$10 NLHE: To call an all in 3 handed.

[ldsmith1031]

$10 NL HE: To call an all in 3 handed.

Here is the setup. We're 3 handed in a live NLH tournament. Blinds are at 50 and 100. The short stack at the table has 2,200, I have 3,200 and the Chip lead has 6,600. The pay out is 3rd-$10, 2nd-$35 and 1st-$75.

I'm on the button and I raise pre-flop to 300 with 7s-4s. The short stack is in the SB and calls. The Chip lead in the BB calls.

The pot is at 900

Flop comes Jd-8h-5s. The short stack is first to act and he pushes all in. The Chip lead 2nd to act calls. The action is on me. The pot is at 4,700, its 1,900 to call and I've got a gut shot draw with a back door flush.

I wound up calling, knowing that the chip lead would check down with me. I was thinking that the odds of making my hand added with the odds of the chip leader winning the hand were probably good enough to warrant a call from me. I wasn't necessarily looking to win the hand, but to eliminate the 3rd player.

I wound up winning the hand with a 6 on the river to defeat the short stacks J-8 for two pair and the chip leads Q-J.

After reviewing the hand I still believe that I made the correct play, but both players in the hand at the time were quite angry with me for my "donk call". So I'm still wondering if I'm thinking clearly here or if I'm missing some variable that makes my play a bad one.

Positive and negative feedback welcome!

 

[c9h13no3]

Pretty terrible call. You weren't getting pot odds (you had a 1:4 draw and were getting 2.47:1). Additionally, tournament chips have diminishing marginal utility, so even if you were getting pot odds to call, a fold was probably best.

Not to mention, this is a fold preflop. 74s plays pretty horribly when you've only got an M of 21.

But hey, someone's gotta be the fish at the table right?

 

[pedroman7]

This is a bad call. You are not even getting close to the right odds and if the short stack's hand holds up, you will only have 1k left and looking to go out 3rd. As for the bet pf with 74 I dont mind against tight players(as a steal) but if the short stack is calling oop with J8 I think you should be waiting for a real hand.

 

[Poker Orifice]

This is a bad call. You are not even getting close to the right odds and if the short stack's hand holds up, you will only have 1k left and looking to go out 3rd. As for the bet pf with 74 I dont mind against tight players(as a steal) but if the short stack is calling oop with J8 I think you should be waiting for a real hand.

+1 what he ^ said.

Was interesting for me to read OP's post here... it helps me to gain a better understanding of "Why the hell did he just call there with that?" (a question that pops up quite frequently for me).
SB's call preflop.. pretty bad obv. His huge overbet shove on the flop... well I can see why he did that after seeing what he gets called by here.

What's wrong with folding and having 2900 in chips left?

 

[KoRnholio]

You can loosen up your raising hands preflop when it's shorthanded, but 74s is still an easy fold. When the stacks aren't very deep, you just don't have the potential upside of a big win when you flop a monster. And a gutterball isn't a monster

 

[OzExorcist]

Fold preflop / fold flop for me too.

The backdoor flush draw is utterly meaningless, it shouldn't even be a consideration. And your hand has zero showdown value. It worked out for you this time but most of the time all you'll be doing is adding to the eventual pot winner's stack and putting yourself in an awful position for the rest of the game.

Fold, and keep the chips in your stack instead.