Checkdown Conundrum

This is a multi-part question, inspired by events in a live game tonight.

It was a friendly HoldEm game. SitNGo, final 3. Prizes $20/12/8.

I'm on the button with A9. I have about 45% of chips in play. I raise. SB has 10% of chips. He pushes. The BB has about the same stack as me. She thought I folded, and when the SB pushed, she called and flipped over A7.

What would they do in a Casino if that happened? Would it be a different ruling in cash game than tournament play?

Since I had the BB dominated, I might want to raise her after she called the all-in. Then again I might want to check down and increase our chances of taking out the small stack.

So would I want to raise to create a side pot against a dominated hand, raise alot to take her out of the hand, or check down?

Since I was pretty sure the SB had a pair, I wanted to checkdown. Plus it was the polite thing to do in a friendly game. As it turned out, the SB had AJ, and the BB hit a seven to win the hand, so checking down worked out well.

I'm thinking that the math on it would say that I was best to check down, unless I was pretty sure that the SB had a weaker ace than I did, or if I had him on a range of playing any two facecards, suited connectors, pairs or suited paint in that situation.

I check down almost all the time, unless i hit first or second nuts.

The smart play would be for 2 players to check it down so they are both guaranteed a higher payout (as long as one of them beats the All In)

However I notice online a lot of the time this idea floats past the majority of people and somebody will always bet. If this occurs, then depending on my stack size, reads, cards etc. will determine if I want to attempt to take them out as well or just fold and leave it.

Nothing worse though than losing half your stack attempting to eliminate the short stack only to get knocked out by them a few rounds down the track >_<

So you were down to final 3? Or do you guys play with 150% chips? =P

Yes, it was final three. I had 45%, the BB had 45% and the SB had 10%.

I'm not as smart with maths as some of the other posters on here, but here's what goes through my head:

- If you push and the BB calls you're in a dominating position to win the substantial side pot and the SB can still get knocked out.

- If you push and the BB folds you've got some dead money in the pot which sweetens the deal against the BB.

- Knowing that the BB has A7 is problematic though because it means you have one less out. Also, BB knows that you've seen your hand so it looks pretty strong if we shove and I don't think we get called too often (by thinking players at any rate).

With a low chance of the BB calling us (and therefore a low chance of their being a big side pot that we're in a dominating spot to win) and one of our outs gone I probably err towards checking it down in this spot.

Smart thing to check it down, today i was play a SnG where a really short stacked player pushed, I called with AJ and the BB shoved all in behind me, he was a donk but i didnt want to put my SnG life on the line when we were on the bubble. I folded and he turns over pocket sixes, the shover turns over KTo and i groan as two jacks come on the flop and an ace comes on the river. The shover caught a king and stayed alive, caused a lot of problems for the table as the blinds rose even more and I almost got knocked out a few times. The donk that shoved with 66 got out in third, I and the original shover checked him down, even though the shover flopped the nut straight.

you arent playing for second or third are you?....if you have a dominating hand vs A7, shove it. One of three things can happen here.....you crush the ace seven and take out the shortie as well....game over (or at least very close to it.) Probably your best bet to try here imo. Or you can get outdrawn, which sucks but you know you made the right move. But there is also the idea that the other big stack will fold since you shoved and you get 3 to one odds....even better. You can just call, which doesnt really do you any good. You can get outdrawn by the shortie and the other stack which imo sucks, even if it is just friendly. This lets the shortie maybe triple up and takes a chunk of your stack. Bad move imo.

As far as in a casino, They say "Floor!".....then the boss comes over and finds out the situation. I think most of the time in this situation if you blatently flip over the cards that person basically plays some 7 card stud lol. If you shove over them, they still get the option to fold which would be their best bet imo.