Selected hands from a £5+1 MTT: 88 early behind a raise

[jacedk]

I'm gonna throw a few selected hands out for discussion from a £5+1 I just played on Interpoker. These tournaments are generally pretty full of fish and donks, but there is usually a handfull of decent players.

Third hand of the tournament.

Game #1107220144: Hold'em NL (10/20) - 2005/12/18 - 05:32:02 (ET)
Table "Tourney 1560509 - 4" Seat 3 is the button.
Seat 1: dalboy (1480 in chips)
Seat 2: GOODNIGHT (1470 in chips)
Seat 3: Floppydog (3040 in chips)
Seat 4: Chris109 (1480 in chips)
Seat 5: RUN2ACE (1480 in chips)
Seat 7: Hawke1 (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: Goonerjak sits out
Seat 9: ravrobbo (1500 in chips)
Seat 10: JaceDK (1500 in chips)
Chris109: posts small blind 10
RUN2ACE: posts big blind 20
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to JaceDK [8c 8h]
Hawke1: folds
Goonerjak: folds
Goonerjak sits back
ravrobbo: raises to 120
JaceDK: ??? calls 120
dalboy: folds
GOODNIGHT: calls 120
Floppydog: folds
Chris109: folds
RUN2ACE: folds
----- FLOP ----- [Tc Ah Js]
ravrobbo: bets 200
JaceDK: folds
GOODNIGHT: calls 200
----- TURN ----- [Tc Ah Js][3s]
ravrobbo: bets 1180 and is all-in
GOODNIGHT: is all-in 1150
Returned uncalled bets 30 to ravrobbo
----- RIVER ----- [Tc Ah Js 3s][4d]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
ravrobbo: shows [Ad Kh] (A Pair of Aces, King high)
GOODNIGHT: shows [Ts Ks] (A Pair of Tens, Ace high)
ravrobbo collects 3090 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot 3090 Main pot 3090 Rake 0
Board [Tc Ah Js 3s 4d]
Seat 1: dalboy folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Floppydog (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Chris109 (small blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: RUN2ACE (big blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Hawke1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Goonerjak folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: ravrobbo showed [Ad Kh] and won (3090) with A Pair of Aces, King high
Seat 10: JaceDK folded on the Flop
****HAND ENDS****

[hultin]

I fold this preflop. You do not want to get invovled with low pocket pair against overcards, plus you are not the aggressor and that also has its disadvantages. It's really early in the tourney still so I just chuck this one away. In the earlier parts of the game there is no reason to be risking that many chips on small pocket pair.

Small pocket pair are good for limping into pots when the blinds are small. Once they increase, and you have the chance to be the aggressor, then you can start raising them.

[goofyballer]

Fold. The 6xBB raise looks pretty strong, and you need to take 2/3 of villain's stack after the flop when you hit your set to make this a profitable call. If you're in a later position and two people have already called the raise, that changes things, but in this situation, cold-calling and having everyone fold behind you would be quite the disaster.

[shun]

I fold. His 6x the BB raise is too big to call. I would have called a smaller raise (2-3x the BB, maybe 4x), but his bigger raise means less implied odds and more money you have to put in to see a flop.

[happycamper374]

I think the only time you could call this would be if you were in LP and several people had flat called the raise. Now your getting good pot odds to call, and the implied odds are great since somebody has to hit something on the flop.

[zardnok]

I am going to buck conventional wisdom in this thread and suggest to call and play for the set.

This serves two purposes, first, it gives you tremendous implied odds if you hit your set, and second, it sets you up as a loose player in the eyes of the other players at the table. Many tourneys, folks will pay attention to the first two rounds of play and make their assessment of play styles. If you mix it up on a few early hands, folks will see you as a maniac and probably pay off your quality hands later on. IMO you will win more by setting the table up for a later hand than you would save by playing ultra-tight and folding.

[jacedk]

True that with his agression pre-flop, I was highly likely to take his stack if I hit the flop right, which was my main reason for calling.

I doubt however, that most players at this level would pay enough attention to me to remember me as a loose player. The ones that pay that much attention would likely catch on that I only played about 20% of my hands, even on the lower blind levels.