To push or not to push, that is...

First of all to set the setting; 10-player SnG, top 3 are paid. blinds are 200/400, about to jump up to 300/600. Don't have any reads on my opponents, haven't played them before.

My question now (as obvious from the topic ) is, do you push or not? Raise/All-in? Or is this a silly question and do you trash the hand straight away?




CD Poker 200/400, hand converted by the iPoker Converter at Talking-Poker

Button Hero (2300)
SB (4810)
BB (4980)
UTG (2910)
Preflop: Hero is on the Button with A 7
UTG folds
Hero... does what?



Any thoughts/input is appreciated!

[Dori113]

I'm not a fan of ace rag. If the flop showed an ace your kicker has no kick. Blinds are moving up but you still have plenty of time to at least get your chips in with something that stands a chance & I just don't think A rag is the hand to gamble with. Other folks play their aces heavily though and might disagree. I would muck that garbage myself.

[arjonius]

Since this is a 10-seat table that has played down to 4 and that the blinds indicate this took a few levels, it seems curious that you have no read whatsoever on the tendencies of the opponents. It seems you should have at least a preliminary impression of the remaining opponents styles.

However, given that you had no idea how the blinds play to help you make your decision, I'd probably push. With only two random hands left to act, there's a pretty decent chance that your A rag is ahead.

If the blinds both fold, that's fine.

If you're called by a trailing hand like KQ, that's okay; your tournament life is on the line with only a small edge, but considering you're the short stack and have only one more hand before you're in the BB again, being slightly better than a coin flip isn't so bad.

Of course, if you get called by a better hand, there's a good chance you're a 3:1 or 4:1 dog, but are your odds of getting a premium hand in the next orbit or so any better than that?

Also, the blinds are about to jump from 200/400 to 500/1000? I think the next level at CD is 300/600.

[kymi10]

Originally Posted by arjonius

Since this is a 10-seat table that has played down to 4 and that the blinds indicate this took a few levels, it seems curious that you have no read whatsoever on the tendencies of the opponents. It seems you should have at least a preliminary impression of the remaining opponents styles.

However, given that you had no idea how the blinds play to help you make your decision, I'd probably push. With only two random hands left to act, there's a pretty decent chance that your A rag is ahead.

If the blinds both fold, that's fine.

If you're called by a trailing hand like KQ, that's okay; your tournament life is on the line with only a small edge, but considering you're the short stack and have only one more hand before you're in the BB again, being slightly better than a coin flip isn't so bad.

Of course, if you get called by a better hand, there's a good chance you're a 3:1 or 4:1 dog, but are your odds of getting a premium hand in the next orbit or so any better than that?

Also, the blinds are about to jump from 200/400 to 500/1000? I think the next level at CD is 300/600.

Pretty much how I'd think of that too. Plus you're the shortest stack at the moment with only 3 getting the money so you pretty much have to start taking some action at that point. Pretty much all in pre-flop or fold since your M is less than 5. I'd push in an eye-blink.

First of all, thank you guys for your thoughts

Just like you, Dori113, I'm not a great fan of the ace-rag hand either.. the outcome of this hand in question might be to blame though

On the other hand, glad to see others would do the same, and that maybe I wasn't a complete fool for pushing here.

Originally Posted by arjonius

Since this is a 10-seat table that has played down to 4 and that the blinds indicate this took a few levels, it seems curious that you have no read whatsoever on the tendencies of the opponents. It seems you should have at least a preliminary impression of the remaining opponents styles.

True, I did have an idea of their playing styles. In fact, at an earlier point in this tourney, 6 or 7 remaining, both of these players in question threw in their entire stacks at each other, both to show JTo and split the pot. As for the BB, he seemed relatively aggressive (threw in his stack several times). However, as I am not very familiar with the range of poker terminology relating to playing styles, I left this out in the original post. Having seen them risk it all with JTo earlier, should this have persuaded me to throw away the A7?

Originally Posted by arjonius

Also, the blinds are about to jump from 200/400 to 500/1000? I think the next level at CD is 300/600.

You are correct sir, not sure how I missed that!

[Dori113]

A lot of people play their aces heavily so I don't think you were foolish in the least. A/rag just isn't a hand I have any type of success with and even if I am being blinded I am just a person who will wait for a hand that works better for me ~ I have a couple I prefer in that situation when its what I call critical dot com ...(everyone has their own too ~ so what specific hands they are I don't think really matters). Wish it would have had a different result for you. I just hope you know I wasn't saying it was foolish for you... for me it's a foolish hand because it's a hand I don't have success with ~ but one man's junk is another man's treasure and that's what makes poker poker ~ everyone having their own thing that works for them that's different from the others people at the table.

No worries Dori, I realise that that wasn't what you were implying It's more that I felt like a fool myself, thinking that I should have waited out the few hands left hopefully to get something more decent indeed.

Retrospectivally, I'm not unpleased with how I played it. BB called me with QTo, making me the slight favorite (55%), he hit his two pair however which was game over for me. Felt slightly cheated as I had been dominating the table, eliminated 4 or 5 players, yet made a few bad moves near the end. I guess the frustration made me second guess myself here

Thanks again folks for the help!

[stepgen]

I would have no problem shoving it all in with even A2 in that psoition. More times than not both players will fold making it profitable in the long run. The BB calling for all most half is stck with q 10 os is plain stuipd and will lose him money in the long term. He is resicking too much for a 400 of a BB on the bubble.
I f you hold out and do not getting anything the next hand you are back to being the BB and suddenly to have litle or no fold equety left. It is tough to decide whether it is best to just try and hold on hoping for something big to come or someone to go out, orto get withled away.

[arjonius]

Originally Posted by shtm

Retrospectivally, I'm not unpleased with how I played it. BB called me with QTo, making me the slight favorite (55%), he hit his two pair however which was game over for me.

The result does not matter in terms of what you should have done. You can't do anything about the cards that come, or about the hands that those who act after you actually hold. What you can do is make +EV plays against their hand ranges, play styles and relative chip stacks.

As for whether having see two of them get all in with JT should dissuade you from pushing, I think not. Your situation is pretty bad, so you should want to be called by a hand like that - which you were - although just one caller is quite a bit preferable to two.

I think you should push, because your Ace with middle Kicker looks great 3 handed. 70.9% that they dont have a Ace, too. So, push, steal the blinds, or double up when they call with pocket 6s

Pete