€50 small field bubble question
Nightly tournament in the local casino. 47 entries (including re-buys).
Fifth pays €150, first pays €600 and it's relatively even jumps for the positions in between.
Final table has really dragged on but eventually we reach the bubble with 6 remaining. We then proceed, over the course of another hour to have about 7 all-ins in a row where the small stack wins.
The upshot of this is that the blinds are now 15k/30k with a 30k BB ante and the average stack is ~200k.
Hero is the smallest stack with 99k. Largest stack is maybe 350k.
In this hand I am BTN.
The next lowest stack after me is UTG with about 130k. He's been quiet and seems competent (has used his stack well - probably aware of ICM and correct push/fold strategy)
Before the cards are even dealt he looks over at me and asks How much I am playing. I simply move my hands so he can see my stack properly which satisfies him.
Cards are dealt and he shoves.
Folds around to me.
I have K♠ J♦
- 1. Do I call or fold?
- 2. What's the worst hand you'd be calling in this situation?
5 Replies
I fold because in your position, having just paid the blinds, you should be able to wait out someone busting when average stack is 7bbs. Utg short stack is pot committed the next 2 hands.
I like the psych out by Villain.
I don't believe he was trying to psych me out. I was in the #1 seat next to the dealer and he was on the other side of the table. I think he genuinely was having trouble determining how many chips I had left - but it was clear that I was the only one that had less than him. I think he was just trying to get the lay of the land prior to the start of the next hand.
The stack sizes of the small and big blind are relevant here, especially if bb is the large stack. I still fold, hope utg gets knocked out even though as utg I am shoving 90% of the time.
Easy fold on the money bubble, especially in a tournament where everyone is so short that you being the shortest isn't as much of a disadvantage. One of the blinds might call him, and you have four free hands to see if anyone busts (or if you get something good you can shove first in, or a premium you can easily call off with). Vs. the villain as described, you are definitely not ahead of his range here and probably only dominating a couple of hands (KTs/QJs, assuming he's even shoving those). You don't really want to call it off at 40% equity or whatever when there are ways you can still make the money or maybe even find a better hand before the blinds force you in.
Thanks for the replies. In game I ended up calling and losing a flip to 33.
My thinking at the time was that if I folded and UTG won the blinds then he'd be free-rolling the blinds that were about to hit him (i.e. he wouldn't be forced to play any two cards and could just fold knowing that the blinds were then about to come around to decimate me). I'd been particularly card dead and that KJo was the best hand that I'd seen in quite some time.
From playing around with an equity calculator I agree that it was a sub-optimal call with a hand that was an underdog to a lot of his shoving range. I heard a good line in a podcast the other day "Calling a shove is always higher variance than shoving".
So what kind of range should I be calling with here? Something like 55+, A5s+, A9o+?
SB was the chip leader (11-12 BB) and BB had 7BB.
