$3.30 NLHE MTT: Calling 3-bet jams from short stacks

I find myself in this spot a lot, where I open something like ATs, AJo, KQ, or a low pocket pair and get jammed on by a relatively short stack. In these spots I am often unsure whether calling or folding is the right play. I think what made me call in this case was that I only had to put in another 10BB to potentially win 18BB, so I was getting almost 2:1. Are there other factors I should be considering too? Thanks!


Yatahay Network - 600/1200 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (UTG): 50.54 BB
UTG+1: 46.07 BB
MP: 13.01 BB
MP+1: 26.49 BB
MP+2: 23.09 BB
CO: 41.49 BB
BTN: 66.6 BB
SB: 63.89 BB
BB: 37.29 BB

9 players post ante of 0.12 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.59 BB) Hero has A♠ J♥

Hero raises to 2.5 BB, fold, MP raises to 12.89 BB and is all-in, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 10.39 BB

Flop: (28.37 BB, 2 players) K♣ 7♣ Q♠

Turn: (28.37 BB, 2 players) 5♥

River: (28.37 BB, 2 players) J♣

Hero shows A♠ J♥ (One Pair, Jacks)
(Pre 31%, Flop 29%, Turn 16%)
MP shows J♠ J♦ (Three of a Kind, Jacks)
(Pre 69%, Flop 71%, Turn 84%)
MP wins 28.37 BB

may have several factors to consider before call a shove
per example -villain lost a big pot recently? he can be in tilt and shoving a weak range
in this hand is +EV to call, but I think 13BB is not too short comparing with rest of the table
because if he doubles up he will be with 27,28BB

There are many factors to use when in these situations. First would be always to consider am I acting last. Most of the time you raise you will be acting last when it folds back around to you but if there was a caller in the middle of you and the 3 bet jammer then you have to factor in the player still to act and if you want to be in a potential 3 way pot.

Secondly, you need to consider what type of player the jammer is. Is the player loose pre flop or are they nitty, somewhere in between? Most think this does not matter as they are jamming with 10 BBs but most players have a sliding scale of jam hands depending on their normal play. Loose players pre flop will think J10 is a jam hand in situations where a nit would not go all in with anything less than A8.

Considering the above possible jam range depending on the type of opponent you then can see where your current hand fits into the villains jam range and factor in pot odds. In the example hand you have AJ which is going to beat a lot of jam ranges from all players but I would feel more confident playing against a loose pre flop player than a 9% VPIP nit player. I dont think I would fold against the nit player in this spot getting almost 2 to 1 as long as my stack could take the hit but I would be thinking to myself that I am behind a decent amount of the time.

I think lots of players get hung up in these situations and they can be tricky for sure. I use Icmizer in spots like these - the snap shove App from Jonathan Little is also another great resource. Basically we simply need to know what our opponent could/should be rejamming and then we can weigh what our call off range should be. You have to run these scenarios hundreds of times (I run multiple icmizer spots everyday) and basically what will happen is you will get a feel for what you should be doing in these spots. Takes time, dedication and a will to study/learn in these areas. It's similar to learning proper playable hand ranges - we had to learn those at one point too, and the way we did it was by looking at resources and drilling those spots over and over and over again until it became second nature - so be it the same situation facing rejams from short stacks.

Personally in the example above, I think this is an easy call - our opponent could/should easily be rejamming KQs, KJs - most any suited Broadway hands to be exact, any pairs should be shoving - we block alot of Ax combos with our own hand - lots of factors leading us to a simple and profitable call off here. We just ran into the top of our opponents range. When he shows up here with ATs and KQs we are in great shape to knock them out and when we fold we are simply over folding in this spot.

If you are using a HUD and your opponent has been a super nut over 100+ hands -- then I can lean harder towards a fold. Otherwise, this is a call off all day.

Brain Gainz said:

I find myself in this spot a lot, where I open something like ATs, AJo, KQ, or a low pocket pair and get jammed on by a relatively short stack. In these spots I am often unsure whether calling or folding is the right play. I think what made me call in this case was that I only had to put in another 10BB to potentially win 18BB, so I was getting almost 2:1. Are there other factors I should be considering too? Thanks!


Yatahay Network - 600/1200 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (UTG): 50.54 BB
UTG+1: 46.07 BB
MP: 13.01 BB
MP+1: 26.49 BB
MP+2: 23.09 BB
CO: 41.49 BB
BTN: 66.6 BB
SB: 63.89 BB
BB: 37.29 BB

9 players post ante of 0.12 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.59 BB) Hero has A♠ J♥

Hero raises to 2.5 BB, fold, MP raises to 12.89 BB and is all-in, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 10.39 BB

Flop: (28.37 BB, 2 players) K♣ 7♣ Q♠

Turn: (28.37 BB, 2 players) 5♥

River: (28.37 BB, 2 players) J♣

Hero shows A♠ J♥ (One Pair, Jacks)
(Pre 31%, Flop 29%, Turn 16%)
MP shows J♠ J♦ (Three of a Kind, Jacks)
(Pre 69%, Flop 71%, Turn 84%)
MP wins 28.37 BB

Click to expand...

since you are both in earlyish position this feels like it's fine to fold

if however you were both in late position he can have a much wider range and your AJ will often be the best hand.

Fortunately the price was nice, but i find in general that if it's early vs early I don't like to call off with AJ for anything more than 9 blinds unless the villain is a total nutjob or very tilted from a recent hand.

hope that helps!

Thank y'all for the responses! Very helpful