Should pocket 9s call in the BB facing a 10bb jam at final table?

I'd wager all the chips. Unless UTG is some really face up player who is only limping super strong, in which case fold and tell no one.

I think it's probably a call although UTG+1's limp mucks things up. How often has he shown the tendency to limp before? Has he shown down anything from limping?

The good thing is that you're still in fine shape even if you're wrong, which makes calling a little easier. If UTG+1 folds then it's a no-brainer. But the limp both tightens SB's shoving range and gives you another player behind to worry about. I think even with the adjusted SB range 99 is still a call, but I'm more worried UTG+1 might be limping AA/KK.

Cool thanks for the input. Anyone out there with an ICM solver that can take a look?

For me this depends on how SB and the limper have been playing until now.

If SB is tight I fold. Its a very strange time to be limping with basically 13 blinds unless he's been doing it before. If this is the first limp from him I probably fold.

If SB is loose (like he could be doing this with any PP and any AXs and the limper has been limping before then I jam. Otherwise I just fold. If we jam and lose (which feels about fifty fifty) we are potentially out of the money. With 30 blinds and in 3rd or 4th place we have a decent shot at going deep. I prefer to be the aggressor in these near the bubble spots.

I agree UTG limping throws a bit of a spanner in the works.

Does anyone have ICMIZER so that we can get a definitive answer?

Cheers!

You’d need to know what stuff the limper has. You’d also need to know what the shover THINKS the limper has…

I think we can estimate these things and try and get an answer that way?

If you can estimate the two ranges it’s not hard to see what we need to call with…

I would call. Something I like to think about is are they jamming a hand one or two pips below yours. 88 or 77? Maybe even A7 suited or A8 suited are jams. Flipping against AK or KQ isn’t terrible here unless huge icm implications like maybe 2-3 really shallow stacks.

I didn’t look at chip distribution but yea 99 is a good hand. 11 bb jams typically are fairly wide

Sure I think pocket 9s are doing fine against the jamming range of the small blind and probably against the limping range of UTG most of the time too. The question us more whether or not pocket nines should call given the ICM considerations that they have a top three stack, there are a couple of short stacks at the table, and only six places are paid.

Here is the one I use.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/detai...

Thanks, I'll take a look

I have HRC, but just the classic version. It cannot take limpers into account, don't know though if the advanced version is available to do that.

If we discard the limper for a moment SB should shove 61% of their hands:

22+, A2s+, A2o+, K2s+, K2o+, Q2s+, Q6o+, J3s+, J2s, J8o+, T3s+, T7o+, 95s+, 97o+, 84s+, 87o, 86o:, 74s+, 76o, 64s+, 63s, 53s+, 43s

Against that range Hero shall call fairly wide: (35,7%)

22+, A2s+, A2o+, K3s+, K2s:0.738, K6o+, Q8s+, Q9o+, J9s+, JTo, T9s

Even if we think SB pushes much tighter here for just half the range above:

22+, A2s+, A3o+, K6s+, K9o+, Q8s+, QTo+, J9s+, JTo, T8s+, 98s, 87s,

... Hero still calls 16%: 44+, A4s+, A7o+, KTs+, KQo

99 is so well inside of these ranges that I can't imagine the presence of the short-stacked UTG can alter the fact that this is a mandatory call.

I think we can only consider a fold if we know UTG is a very tight player that we have seen limping monsters from early positions before. But if we don't know that I would say it's much more likely they are either:

- The type who limp all sorts of hands from all positions even when short-stacked and then fold most of 'em against more serious aggression (like two all-ins here)
- The type who limp all sorts of hands and then stubbornly calls even with quite marginal hands like 55 or A8s. Our nines fare well against such a player.

Plus: Even player who barely know the meaning of the term ICM will often play conservatively when getting close to the bubble, just because they don't want to bust.

Call!

Okay cool, thanks for the great answer! Really appreciate it.

I think with the ICM effects our calling range should be tighter than chipEV, especially as the limper mucks things up. Maybe even tighter than that second range SwedishNit posted. But I imagine 99 is still in it. Even if 99 is toward the bottom of a calling range, the range when 99 is at the bottom is going to be something like 99+ AQs+ AK. Maybe 99+ AQo+ AJs+. The point is, even when we have to tighten up for ICM considerations, I have a hard time seeing 99 as a fold, because even the ranges it's at the bottom of are still very tight.

I think this is especially true seeing as we cover both players in the hand and still have a perfectly playable stack if we lose. I'm only folding if I have a high degree of confidence that UTG+1 is limping a monster. Even against a tight SB shoving range we catch some worse pairs and maybe some Ax hands we dominate.