5 people left in a 10+1 sng. 4 of us have between 3000-4000 in chips, and BB has $575 left after his $150 big blind (small blind was put out on the previous hand). I am UTG and raise to $800 with 88, hoping to isolate the big blind...only the button calls however and the BB folds. Button just has me covered. The flop comes down 10 9 7, and I lead out for $1000. The button raises all-in, and I call off my last $1300. He turns over 77 for trips and takes it down. What do you think of my play? Was it too aggressive or just tough beat?

Brett

To aggressive!

First he called a big raise telling you he had a hand. The flop came out with over cards. Any Pocket pair 99 or better had you beat pre flop. You should have slowed down at this point.

Late in a SnG limp with middle pairs 10,10 or smaller. Only double the BB with JJ and QQ. Push hard with KK and AA. You push all in with JJ or QQ and AK is going to put you on the rail.

That said I wouldn't have called your raise with 77. I don't think he is a very strong player and I bet he gets knocked out more then he wins.

I disagree with the idea of minimum raising with medium pairs. It's good from EP to either fold them or make at least a 3xBB raise, just because the blind equity increases so much when you don't raise just the minimum. Hate the minimum raise play in this particular situation.

However, that flop forces you to a decision. You should either check/fold or go all in. The all in is a semibluff, you'll have probably 8 straight outs and 2 trip outs, but I would only count 8 outs due ot the 'Negation of outs' concept. That's about a 35% chance to win if called, and a significant chance of a fold. I like that play if you enjoy playing aggressively. Otherwise, you need to shut down on this hand.

Betting like you did basically pot-committed you after he raised all-in, showing that he had a superior hand and you (obviously) had no folding equity. That's a terrible situation. You're in another bad situation if he smooth calls you. You're only looking good if he folds, and folding is less probable here than if you had raised all-in.

In this spot, I would definitely have limped with 77.

Having raised, as you did, and having had that raise called on the button, I would be tempted to check/fold here on that flop. The only other option is to go all in, which I don't really like, but which is better than the small raise. The 1000 raise into a pot of 1825 looks weak- he could have easily put you on over cards. I only make that kind of raise if I am very strong and am wanting to be re-raised.

Thinking about it from his POV, I would be reraising you all in here if I had caught pretty much any part of that flop. Knowing that if you are call you are beaten, if you are raising, you have to put them all in, as you will be obliged to call for the remainder of your chips anyway, which is what happened.

I think your problem in this hand stemmed from making an initial small raise with a middle pocket pair. If you had just limped, you could have got away.