Medium ace preflop against a maniac’s raise

Game type: No Limit tournament
Your image: None established
Stage of tourney: Within the first 5 hands
Avg stack: 3000
Misc notes:
Your hand: A♣J♥

The setup: Player E has overbet 3 of the first five hands preflop and has taken down the pot each time. This time, two people limp and he fires out another overbet. You don’t have the strongest hand but you’re starting to think he might not have the highest preflop raising standards, and there is now over 500 chips in the pot. What’s your move?

4 COMMENTS (Jump to comment form)

Mary

I say call. I have a premium, but vulnerable hand. For just more than 10% of my money I will likely see the flop, and could hit it well. We haven’t seen the maniac’s cards nor how he reacts to competition, I have position. I need to learn more. I have a good hand, and I could lay it down if I don’t get the info I need.

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DHQ Addict

It is too early to commit the number of chips necessary to raise with a marginal starting hand. If you have confidence in your game relative to the others in the tournament, the paly is an easy fold. If not, you almost have to push a 3x raise and be ready to commit your tournament to the hand. In my view, you can be too easily dominated and at best are a small favorite to the limpers and later blind players (yet to act), as well as the initial raiser. Rememeber maniacs wake up with hands too.

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Scott

Let someone else risk their tournament life against the maniac. A better hand may come in the future to trap him with.
AJo not that good a hand this early, especially with 4 other people between you and the maniac who you would rather fold if you do enter the pot.

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ripp

call. see a flop. if you hit, let him bet into you. if not you will keep folding premo hands the entire tourny and be blinded out. if you push you could be getting slow rolled by someone in earlier position that was counting on his rais to reraise.

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