A Difficult Situation in the Small Blind: What Next?

[Propane Goat]

This CardsChat Learning Series article covered various strategies to improve your blind vs. blind play: link to article is here---> Blind vs. Blind Poker Strategy: Mastering the Most Awkward Spot at the Table.

Here is your question for the week:

Imagine that you're playing in an online MTT, down to 4 players away from the bubble, no antes. You have been recently moved to a new table, and have very limited information on the player directly to your left. With no HUD data, you've only been able to make a few observations:

• Appears to be playing mostly TAG style pre-flop: tight range, never open-limping, and usually raising or re-raising when they do enter a pot.
• Very "sticky" player who absolutely hates to fold once they've put money into the pot, has always defended blinds.
• Post-flop, they have pushed other players off of pots several times with very large bets and raises. You have not seen any showdowns involving this player.

On this hand, blinds are 400/800, you're in the SB with 16,000 chips and .


Villain is in the BB with 48,000 chips. Action has folded around to you, so you limp in for 400 chips.

Villain raises to 2,400 from the BB, you call and see a flop of .

Pot size is 4,800 chips.

You check, villain checks.

Turn card comes .

You bet 2400 chips, and villain shoves all in.

What could you have done differently to avoid this situation? Are you going to call or fold, and why?

 

[fundiver199]

Preflop
Before even entering this pot my plan will be based on the expectation, that BB will apply a lot of pressure to me, because he has a massive stack, the bubble is looming, and he seem to be a decent player. If min-cashing in this tournament was important to my bankroll, maybe because I satellited in, or if my 20BB stack was above the average stack of the tournament, then I would just fold here and give BB a walk. With no ante there is much less to fight for, and the whole situation is very disadvantageous for us.

Most of the time I would enter the pot though, and I would do it with a limp, like Hero did. I would not want to raise, because that gives BB a good risk/reward to jam, and I do not want to call it off for 20BB with A2s near the bubble. I would however not limp-call, because A2s play poorly out of position with a short stack, and I expect BB to continue to apply pressure postflop. So instead I would limp-jam. I think, BB is raising a ton of nonsense to pressure me on the bubble, and this gives me a lot of fold equity. Occationally he will have a real hand and call me, but then I have equity with my suited wheel ace, so I will just need to get lucky and suck out on him.

Flop
As played a check is standard. No reason to lead with bottom pair.

Turn
I would check again. The K might have hit him, and I still dont see any reason to lead with bottom pair. We also dont have a spade in our hand and could be drawing completely dead. As played I fold and try to make it into the money.

 

[Goggelheimer]

This is an easy answer:

Fold preflop! Four players left to bubble bursting, fold this marginal hand.
You have about 20 BB that is enough to take another spot, also point for this move no antes are in play.

Preflop All In is no option, this is only for luck gambling players.

BB Covers you massively and will not allow you to outplay him.
You may have a little equity with the pair of deuces, but without a spade in your hand
that gives you the opportunity to make a BDFD this is an easy fold in the given situation.

 

[Tero]

It's either limp, and check/fold all the way down
OR shove or fold pre-flop with only 20 BBs.

Min raise on flop should be avoided in this situation.

 

[hajaehyun]

I think I'll fold too~ I only see losing combinations than winning ones

 

[neverbluff0799]

What could you have done differently to avoid this situation?

From the description of that player limping is a big no no there...He will surely abuse you on the bubble when you show any kind of weakness and do you really want to be in a 4.8k pot out of position without the betting lead with a weak ace?.

I think that its definitly a raise 2.3 to 2.5x and a C bet on the flop.But its definitly never a bet on the turn .He could easely have a K or a big spade that gonna push you out of the hand

Are you going to call or fold,

If i played the hand like u describe it then yes i would fold the turn when he shove

and why?

Our hand have very little chance of improving and we could easely be drawing dead or way too slim so its worth calling near the bubble.

 

[primrose]

Yeah, I mean, why would you ever lead half pot on the Turn? This just invites a jam. Either check (and give up) or make a bet that signals that you're not going away. This type of bet is what you do if you want to get jammed on.

 

[puzzlefish]

A2s looks pretty but it will make you pretty broke when your neighbour to the left is aggro-raising like that. I am ok with the limp attempt but the best move is just fold pre after the raise. The next best move is to fold after the flop. Then, the next best move after that is to fold on the turn.

Why try to bet on the turn when there is nothing saying you are anywhere close to being good to bluff in this spot? Just don't do it.

 

[mattiebumpo]

What could you have done differently to avoid this situation? Are you going to call or fold, and why?

I would have raised preflop to 3 BB. If they called, I would then c-bet on the flop.
As it was played, I would fold.

 

[riff_raff312]

I would fold preflop A rag is not a hand to be played even if it is suited,might as well wait for a better hand if you'er that close to the bubble.

 

[Panda19977]

With A2suted I would limp auswelle but just shove after his raise. Most ppl raise there with K hand that have a 5-8 behind. So make them fold that for th20 bb shove

 

[perrywh]

Raise pre and fold if he shoves!

 

[najisami]

What could you have done differently to avoid this situation? Are you going to call or fold, and why?

To avoid that situation, I would've done everything differently.
1st of all, I would've folded pre-flop considering the info I have on the opponent and the size of his stack. Even a shove was not really worth it (no antes) ...

The check on the flop was probably the best thing to do.

But that bet on the turn seems kind of absurd to me knowing that the guy is sticky and the bubble is around the corner. I would've just checked again hoping to take it to showdown with my little value and give up if he bets.

When he shoved, I would've folded of course. He could've been bluffing (He can afford it), but he also can have that king, let alone the flush, and giving him my entire stack would've been really stupid. I'd rather wait for a better spot...

 

[antonis32123]

Fold , not even think about it . Board is wet enough to leave it , go to the next hand , stay alive . Pre-op sth else should have been done , maybe . I don't know for sure . 20bigs , A2 but suited , I guess shove would too much ??? Maybe bet preflop and fold to reraise . But I wouldn't just call 20 bigs with just A2s but fold or shove , probably shove .

 

[enno]

Would definitely fold on the turn (losing 6 BB’s leaving you with only 14 BB’s), but it shouldn’t have even got this far. Limping preflop only shows weakness, so even making a min-raise of 2 BB’s, if villain re-raises, you could fold leaving you with 18 BB’s (a much better situation).

 

[pentazepam]

This is a close one.

The standard line is to limp/complete in the SB, but if he really defends every time in the BB, you have the best hand not only pre-flop but on the flop most of the time, so a small raise can be an exception to the rule. And you don't fold to a 3-bet (or all-in).

The flop hits us, but we are very vulnerable with probably the best hand, so a small C-bet is pretty standard HU.

On the Turn, I want to go to a cheap showdown, so I check.

When he goes all-in on the turn, it looks like an obvious fold. You have to call this type of player very lightly if they do this move almost every time you check, sometimes with the ottom pair or even A high if we were on the river. On this board, however, and with no spades in our hand and one more card to come, I fold.

 

[SL-247]

I would fold and when the king of spades came on the turn I would check.

 

[ammje]

It's a very difficult hand I lean towards the fold, although I would do OP x3 and not limp.

 

[Sebbour]

I could have folded preflop and this nightmare wouldn't happen in the first place. Knowing that he likes to defend aggressively the blinds and only with 4 players to the bubble it depends how big the tournament is. If this is some big tournament with 100+ positions in the money I would fold and expect that on other tables 4 players go out so that I can be in the money. On the other hand if my stack is among the smallest in the tournament I would consider all in preflop.

Second situation I would avoid is to bet the turn. I would check fold all the way to the river. And I would definitely fold his shove if I find myself in that situation on the turn.

 

[Geo90]

Preflop I'd raise to 3bb and fold to a re-raise or allin, but since the payout is close I'm leaning towards folding

 

[Flyer35]

I'm absolutely folding - I have nothing. I should not have called the raise pre-flop. That put me in the worst position with a very weak hand against an aggressive bigger stack who will not fold and who almost for sure has a better hand.

 

[dannystanks]

4 from the money, if this is an important tournament and I have 20 big blinds left and it is folded to me, I’m probably just folding and giving this opponent a walk right here. Who cares we have a small suited ace. Even if I do limp and he raises I’m probably just folding to his raise. I’m not going to get involved this close to the money when I’m probably way behind facing a raise from a TAG being sticky. 20 BB is enough to get to the money especially if it’s a big tournament with lots of players, that bubble will burst soon and I want money. Good luck!

 

[Mig32]

Pre-flop: Limping with A4o in the SB vs. a "sticky TAG" probably wasn’t ideal here. Against a player who always defends and shows post-flop aggression, it might’ve been better to either raise (to take initiative) or just fold. A4o plays poorly out of position, and since we lack info on the player, limping invited pressure without control.

Flop: Hitting bottom pair with no real draw, and checking is standard. Villain checking back is interesting — maybe they whiffed completely, or they’re trapping.

Turn: Betting 2,400 into 4,800 with just A-high and bottom pair is risky, especially when villain has already shown they're aggressive and hate folding. Once they shove, it puts us in a nightmare spot with very little equity and no showdown value. I’d lean toward folding here.

Avoiding the spot:

Pre-flop raise or fold would’ve been better than a limp-call.

On the turn, a check might’ve pot-controlled and avoided the all-in shove — though it’s possible villain would have bet big anyway.


Final decision:
Given stack sizes, no antes, bubble pressure, and only A4 with a weak pair, I’d fold. We still have 11 BB left and plenty of room to find a better spot, especially this close to the money.

Curious to hear if anyone would ever hero-call here!

 

[Rumengh]

Definitely with this hand A and 2 suited I would go all in because I am a risk taker and would steal his chips without him seeing the flop. In this situation it looks like he wants to steal my chips. I don't care if these four guys get into the money, I'm going to play for first place.

 

[makisaa]

It is a flop with danger and you got only a pair of two, and your flush didn't appear. The opponent might waits for a flush and there is the third spade. I would not bet and bluff the flush at that point. I would leave it.