Online Poker Forum - $5 - extremely short-stacked on the bubble

bleffo19

i had just lost a flip with the UTG for nearly all my chips the previous hand. down to 2.5 BB's, i'm not sure what the right play is here. the OR was opening a fairly wide range, but the reraiser had being playing relatively tight. either way, can i really afford to wait any longer?

Full Tilt Poker, $5 + $0.50 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 200/400 Blinds, 4 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: 2,430
UTG: 4,470
BTN: 5,580
Hero (SB): 1,020

Pre-Flop: (600) 5

5

dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG raises to 1,200, BTN raises to 5,580 and is All-In, Hero ???

templar rage · Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 7:27 pm Post subject:

I think you need to go for it. I believe I read somewhere that if you get down to a super short stack, such as you have, it is actually more beneficial to be the caller as opposed to the pusher. The reason is that you will usually get the chance to triple up or better. I'd take the risk to triple up, since you are probably bubbling anyways if you fold, and it is unlikely you will find a better spot to get all-in.

Ozzy52 · Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 5:06 am Post subject:

This is a great hand for discussing bubble play.

On the one hand you shove, tripling up here is a massive boost you can't really turn down with your tiny stack and 55 is a good hand.

On the other hand you fold, 55 is prolly gonna get beat here against 2 players, you need to get lucky to win this.
You still have a crappy little stack BUT you have a full rotation ahead of you and you will shove soon anyway. More importantly tho, if you fold and UTG calls the all-in there is a chance that UTG could bust here.
You make the money and that is the point of a SnG.

I don't know if my thinking is correct with regards the fold tho, other opinions on the fold option would be appreciated.

vectorspace · Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 12:29 pm Post subject:

If UTG shoved, this would be an easy fold as there's probably about a 50% chance the button knocks him out and puts you ITM. That's too good of a chance to pass up when your stack is so short.

However, the UTG raiser is probably folding to the button's shove in order to preserve a playable stack and wait for you to go out. You only have 2.5 BB's after all. Since there figures to be enough dead money in the pot to allow you to more than triple up, I say get your money in and hope for the best.

fat rugger · Message Board Junkie Joined: 06 Feb 2009 Posts: 1027

I think that you have to call as you really have only 1.5bb left after posting if you fold. So while it is probably a -ev call it is not as bad as folding off almost half your stack. If you were going to have 2.5-5bb left after folding I would consider it but it would still be borderline.

If there was just one raiser it would be a snap call even if you would have 2.5-3.5bb left as a raise four handed doesn't mean crap. But the reraiser is who we are worried about here.

So yeah, call and pray for ak or aq.

bleffo19 · Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 12:06 am Post subject:

yer i thought that what people would have said. i didnt really think about it too well - when the chip leader shoved over the OR i stupidly snap-folded. looking back at it it definitely should have been a call, seeing as i was knocked out the very next hand after shoving with k8. oh well. live and let learn.

Azonicbh · Pair Joined: 02 Aug 2009 Posts: 48

I would have to say call. You have too much of a big hand to fold in your situation. If you fold , the utg raiser might actually fold. I mean , unless he has a huge hand (AA or KK) it is NOT correct for him to call. Even if he has QQ , in this spot , it's a very tough call since if he gets knocked out by the big stack , hes out of the tourney....

Now if you call , It's even more likely that your utg opponent will fold as he directly benefits from the big stack trying to knock you out... As for you , well you really can't hope for a better spot than this at this point. Since the utg raised 3xbb , the button pushed all in and the added 600 from your sb and the bb , you will actually more than triple up in this spot if you win. You'll go from being almost guaranteed a 4th place , to having a shot at winning the sit n go. To top all of this , the fact that the big stack went all in actually gives you protection. Like I said earlier , it makes it very unlikely that the 2 players will call. Even if you see 66+ in this spot , you pretty much have the odds to call . If you see 2 overs , well your in an awsome spot to get back into contention.

zamkin · Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 8:55 pm Post subject:

It is a tough one here because if you fold you may cash. I think I would have to call because you are just so short, if you have another 600 chips folding may be an option. I do not think the initial raiser calls very often here so the chances of you making the money folding are slim. I have seen crazier things happen though lol.

-BBAnimalz- · Three of a Kind Joined: 06 Jun 2008 Posts: 86

easy fold imo

uconnrounder · Two Pair Joined: 13 Jul 2008 Posts: 71

Definite easy snap call. There are 2 reasons why:

1. The original raiser is folding to the chip leader's shove with an extremely high frequency. This gives you a shot at tripling up.

2. If the chip leader is a smart player, he would make this re-shove with a very wide range of hands. As the OR will fold the vast majority of the time, the CL is getting better than 2:1 on this hand against you, which is basically enough for him to correclty make this move with any 2 cards. On top of that, you might fold, and if you do that, he's basically taking down a nice pot with no showdown because the OR is almost never calling the all-in.

This is great news for you because it means that our chip leader has a lot of 2s, 3s, and 4s in his sliding range, you will be HU in a pot where you have a shot at tripling up, and I'd estimate your chances of winning this hand to be somewhere between 55-60% of the time. Considering you only have 2.5bb, this is a fantastic opportunity to gain new life in this sng.

Without question, this is a call.

VRod105 · Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 1:06 pm Post subject:

It is an easy fold to play for 3rd. UTG could be knocked out or even with you in chips if he calls and loses. Playing for 3rd sucks but in a SnG it is part of the strategy.

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