$1 NLHE: Good stack, two away from the money

[TheNoob]

$1 NL HE: Good stack, two away from the money

Absolutely no reads, we are fresh to the final table of a 45 man.

I'm about to toss the three's, but I decide to limp. (I know, limping from the button makes the baby Jesus cry).

The flop is what you don't mind seeing if you decide to play 3's.

Again, two away from the money.

It's a fold, right?

Stacks:
* SB with 13730
* BB with 10219
* UTG with 10333
* UTG+1 with 3770
* MP1 with 7430
* MP2 with 1360
* CO with 10730
* BTN with 9928

Blinds:
Site: full tilt poker
* * Dealt to BTN:3♠ 3♣
* * Sklansky group 7
Preflop:
* * UTG calls [400]
* * 4 players fold.
* * Hero calls [400]
* * SB raises to 1,200
* * 1 players fold.
* * UTG calls [800]
* * Hero calls [800]
* * Total folds this street: 5
* * Potsize: 4000
Flop:
* * 3♥ 8♦ 9♥
* * SB checks
* * UTG bets [1,200]
* * Hero raises to 3,200
* * 1 players fold.
* * UTG raises to 9,133, and is all in
* * Hero ??



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[t1riel]

Depends what your reads are with UTG. Isn't this what you want to happen when you have a small pocket pair? I'd call here. The only hands you are worried about are pocket 8s and pocket 9s.

 

[FreezerJumps]

His most likely hands here are overpairs or a crazy A-9, maybe a big flush draw. I think you go for broke here, you're way ahead most of the time, and if you win it you're in great shape for the rest of the tournament. You've also committed half your stack already, so you're getting pretty good odds to call.

I think the big issue here is that while you do want to make the money, you also want to put yourself in a position to win. By committing half your stack and then folding here, you're doing neither. This close to the bubble, you should only be playing big hands if you're willing to take them the whole way.

 

[Implied Odds3]

I'm confused... what were you looking for when you called if you are going to fold when you flop a set.

UTG leads out.. I really don't see 8's or 9's doing that; maybe J10, or even a flush draw.

You and utg+1 would be fighting to outlast the bubble if you fold..
You're out of you call and lose, but if you call and win, you're a huge leader.

I think you're getting great odds to call here, so If you don't mind going all in against a flush or straight draw, its an easy call IMO.

 

[rStormChaser]

SNAP CALL i cant see how you can possibly fold a set here or in any other situation tbh.

 

[TheNoob]

I called and he turned over pocket 9's.

I think it's more of a comment associated with ring games, but I guess you're supposed to be going broke set over set.

That's poker.

 

[TheNoob]

I'm confused... what were you looking for when you called if you are going to fold when you flop a set.

UTG leads out.. I really don't see 8's or 9's doing that; maybe J10, or even a flush draw.

You and utg+1 would be fighting to outlast the bubble if you fold..
You're out of you call and lose, but if you call and win, you're a huge leader.

I think you're getting great odds to call here, so If you don't mind going all in against a flush or straight draw, its an easy call IMO.

The flop, of course, is exactly what you like to see if you decide to play pocket 3's.

The question of folding, in my mind, occured when I was faced with elimination two places from the money.

 

[Jillychemung]

Glad you recognized your mistake and hopefully you won't make this again.

As played, I don't see how you can fold since you hit your trips. If you do fold it will be very difficult to finish ITM as you will be next to last in stack size with an M<10.

One question though, how much of your time clock did you use each time you needed to make a decision?

 

[TheNoob]

Glad you recognized your mistake and hopefully you won't make this again.

As played, I don't see how you can fold since you hit your trips. If you do fold it will be very difficult to finish ITM as you will be next to last in stack size with an M<10.

One question though, how much of your time clock did you use each time you needed to make a decision?

Interesting question, and it exposes that I don't put alot of thought into the timing of my bets if thats what you mean.

Here, I fairly quickly called the UTG limp, and then maybe a slight delay calling the SB raise.

My postflop raise was within a couple seconds. Not really snapped, but no significant delay either.

My call to the shove was pretty quick too, but my eyes were glued to the screen looking for 8's or 9's.

 

[left52side]

Definatly as stated above many times.
An easy call,especially since you already limped looking for your set to hit,which it did.
A reraise for all your chips is what I would be looking for.
ie: a giant pot.
It is what I myself would have hoped for.
So yeah insta call.
If for some reason you lose a race,or they happened to have 8s or 9s then that is just tough luck.
But you wont find a better spot to get your chips in later.

 

[Jillychemung]

One question though, how much of your time clock did you use each time you needed to make a decision?

Interesting question, and it exposes that I don't put alot of thought into the timing of my bets if thats what you mean.

It was just a gentle reminder that you do have a time clock. When you get to the ITM bubble or FT bubble or top 3 bubble, use the time clock even if you are multitabling. I make it a habit of delaying all my actions (except obvious preflop folds) in a hand during these crucial periods. Take the time to think about the hand, think about opponent ranges, think about bet sizing, etc. Once your opponents see that you are doing this on all the hands that you play any timing tells they thought they had will evaporate.

 

[Implied Odds3]

so, you called? What did the villian turn over.?

Nevermind, I missed when you said it.

1 thing... You said the only thing you were worried about was the 2 people until the money, otherwise you would have instacalled. Then why did you call preflop?.

 

[Dorkus Malorkus]

The question of folding, in my mind, occured when I was faced with elimination two places from the money.

This is a bad thing to think, but if you're going to think it then why not just fold pf? If you're limping to set mine then are getting all second-guessy when you do hit a set because you "might get knocked out" then why not just dodge the problem and fold pf?

Obviously I'm not advocating folding strong hands in the same situation, but with something like 33 even if you were thinking straight and not being negatively influenced by the bubble you wouldn't be giving up much in terms of EV by just tossing it.

e: basically, "what above guy said but with more words"

 

[TheNoob]

.....then why not just fold pf? .....

....Then why did you call preflop?.

I guess of all the incorrect thinking, playing the hand in the first place was the start.

As I mentioned, I really was just about to muck the cards. Then with the raise, I either limp/fold or play, and I try to minimize limp/folding.

In the end, I guess a good lesson to toss the 3's pf, with the general concensus that after I hit the set it's a call.

I appreciate the help. I'm trying to post more hands to get all the guidance I can.

Thanks.

 

[Poker Orifice]

Something to maybe keep in mind... once blinds are high - SC's and Low PP's go down in value. With effective stack sizes, size of blinds & bubble approaching, you don't want to be set-mining here unless you're closing out the action and opponents are deep. You generally want to be getting 15:1 vs. what you're putting in the pot (sometimes 10:1 depending upon the situation).
I think if I was tempted to call here OTB, I'm folding to SB raise even after UTG calls it.
(sidenote: I'm also folding small pairs in EP at this stage of tourney).