9: (67033 in chips)

Seat 1: posts the ante 400
Seat 2: posts the ante 400
Seat 3: posts the ante 400
Seat 4: posts the ante 400
Seat 5: posts the ante 400
HERO: posts the ante 400
Seat 9: posts the ante 400
Seat 1: posts small blind 2000
Seat 2: posts big blind 4000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Seat 3: folds
Seat 4: folds
Seat 5: folds
HERO HAS POCKET 3's: What do you do? (3 people left to act pre-flop)

[ninetensuited]

fold. your at too awkward of a stack and raise/folding is really weak and kills you later.

[Muck]

I don’t like a call. Yes you’ll likely end up vs the blinds and have position but the flop is unlikely to help. Yes the chances are: they check, you bet pot, they fold…but that could be done with any hand. If they call you’re left chasing 2 outs :\

Fold acceptable I think but that feels like scared money. With 3 tables left and an M hovering over 10 I’d be tempted to push.

• There’s a good chunk of dead money in there.
• You have some fold equity (duno what your table image is though).
• The blinds are deep, so unlikely to want a call off 1/3 of their stack.
• If you get called by a couple of over’s (which is pretty much any 2) you’re a good coin flip.
• 44-AA such is life.
• Your after 1st – 3rd rather than 9th right?

Just my 2p

[xDiamond_CutteRx]

fold. your at too awkward of a stack and raise/folding is really weak and kills you later.

+1. I've made the mistake of raising too many times with this kind of hand.

The other problem is if some numbskull decides to 3-bet AT, folding sucks, but reraising probably has no FE.

[ninetensuited]

fold. your at too awkward of a stack and raise/folding is really weak and kills you later.

+1. I've made the mistake of raising too many times with this kind of hand.

The other problem is if some numbskull decides to 3-bet AT, folding sucks, but reraising probably has no FE.

reraising never has any fold equity

[supafrey]

fold. your at too awkward of a stack and raise/folding is really weak and kills you later.

+1. I've made the mistake of raising too many times with this kind of hand.

The other problem is if some numbskull decides to 3-bet AT, folding sucks, but reraising probably has no FE.

reraising never has any fold equity

What about limp/push?
What about raising to 2.5x (small ball) - this will leave us with a 3-bet ai "barrel" left even if we lose?
What about pushing?

[supafrey]

Also, what kind of personalities from the sb/bb would make this move different?

[Dave B]

I would raise most of the time w/ 33 at this point in a tourney w/ lots of scared money out there, HOWEVER, with the 2 big stacks in the SB and BB, I dont mess with them.

If they flop top or 2nd pair or draw, they are likely to push on the flop or check raise all in.

Sure it would be nice to double up, but I wait for a better spot.

[kompis]

I think its very close between making a small raise and folding. Depending on the table dynamic and your perceived image.
In general I would make a 2.5 - 3x raise here, but if the blinds seem to know a little about using their stack to best effect and applying pressure then its prolly better to muck. If they are prone to calling out of the blinds and folding to a Cbet then its pretty obvious raise etc etc

[odlozilik]

Fold seems easy, just there's no guarantee hero will get the better spot, especially if the table is aggressive and blinds grow soon. I would think about the push or fold.

[supafrey]

do we all agree this is a tricky/interesting hand?

[tame_deuces]

I shove, antes+blinds are a 9% increase to stack size + tournaments are boring.

[kompis]

For me, it's not that much of an intresting hand supa.. but i play lots and lots of mtts... more intresting is the variety of responses

Shoving is a horrible horrible play imo. You have almost 20bbs; plenty of room to manouvre and you can find a much less risky and frankly BAD way of increasing your stack.

At this point with your stack, its around about time to shut down and raise only with hands u will call a shove with, or be making the re raises all in with marginal hands on people you know are raising light.

If you raise it is essentially a blind steal, (and the last chance you will have to do one)because we will not be calling a re raise from anybody. If it does not come off then we shut down totally and wait for premium hands to open with... or decent spots to reshove.

The decision whether or not to make a small raise or just fold out is dependant on your image and the way the larger stacks in the blinds have been playing. If they have been active i think its a clear fold...Your attitude when approaching the hand should be "right, now if i can get this steal through then i will not have to shut down and end up all in in a race situation" Hopefully u take this pot preflop then carry on up the charts without having to shut down.

What about raising to 2.5x (small ball) - this will leave us with a 3-bet ai "barrel" left even if we lose?

Yes supa this is the best way to play it if you beleive there is a good chance of the blinds folding

[tame_deuces]

Let's say you are called with a range of AJo+,99+

You are still 38% to double up or bust, not much of a problem in my book, unless you're playing just to creep up some spots - and we should have nice FE. Even the most conservative calling ranges will have you at around 30% to win, and those mean higher FE.

I'm not much of a tourney player, but I don't see how this means shoving is 'horrible', it's not a big problem to be called and its not a big problem to win it pre.

[mortaleclipse]

For me, it's not that much of an intresting hand supa.. but i play lots and lots of mtts... more intresting is the variety of responses

Shoving is a horrible horrible play imo. You have almost 20bbs; plenty of room to manouvre and you can find a much less risky and frankly BAD way of increasing your stack.

At this point with your stack, its around about time to shut down and raise only with hands u will call a shove with, or be making the re raises all in with marginal hands on people you know are raising light.

If you raise it is essentially a blind steal, (and the last chance you will have to do one)because we will not be calling a re raise from anybody. If it does not come off then we shut down totally and wait for premium hands to open with... or decent spots to reshove.

The decision whether or not to make a small raise or just fold out is dependant on your image and the way the larger stacks in the blinds have been playing. If they have been active i think its a clear fold...Your attitude when approaching the hand should be "right, now if i can get this steal through then i will not have to shut down and end up all in in a race situation" Hopefully u take this pot preflop then carry on up the charts without having to shut down.

What about raising to 2.5x (small ball) - this will leave us with a 3-bet ai "barrel" left even if we lose?

Yes supa this is the best way to play it if you beleive there is a good chance of the blinds folding

correct, Komp nailed it on the head. The story would be completely diffrent lets say 8x or something (obvious). With 20x late in a MTT finding playing thes type of hands becomes to complicated if the BB or SB calls with stack size and leaves a completely weird guessing game on how to play the hand post flop. I think finding a better spot would be a much better idea