Daily Hand Quiz

An interesting spot. First off, if you shove and isolate, you’re playing for 890, or nearly a 30% boost to your current stack. That kind of pickup is certainly worth protecting.

Let’s take a look at the math of calling. You’ll put about 1250 in the pot, and you’ll be playing effective stacks of just under 2 pots. You’ll also have position. The question basically becomes this: can you extract enough value from the other opponent to compensate for the equity you sacrifice by allowing them in the hand?

Well, let’s give them a range that is a mix of suited broadway cards and some pairs. Let’s say the all in short stack has a mix of broadway, aces and medium pairs. Now, it’s hard to say exact numbers on your equity because so much can happen post flop, but here’s a point to start from: if everyone got all in with those ranges preflop, you’d have about 60% equity. If it’s just heads up, you have about 75% equity. That’s not a small difference, but remember – you’re playing for a much larger potential pot in the first case.

This feels pretty close, so I’m looking for external factors to tie break. I can think of two that tip this toward a call. One, you have position. Two, your opponent has already given us a couple of hints that they might be a subpar player – the UTG limp and the then the flat call of a sizeable raise from the button. That’s the kind of player who’s likely to make even bigger mistakes post-flop. I call.

What actually happened: You re-raised all in and the other limper folded. The short stack showed 77 and you held up to win the pot.

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I’m always going to war with kings. I reraise.

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As said by staff, its a close decision. I dont generally like to take big risks in tourneys early on so I would often reraise. Here, however, I think I would let the other dude come along and just call. I have position on him and I would like to extract more value out of KK. I would take the risk here to be well positioned for the tourney by taking down a big pot.

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I call as player B still has a sizeable raise to call to see the flop and any raise by us screams strength and will shut him out. I want value out of my kings plus there is a chance that player C actually did the limp all in with aces dance in which case we would like a post flop side pot from B to compensate.

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Call, shove any non-ace flop.

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I voted re-raise with the idea of isolating. A 30% increase to the stack is very nice at this stage. The other villain could have an A, so why allow them to hit a flop. Hopefully the re-raiser does not, and the hero can chip-up. Very unlikely you are behind at this point.

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Shove it. The pot is nice enough as it is….why risk losing it and possibly more against another opponent who could get lucky. Just go up against the small stack and hope that one opponent isnt enough to crack those kings, two opponents is just begging for heart break. plus if he whiffs, whos to say hes going to donk his stack off anyway? -meaning we add risk with no reward. Its early in a tourny, accumulate chips, dont get greedy and end up crippled or knocked.

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I guess I liked calling for another reason. I’m looking for the flop. No ace, and it’s all getting in.

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@ CityBorn. Would your answer be different if we had aces? The reward by just calling is at least an extra 400 chips.

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It’s a really interesting situation. If we call and villain calls, the pot is 1,620, hero has 2,190 and UTG+1 has 2,215. That means if we can get UTG+1 all in, we only have to win the side pot to show a nice profit. Therefore, I don’t think the isolation play is correct here. The question becomes how to get UTG+1′s money into the pot.

He might call a re-raise. He’s already limped and called out of position, so it’s a possibility. But I kind of doubt he would. A min re-raise from you is to 1,050, leaving him 920 to call. Even though he’ll be getting close to 3-1, your re-raise might scare him off. However, if you just call, he’s getting nearly 4-1. Plus, he’s not faced with cold-calling two raises. It starts to look more attractive to him to call.

It’s rare I don’t re-raise to isolate in a situation like this, but the combination of stack sizes, pot size and villain’s perceived lack of ability make me call this. I’ll be trying to get more of his money into the pot on the flop.

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i went for the iso play, mainly because with a bad player, it probable that he flatted with ace rag. i want either two aces in the three way action or none at all. it always seems that im the one watching aces hit when i have kings, but im just not going to take that chance when the stacks of the side pot players are so close. if utg+1 had maybe even 500 less, i would flat, but its just too close.

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@ Richard P

Yes, my answer would be different with aces. Id consider either option, and play my gut. Maybe leaning toward a call in that case to try to build a side pot with utg. The problem with KK is any ace rag can catch and youre screwed, not to mention all the other ways you can get screwed. –and even if they dont have it, an ace on the board could freeze you.

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Well City, that’s why they call it gambling. Call, take the flop, and hope the bad player has AQ when a Q falls. There’s more money to be made in this hand, the All In player can’t hurt you any more and the bad player just might sweeten the deal. Call, try to get it in on an Ace-free flop.

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I want win both stacks. If I had JJ I would raise to isolate, but KK is a premium hand that I’m happy to see a flop with. Assuming that Player B has Ace-x, there’s only a 20% chance of seeing an Ace on the flop. I am willing to take that risk in exchange for the chance of Player B flopping a lower pair and paying off a bet or two.

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@ Tripps

It may be gambling, but Im not a gambler, Im a poker player….I play a situation and balance what I feel are appropriate risks given that situation and potential rewards. In this one, I dont think the risk is worth it. You risk losing your whole stack if he catches, and he might not put another chip in if he misses. -as opposed to boosting your stack nicely with very little risk right now. Its a tournament, and early at that….in it for the long haul. Chip up, and keep playing good poker, thats how deep runs are made.

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Why is everyone so scared of an A coming on the flop? Geez, do the math, how likely is it that he will hit his A? And if he has a smaller pair, what are the odds he will hit a set? Do you not like your own chances here? You cant always be afraid of getting drawn out on. And if an A does flop, you just may have to fold, youll still have chips left, thats not the end of the world nor of the tourney for you. But if you stack the guy, youll be set for a deep run in the tourney. Thats well worth the risk.

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The problem with the staff post is that the value of identical chips are not equal. Their value decreases with the number of chips you have.

I would rather have 75% equity to go up by 30% (and into an above average stack) that have 60% equity to increase by 60%.

I am raising here for sure.

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I call here because KK is a strong hand and if I push B further he will probably not call a RR…

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I have position postflop, so ill call here to try to induce a call. If he had a monster he would have check raised, so we have to bait his action.

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I’m raising to isolate the short stack if possible. I don’t really mind the other player coming along for the ride either but he’s going to have to decide now. If the flop brings an A that would leave me a tough decision.

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Sure you could call if you’re a good player, but nobody here has gone into detail on what they think UTG has played,nor what they woudl do if an A hits.

It’s easy to say if no A hits I shove. Of course dummy, what big balls you have to shove your overpair!

IMO this is an impossible call to make as part of a quiz but if I was sitting at the table I could put UTG on a likely hand and play accordingly.

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