TPTK vs a short stack.

[Stelvask]

3/6nl FR on stars

UTG has $280. i cover obviously.

he limps. i raise to $30 with AK. he calls and he's my lone caller.

$62 pot. flop comes [Jh][2h]. he checks. i make my standard CB here of $42. he check raises to $102 ($60 more), leaving himself with $148 behind.

who pushes? who folds?

[iceman5]

[Triple B]

I hate this spot but I think you need to push.

[Stelvask]

[Aisthesis]

I think worrying about WT at that point is not good. No one knows what you had, which could easily be QQ or KK here.

It did look like AJ to me, too, but it depends on the player. If I put him on a draw, I think I'd call, look for a clean turn and push a non-heart (I think hearts are calling anyway, so you get away from the hand if he hits already on the turn). If I put him on AJ, I fold it. Or I guess I should say that I think one should fold it. I've often pushed there, too..

Sure, this would look WT if you were playing with open cards, but you're not...

[Stelvask]

Ais, it's not that i'm worried about my image at the table appearing weak tight, as i am with actually *playing* weak tight. I'm fine putting chips in on marginal situations like this one, so long as it feels marginal, but at least in my favor. Folding probably helps the LAGish image that i try to (falsely) create at a table. I want people to think i'm going to be giving action with a range of hands, in the hopes that i can create bigger pots against less powerful holdings.

[Aisthesis]

Well, actually playing WT is simply laying down the best hand more often than you force others to. He had the best hand on the flop. You did PF.

I think the thing is here that you're drawing horribly thin with your hand vs. AJ (only 3 outs).

I also think that very few players here (certainly not you) are in actual danger of playing WT. For most people, particularly tight players (definitely for me, although it's something I'm trying to work on), the fear of making a bad laydown with a legit hand is much larger than the fear of having pushed with a legit but losing hand.

I've also made some plays like this against semi-shorties where I thought I was probably behind. But I don't think they're really very good even as "statements" with this kind of hand. A much more provocative "statement" would be to push 9h8h in this situation--has much better chances to win (assuming you can actually put him on AJ, which isn't necessarily the case with that betting sequence for every opponent) and definitely raises a lot more eyebrows than pushing with AK.