should I have called?

I was on the FT in my local casino the other night, short stacked at 8000 with the blinds 600-1200 there were 6 players left 3 to play after me, I'd been card dead for two hours and just managed to stay alive by stealing some blinds. I get dealt JcQs and call for 1200 player next to me calls then this gobby bloke raises 10000 putting me AI to call he said out loud that he had a pair which I believed it took me ages but I folded he showed 55pp now I wished I had called and took my chance as I did'nt last long after that it's just that I felt I was behind and wanted to wait a bit longer before shoving... I don't know what do you lot think? I have been card dead for around two weeks now

Firstly its an unfortunate situation to be in after being card dead for such a long time. I think though that you made the right decision here but if you were going to play this hand you should have raised pre flop which would have meant shoving giving how short stacked you are and committing to a raise would take roughly half your chips anyway. However i think when you are in push or fold situation it is best to remain disciplined and stick to playing good hands in good positions. Remember with three people left to act behind you it is very possible that any push will leave you in a race situation like you would have been in and do you really want to stake your tournament life on a coinflip. IMO the right lay down.

QuantumGamble said:

Firstly its an unfortunate situation to be in after being card dead for such a long time. I think though that you made the right decision here but if you were going to play this hand you should have raised pre flop which would have meant shoving giving how short stacked you are and committing to a raise would take roughly half your chips anyway. However i think when you are in push or fold situation it is best to remain disciplined and stick to playing good hands in good positions. Remember with three people left to act behind you it is very possible that any push will leave you in a race situation like you would have been in and do you really want to stake your tournament life on a coinflip. IMO the right lay down.

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Thanks quantum it's made me feel a bit better I did debate shoving preflop being short stacked its just the hand wasn't that strong i just tried to see a cheap flop and hoped to hit. I went out on the SB when I pushed with pp2's got called and lost to pp10's but i only had 4000 left at that point, was'nt meant to be I suppose

Shove or fold situation. Calling is just bad since you're already a super short stack. You're sitting on <7 BBs and calling is costing you 15% of your stack. Also, you're putting yourself in an even situation by just calling and letting blinds see a flop for cheap since you're going to be check/folding flops majority of the time.

With 3 players behind you, this is a perfect hand to shove since a) you're short-stacked and b) it's short-handed. With JQ, you're happy to get into a coin-flip situation if you can or be up against a weak K or weak A. Even up against AK, you're not that bad off. Also, 6.5 BBs left, you still have a bit of fold equity left. So, if you shove you can easily pick up the blinds and increase yourstack by ~20% or you might get called and be good position to double up. If you just call and have to fold you're hand, you now have a shorter stack to shove-meaning it's a lot easier for bigger stacks to call you.

Another thing with shoving is you have the 'first all-in vigor' meaning you're showing a lot of strength with you shove. So, lets say the BB had A9s and was thinking about shoving if everyone limped, when facing your shove he might even reconsider the strength of his hand. So, by putting the pressure on your opponents, you force them into a tough decision. Were as, if you just call you allow the opponents to put you into a decision.

I think I would either have gone AI instead of calling or folded. Calling was a weak move an you paid for it. Chances are he would have called your all in but you had a good chance to double up.

cracksniper said:

this gobby bloke raises 10000 putting me AI to call he said out loud that he had a pair which I believed

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Everything else you wrote makes me want to muck Q high, but he gave you a pretty big tell here. If it were a big pair, he would have likely kept his mouth shut, hoping you'd call. He was running his mouth to appear stronger, and induce your fold.

95% of the time, weak behavior means strong hand, and vice versa.

Up to you whether you want a coin flip to decide your tourney at this point, but I wouldn't have been worried about him having JJ+ based on the behavior you described. AI or fold.

Raise before or Fold after.
Calling all your chips in is just a bad move.
Push rather then call.

Good luck