There are three players left, so I'm already in the money. I have about 4000, another guy has 4200, and the final player has 1800. The blinds are 200/400.

I get dealt A9o in the big blind, and the button (4200) min raises. SB folds, I call. The flop comes out K87 rainbow.

I've played with the button alot, and he's a solid player. He probably plays full time at the $100s. He tries to steal blinds from the button when it's 3-handed more than half of the time, so he is equally likely to have any hand Q6o or better. He is willing to call an all in here with bottom pair or fold, depending on his read of the situation. If I bet big and get called, I certainly do not have the best hand unless I improve.

With the pot at $1800, my stack at $3200, my opponent at $3400, and the short stack at $1600, what should I do here. Results at the bottom














I decided to take a shot at the pot, knowing that I had a 30% chance to improve to a pair of 9s or better by the river. I decided that, from his perspective, if I bet strong it looks probable that I have a king (as I defend my blind in this situation only about 50% of the time, he knows my hand has some merit even before I bet). So I think "how much would I bet if I had a king?" If I had a king, I would want to charge him heavily to draw, because an ace on the turn cripples me even if he doesn't have an ace (because I'm out of position). So I decide to bet out $1200 (2/3 pot size, over 1/3 of my stack). He flat called it <gulp>. I know I'm beat now unless I improve. The turn was a 3, which the button *knew* couldn't have helped my hand. I check/folded, and he showed JJ. If I had pushed on the turn, he would have put me on a king and quite possibly may have folded. I ended up getting outlasted by the short stack and placing 3rd.

Don't agree with the $1200 bet at all. Come back a bit, to $900, or half the pot. If he's gonna call $900, he's gonna call $1200. And if he's going to fold to $1200, he's going to fold to $900.

If you wanted to make him believe you had the K, you would have had to go all-in.

My thoughts when I read the top half was half the pot or a small teaser like $600.
But I can also see myself folding this in this situation preflop. Especially after you discribed this person it would be a fold ( or all-in preflop).

So on the flop knowing the player i would have bet half the pot or a bit less. If he thinks he can beat the king i am still allright folding and else... well the pot is ok.If you know him he will also know you and will fold ( or big bluff ) to your bet.

200-400 would be enough to make the small stack push mediocre hands and one of you will take him down. We all know the small stack is gonna win but I had to say it..lol.

Nice to have you back Nash and GL at the $100-$200's. I am currently at the $50's and doing pretty well ( stars ).
I am very interested in your results per hour compared with the lower levels.

Cheers. Tommyhawk

tommyhawk ---

You would really consider folding A9 from the big blind with only a minimum raise and 3 people left? Doesn't that seem a little too tight? I dunno.

Preflop over-the-top might have been an ok pick, now that I think of it. Good idea.

Nash,

Yes I would really consider. Then again I am not saying I would often do it.

If I am gonna play this one I would reraise big or all in knowing this player is capable of raising with Q6.

A9 is a bad hand to find myself with HU with chipleader especially if number 3 has 2.5 times less chips then I have.

A call can also be good but I would take the stab with $600 or so on the flop.

It is all depending knowing the players also maybe small stack is rather loose so I would have a big chance of 2nd place doing nothing.
I still make mistakes calling something I should not have or raising when I should not have ( you know when you lose but forget when you win ). You make decisions under pressure and in a few seconds you don't always have plenty of time so it is very easy now saying what I should have done.

But In most cases I would have pushed big preflop ( 70%) or folded ( 20 % ).

It is a good thing we all are different otherwise the world would be a boring place.

Tom.