Daily Hand Quiz

I call. Villain’s shoving range is pretty damn wide from the button with 9BBs. Despite his ‘solid’ image, he knows that he won’t get many opportunities to get it in first.

I think this is a good chance to knock off a dangerous opponent so I am happy to take a bit of a risk. It is very unlikely we’re completely crushed and very possible that we’re ahead. If we call and lose, we still have a better-than-average stack.

I would call with A4o and 33 as well. I think might call here with as little as JT.

I think an additional bonus of making this call – even if we lose – is that it will discourage smaller stacks from stealing our blinds. We’re getting about 4 to 3 to make the call and even if the price is slightly wrong, I am happy to give the table the impression that I’m willing to resist and sniff out steals.

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I agree that we call in this spot. But I would fold in the SB with his/her stack.

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Call…fold…. either way….
K8s is a favorite vs 2 random cards. If we give V a fairly standard range like any PP, any Ace, any 2 broadway cards, and some med suited connectors, we’re a slight dog – probably around 55/45 or so. Tighten up his range a little bit and we’re probably more like 60/40 dog. Overall, we’re probably not quite getting the right odds, but still close enough to consider.
I agree it would be nice to knock out a solid player and increase our stack by another 20% (though you could balance that with the downside of doubling up a solid player and taking a 20% hit to your stack).
I really don’t think there’s a wrong answer here as both plays are easily justified. For the record, I voted to call.

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This seems like an easy fold to me. Our hand is crushed by a lot of his range and even if were a slight dog or flipping, I wouldn’t want to risk wasting away a chunk of my hard earned stack and possibly doubling up a dangerous opp with this kind of hand. I’d rather do 6/7 suited than k/8 if I’m going to make a loose call. Less chance of being crushed.

Of course, I’m not sure you should be listening to me. I’m in Atlantic city on the rail after playing 9 hours and not making the money.

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Here’s what tipped the scales for me. Generally this early in tournaments, one of my principles is that taking out a player is not a priority. Taking a chance at knocking someone out almost serves no purpose at this stage in the grand scheme. A minor case can be made that since its a good player, a gamble is okay, but I don’t give much weight to that. At this point its more likely he’ll get replaced by someone who’s just as good that has made it this far, making it a wash. Also, this early on, the pots are almost worth trying to steal. Antes haven’t even kicked in. I’m only 200 deep into this hand.

Also, I don’t give as much desperation to V as others seem to. I’m willing to give him a tighter range I think, Any ace, king, strong queen, or pair, and against these I’m a 55/45 dog. The price is awful, and when I have a commanding chip stack, this is absolutely not how I personally choose to use it. I have no reason to think he’s pushing any two cards here, and he easily could have folded, and waited 8 hands from now and shoved the exact same amount. If the antes were in, he would have a very huge case for desperation, but to blast 2k to win 300, he has no reason to be doing this with ten high just because it folded to him. On top of it, he’s shoving into the big stack BB, who potentially could be calling him light. I have no reason to think he’s trying to run with ten high here because it folded to him and he’s gasping for air to use it.

So with all of this, I’m gonna pass. Its a horrible price, I have a huge stack, I’m only 200 deep, I think his range is tighter, no reason to think he’s desperate, this isn’t what I do with my big stack advantage, no benefit to knocking someone out, and no antes yet. etc. I can’t conceive of a single compelling argument that could run against all of this and favor making the call.

There’s one last thing: if we pass, and he snatches up the extra 300, he is of no more threat now than he is after. 300 is going to change nothing for him, he will still be left with relatively 1 move, and he will still have to be shoving into a huge stack, and it isn’t enough to make him get any more/less action than he would have already if he didn’t shove here and collect a few extras. We lost 200, which doesn’t even register for us because we have a 5 figure stack. Easy pass on this one.

With 33 I’d have to give it serious thought, but only because I hate folding pairs to such low action. But I’d probably pass there too. Give the guy his piddly 300, it changes nothing, and we are still king here.

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This is a call in my playbook. Coming to the middle of the tourney, some payers are going to make some moves and others will sometimes bet irrationally. But I don’t count on that for this guy. I’m calling on the strength of my cards, position and the most important plank to this platform– take out another player. For 9 blinds, I take this bet all day in this situation.
ROMANUM
Robert King

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