A Difficult Situation in the Small Blind: What Next?

[Gritz18]

What could you have done differently to avoid this situation?

With 20bb and close to the bubble, I wouldn't do anything different, I would just complete to see the flop.

What I would have done differently is not to have bet after a third spade came and since it was a K, I would have tried to take it to the Showdown.

Are you going to call or fold, and why?

I would fold, being close to the bubble, and with only a pair of deuces.

 

[Balou1982]

In my opinion this hand is only strong before the flop comes, with this board - holding only pair of 2´s and best kicker
i would fold usually after flop, when Ks is on board because there is a flush draw possible and a 4/9 or King beats us easily.
I would also fold if i play till turn because it can only helps another 2 or A @river and also this is a bit risky if villains is holding (A-?)s in spades for example.

 

[finaltable1]

There is no information about average stack sizes in thie tourney and at the table.

Described situation is terrible.

First of all - 3 preflop mistakes! 1) don't limp, 2) DON'T LIMP 3) DON'T LIMP IN ANY SITUATION unless it's hyper aggressive table and you're holding AA in UTG so you can re-raise. You should atleast min-raise so that the player with 94os who wants to fold pre-flop won't have a chance to see 942 flop...

Against such player on BB with you sitting on SB with 20bb stack you either raise ~5%VPIP or just push all-in with marginal hands like AT/JK etc.
Bet/Fold preflop isn't a option against such player.
limp-call isn't a option with such hand against such player
limp-fold is simply stupid.

Ok, let's say we're mixing our play and limp-call was our choice.... lol but it can't fit my mind... you know that villain is TAG, and you choose to be loose-passive during the bubble with 20bb stack??? seriously?

Post-flop - described above looks like "please take my chips"

Why would you check flop?? Why would you bet turn if you have checked flop?

Fold to his shove. His range on BB is very wide, and as mantioned - he's tight, so 33 beats you. This fold will extend your tournament life.

Conclusion. You've been showing weakness both pre-flop and post-flop, with kinda weak post-flop hand - avoid such situations, cause losing 30% of your stack during the bubble isn't a good idea.

 

[thedarkman]

I don't usually play hands like this. With 4 left I take it we are in the money. I would fold, period.

 

[Dmitriy_rus7]

I usually fold such cards. In the last month I have been beaten often even with AA in my pocket and I have become much more careful in my play

 

[IPlayToWin]

It's a bad limp with A2 preflop, and I think it's better to fold if you're playing in a good tournament with good prize poll, and anyways your decisions was to limp, and the board it's 9,4,2 the decisions can be a block bet, but in the spot I didnt like, because it's not your spot for sure.
Its better to leave, and find another good spots for your cards, and the bet in the turn I didnt like better If you play check,check,check, but If you think you catch a bluff it's up to you it's your game.

My final conclusion it's to leave the spot it's not mine.


Good luck

 

[Omar.Imrane]

Honestly, I think the mistake started preflop. Limping with ♠A♣4 from the SB against a big stack who seems aggressive post-flop is asking for trouble. I should have either raised or folded.

Once I got to the turn and faced the shove, I'd fold. We're near the bubble and I only have 16BB — no need to risk my tournament life with a hand like ♠A♣4, just top pair with a weak kicker. Especially against someone who never folds and likes big bluffs. Even if it's a bluff, I'd rather find a clearer spot.

Lesson learned: avoid tricky spots with weak hands and respect the ICM pressure.

 

[sandy358]

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?

It is absolutely a fold. Calling a huge overbet with a bottom pair with a completed turn flush on the board? Sign me off.

I'm not sure if the turn probe was a good idea even from GTO perspective, it connects much better to the BB's preflop raising range than to SB's limp-call range which is comparatively short in kings.

Especially if we consider that the villain is a calling station postflop you should forget about balancing against them and only bet for value, bluffs are highly unprofitable against this type of players, and on this board the bottom pair is 100% a bluff or a bluff catcher (and as you have never seen any of their hands on showdowns, bluffcatching a turn hyperoverbet blind while risking your tournament life looks like a very very very bad idea).

 

[istbno]

The mistake in this hand started pre-flop — limping with A2 suited against a big-stacked, aggressive and sticky opponent is always going to create problems. The better option is to shove and put pressure on the opponent's bottom calling range, especially on the bubble where opponent knows I would not shove a weak hand . Folding is not an option as my hand is too strong for SB. Raising against aggressive opponent is risky as he would definitely put pressure on me on the bubble by 3B shoving. On the flop with bottom pair, checking is fine, but my hand is still very weak. Once the king of spades fell on the turn, betting into this villain was a big error because the card smashes my range and leaves me only with a bluff-catcher. When opponent shoved, the decision is an easy fold — bottom pair has no tournament life equity here.

 

[Geo90]

Preflop, maybe raise after all-in? A2s isn't a bad hand, but with 20BB, JAM might be too aggressive. If I know he's definitely going to raise, then I'll either fold preflop or go all-in.

On the turn, I wouldn't bet, there's nothing to bet on.

(Now I see that I already replied here once, but I wrote something else then. It's interesting how people's behavior changes.

 

[skkz1997]

In this situation, I'll limp 100% with the range I want to play. I'll just limp call and limp shove. I'll never limp fold. In this case, I'd just walk.
I'd play the same way on the flop, and check-call the turn to reevaluate on the river.

 

[sibkaz]

Reset... definitely... still preflop...)