
Archive Pick: Weak king in the BB vs short stack, WCOOP satellite

Game type: Turbo satellite, PokerStars
Stage of tourney: Final table
Opponent’s image: Very tight
Your hand: K♣8♠
This quiz is from our archives. View the original quiz and comments here.
The setup: You’re closing in on the prize in this NL turbo satellite tournament - a seat to the 1k WCOOP event. The top 5 players get seats.
This hand you get K8o on the BB. Two players fold a a very tight players moves all in for about 9500. The table folds to you.
What’s your play?
1.13.09 / 1am
Too tempting pot odds plus the chance to knock out a dangerous opponent. I call.
1.13.09 / 2am
Opp has an M of 1. We only need a 28% hand to call which we have. Winning puts us 2nd in chips but losing 6k doesn’t really change our position at the table. This is a turbo and this is a +EV spot to get needed chips. Easy call for me with king high.
1.13.09 / 4am
Pretty easy standard call.
1.13.09 / 7am
Weird. Why did none of the 199 folders comment?
I also voted call, simply because there is huge EV, and our stack is pretty much as vulnerable at 29K as at 23K anyway. At the moment we cant float into the seats but will have to push for blinds at some point, if we win this we migth win easily.
1.13.09 / 8am
Well, IMO It’s a fairly easy fold…
There are 5 stacks alot shorter than us, and a couple more who are by a bit.There’s a chance we may get into the money just by folding every hand, and if not we will still probably find a better spot than this…
Blinds as they are lots of the players are going to be shoving soon - we will probably get Ax Kx or even Qx more advantageously against those players rather than K8 against this guy who is tight.
We may also pick up a premium hand.
The guy who is shoving is also in front of us so we get a chance to bully him and since he is tight this is also better than calling against him here.
Finally, losing 6500 does make a big difference to us as it could survive us one more round or maybe even two….and with the blinds big and going quickly there aren’t going to be any more rounds!
1.13.09 / 8am
@Drhoho - because it took so long to type LOL
1.13.09 / 8am
I also voted fold. I can very well understand that we have to proper odds and everything, but for me this gets really technical. I agree with Rowdy that the 6500 we save can be very crucial, if it means we are alive for 1 more round to see 1 final player go out, for example.
Also, the fact that we have 4600, 16k, 17k, 25k stacks to our left, one of which is very tight is excellent for our stealing opportunities if we dicide to execute them.
We almost certainly have to get lucky here, if we want to win, so we can as well fold some more and get try to get lucky once we are really desperate (and so are 1-2 other shortstacks).
1.13.09 / 8am
I was on the fence but after reading the comments I am voting call.
The upside of getting to 45k paired with the 3:1 pot odds is too juicy to pass up. Whether we are at 23k or 29k after this hand will not change our position much - the short stacks are chasing after each other - after a couple double ups we are going to be in sixth either way.
1.13.09 / 10am
While the odds are tempting, I voted fold. A tight player like this allowing the stack to dwindle to 3xBB is definitely ahead of K8. After one more hand hero will have position on the shorter stacks … may be able to chip-up simply for that reason.
1.13.09 / 12pm
“After one more hand hero will have position on the shorter stacks … may be able to chip-up simply for that reason.”
That’s exactly why I personally feel it’s a call. Even if we lose our +EV situation, we will likely recover some of the chips.
And make no mistake about it, there will be no folding into the top spot. We’ve gotta win some hands here, so we might as well start now.
1.13.09 / 1pm
Fold–> as mentioned he’s a very tight player and probably has AX in this position. If I call him, he will chip up to more chips than me and I lose my position. And the very next hand I know I’m commiting atleast 5K chips to race the shortstack to the rail.
1.13.09 / 2pm
I would have called in this situation only if my cards were suited or even if my kicker was a bit higher.
1.14.09 / 4am
I voted fold, because i did not consider he was short stask… this really sucks, so that is the reason I did non comment, dr hoho :p
Oherwise this has to be a call. One of theses days I was playing and the table folded around to the Button, who went all-in for 7k on a 2.5k pot. The BB had 30K left, he econsidered for a while and calle with T4o. His explanation was that should he not pay it now, he would have to face a 9.5 raise next hand, and he prefered facing the 7k stack instead; which turned out good, since he took the pot pairing the 4. This is an even easier spot, and as expleined by the staff and to prevent a stronger raise from this player, is has to be a call.
1.14.09 / 10pm
Top 8 move on, not worth it seeing that this particular player is tight, and you are not the short stack. FOLD and you won’t regret it.
1.14.09 / 10pm
correction: Top 5****
1.18.09 / 4pm
All of the folders seem to be implying that you can fold here and somehow cruise to the top 5. This is decidedly untrue.
Fold only if you are fully aware that you will have to pick a spot at some point. There is a lot of poker left to be played.
1.18.09 / 4pm
Win the hand, however, and you’re in very, very good shape to finish top 5.


1.8.09 / 12pm
What we said then: At a bit under 3-1, you’re getting a great price here. Even against a tight player who is only making this move with 88+ and AJ+, you’re only about a 70-30 dog. Chance are our opponent, tight as he may be, is raising wider than that.
So, there’s no question that this is a +EV move chip-wise (it’s about +500 or so). The question is, are we right to gamble with the edge we have?
Winning would put us at about 45k, a nice cushion that won’t allow us to coast to a seat, but will take us pretty close. Losing drops us to 23k, not a terrible stack, but pretty thin given the current blinds and the fact that this is a turbo. Folding leaves us with 29k, about a round better than losing.
I think this is actually a pretty marginal spot and calling is about the same as folding. If this wasn’t a turbo, I’d like calling a lot better, as you’d have more time to recover from a loss. Given that you can still exert pressure on the stacks to your left with a 23k stack, I lean toward calling.
What actually happened: You called and were shown A8s. You missed your king and lost the hand