THis is the 4th hand of a SNG - so no reads on the players. What would you do here on the flop?


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t20 (9 handed)

MP3 (t1500)
CO (t1480)
Button (t1980)
SB (t1460)
BB (t1280)
Hero (t1500)
UTG+1 (t1500)
MP1 (t1300)
MP2 (t1500)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A:spade:, A:club:.
[color:#CC3333]Hero raises to t80[/color], [color:#666666]3 folds[/color], MP3 calls t80, CO calls t80, [color:#CC3333]Button raises to t140[/color], [color:#666666]2 folds[/color], [color:#CC3333]Hero raises to t300[/color], MP3 calls t220, CO calls t220, Button calls t160.

Flop: (t1230) 7:spade:, J:heart:, K:club: [color:#0000FF](4 players)[/color]

Final Pot: t1230

I usually try to limpraise UTG with AA, but they were determined as hell to stay in the hand, huh... It's real tricky, cause there's a pretty good chance your either playing against KK or JJ or both... If its an unexpensive SNG, I'd probably push and cross my fingers... Otherwise, I'd bet about 1/3 the pot, and fold to an allin reraise... Also, it depends on how sure you are in your shortstacked play, that you can come back from being at halfstack on the forth hand... Personally, I'd push and hope AK called...
MVP

Your reraise preflop could have been stronger. With that many people still in the pot, you want to make sure to get rid of most if not all of them. I would have reraised at least 500, possibly would have gone ahead and pushed all-in there.

But that's a moot point. Now you're first to bet on the flop, and you have to feel that you might not have the best hand now. But then you still might. So I might think about check-raising here. Check it, if anyone throws out a weak bet, raise it. Big. If someone pushes all-in, I give it up. If it checks around (unlikely), I go ahead and take my chances with a big bet on the turn unless the board pairs. If checked around and the turn shows a T or Q, I check and then play the pot odds on my straight draw.

flafishy... what do you call a "big" checkraise? It's kinda hard to read the stacksizes, but I think he's bet about 400, leaving him 1100... If he bets anything "big" into that pot (ie... 500+), he's going to have put in 2/3 of his chips on a hand he'll fold to a raise... Shouldn't he just push there, either on the flop or a checkraise allin?

My guess is you are in big trouble. I would have preffered you go all-in preflop. You have too many people in the pot and you need to get rid of all but the most serious. Hopefully all of them.

Once the flop hits I've got to figure the button for KK or wouldn't it be great if he made that raise with QQ. Best case scenario is that the other two are on a middle pair and AK. That means you have 1 out at best. I don't see the button on JJ, even at the $5 levels that I play.

I still think you have to bet. If my math is right you have 1200 in the pot and 1200 in your stack. I think fire 500 at the pot and if you get raised then bail. 500 might be seen as just weak enough to be "strong" ie - "I want to be called".

This is a tough one, but thats my two cents. How did the hand turn out?

Back to your first post, MVP, I don't like a limpraise at all preflop. You're giving everyone pot odds to call with any middling hand, and the BB with anything. You have to go at least 3xBB to get rid of all the middling and trash hands -- or at least force them into a calling mistake.

If I were playing this hand, I would have reraised all-in preflop. You're guaranteed to be ahead of anyone who's not holding the other two aces. And if everyone folds to it, you're still picking up a pretty nice little pot here.

What to do on the flop, though? It's tough to go all-in now being the first to bet with some scare cards out there. But giving it a second thought now, I still say consider a check-raise. Check it, if someone pushes or bets the pot, you've probably got to give it up. But if someone just throws a weak bet out there, you've got to take your chances raising all-in.

But the bottom line is that it was a huge mistake not showing your muscle before the flop.

Fla... I wouldn't use the limpraise PF in every situation, and I play primarily a cash game, and understand that it's different, but at a table that is aggressive, it gives an EP a chance to get a LOT of chips from dead middle players, and usually you still get a call... It's just a way to get a little more than the blinds... It is a risky play, however, as you risk a lot of limpers and you're pretty screwed... Anyways, back to his hand, I don't mind the opening 4xbb, but should have definitely overbet when all those people called... I would have gone allin there and hoped KK or QQ called...

Now that I've thought about it, I actually like your check-raise... I think if someone bets 500+, you fold, if they throw out less than 300, I'd push and hope for the best... Most likely, if someone calls you, they tripped, but there's just nothing you can do at this point.. At this point, you've invested about 300 chips into the pot, and I would play very conservatively, as you're bound to get a better chance to double up...

Agree w/ Fla... you should have pushed PF w/ SOOOOO many callers to a bet and a raise, and you probably still would've lost when the trip K hit, but it would have increased your chances over the long run...

By the time you got to postflop, you were screwed, as anyone with KK or JJ are both gonna call, and you're drawing to 2 outs...

I'm not sure I agree w/ that Jason... The main reason I like the AA limpraise is cause some jackball is sure to call you w/ his AQ,AK, or JJ... I agree w/ the part about no one believing what you have... that's why they call and lose their stack... I would say I get at least a call on my reraise 75-80% of the time...

fla... you guys are talking about different games... in a 1/2NL cash game, if I limp in EP, 5 callers, and someone in LP raises to $6, I'll reraise enough to either: a. get heads up, or b. have everyone fold and I get a free ~$12... My reraise would be close to $18-$25, which doesn't give anyone who just limped w/ 109s for $2 odds to call... I'm guessing its not quite as effective in a tourney...