Common situation with small pairs in EP (MTT)

markycash

Thought I would post this as it is a common tricky situation in MTT's.

This was on another site (I have removed all indicators to other site)...

$160 BI with around 45 runners (top 2 get wsop side event packages 3rd & 4th get a little cash).

My image is tight as the table has been pretty active and it hasn't been easy to get involved until this hand although I am slightly above the starting stack. Players in the blinds have been active but nothing too crazy.

I have 36 BB's and am UTG with 66 (we are 8 handed and I think there are around 30-35 players left with average stack around 7500.

I will post the results and my reasoning if we can get a few replies as to what you would do in this spot.

So what would you do?

The hand...

$75/$150 Blinds No Limit Holdem - ***

Tournament #78738701 $150 + $10 - Table #4 9 Max (Real Money)

Seat 9 is the button

Total number of players : 8

Seat 1: Player A ( $3,976 )

Seat 2: Mark_Cash ( $5,407 )

Seat 3: Player B ( $6,278 )

Seat 5: Player C ( $5,292 )

Seat 6: Player D ( $5,300 )

Seat 7: Player E ( $5,450 )

Seat 9: Player F ( $2,072 )

Seat 10: Player G ( $11,414 )

Player G posts small blind [$75]

Player A posts big blind [$150]

** Dealing down cards **

Dealt to Mark_Cash [ 6c, 6h ]

Mark_Cash...

MattBates

min open to start

weecheez1

If you were trying to show you were tight I would just call and go fishing for the six it might be wrong but I would fold to a 3x raise and call anything under to see flop

markycash

@ Matt

I considered that as I could hope it folded round to the blinds and play the hand in better position and could try to take control of the hand.

@ Cheez

I wasn't really trying to appear tight, just the way the table probably saw me as I couldn't get involved much until this point.

In the end I elected to flat call for several reasons.

Firstly as the table probably thought I was tight and there were some knowledgeable players I thought my limp might scream of a monster hand as I had limped UTG. I hoped this would let me see the flop cheaply, maybe hit the 6 and if not, if it at least had folded round to the blinds, I would be in better position to try and take it post flop.

Secondly, obviously due to my position I was going in blind, if all sorts of crazy action ensued after my limp I could get off cheaply. I thought this would let me gather a bit more information.

Also if I min or standard open then I felt I would be exposed to all Ax hands 3betting me and taking away any favourable implied odds and possibly having to fold to a marginally inferior hand or set mining with the wrong odds.

Not saying this was the 'right way' to play it although I was happy with how I played this hand but on a different table with a different history etc etc all options would be open.

Anyways here is how it played out (not that it done me any good) I Got disconnected for 20 minutes, lost 1/3 of stack, recovered again, then moved to a crazed action table before FT bubble. I busted with AJo for a top 2 stack on a J25 flop after I standard opened to a guy who had been open shoving Q8 K3 etc for 30+ BBS, he shoved 7T clubs on the J25 (2clubs) flop and landed the flush...

Thanks for the replies guys!

$75/$150 Blinds No Limit Holdem - ***

Tournament #78738701 $150 + $10 - Table #4 9 Max (Real Money)

Seat 9 is the button

Total number of players : 8

Seat 1: Player A ( $3,976 )

Seat 2: Mark_Cash ( $5,407 )

Seat 3: Player B ( $6,278 )

Seat 5: Player C ( $5,292 )

Seat 6: Player D ( $5,300 )

Seat 7: Player E ( $5,450 )

Seat 9: Player F ( $2,072 )

Seat 10: Player G ( $11,414 )

Player G posts small blind [$75]

Player A posts big blind [$150]

** Dealing down cards **

Dealt to Mark_Cash [ 6c, 6h ]

Mark_Cash calls [$150]

Player B folds

Player C folds

Player D folds

Player E folds

Player F folds

Player G raises [$300]

Player A calls [$225]

Mark_Cash calls [$225]

** Dealing flop ** [ 6d, 7d, 7c ]

Player G checks

Player A bets [$562]

Mark_Cash calls [$562]

Player G folds

** Dealing turn ** [ Kc ]

Player A bets [$3,039]

Mark_Cash calls [$3,039]

** Dealing river ** [ 9h ]

** Summary **

Player A shows [ Th, Tc ]

Mark_Cash shows [ 6c, 6h ]

Mark_Cash collected [ $8,327 ]

stuarty117

More to the point

Did you get a seat

markycash

No Stuarty :-/ Unfortunately not (see last paragraph)

Will keep trying though

Lambert180

When we're still as deep as 36bb then it's deffo just a minraise for me and go from there.

With smaller PPs and as we get shallower that can change, so say 22/33/44 UTG when we have 19bb, I'd say it's best to just open fold, but yeah in this scenario I'd just minraise as standard.

I wouldn't recommend limping UTG with small PPs really off any stack size, especially when it's a satellite. In satellites we just want to avoid getting to showdown as much as possible so taking pots down pre/on flops becomes the preferable option often.

Itsover4u

am i the only one folding on an active 10 handed table utg? if I was above 50bb for sure I am min raising.

I flat close to 0%

I could be completely wrong but pretty sure 66 would be a long term losing hand utg at these stack levels

FeelGroggy

In Response to Re: Common situation with small pairs in EP (MTT):

am i the only one folding on an active 10 handed table utg? if I was above 50bb for sure I am min raising. I flat close to 0% I could be completely wrong but pretty sure 66 would be a long term losing hand utg at these stack levels
Posted by Itsover4u

I'd open fold pre too but i'm a nit

raggy94

I'd fold but I'm not very good

F_Ivanovic

I suck at 8 handed (or more). No idea how to play UTG or UTG+1 - generally I just play really tight. As such, I'd probably just fold here. I probably open 77 tho.

At least you had a good reason in your idea to limp and I don't mind it too much if it's a one off based on table flow etc. - I certainly wouldn't always be limping here with small pairs as a regular thing. However, if your read is that the table has knowledgeble players that also percieve you as tight then I would still prefer to min-raise. You shouldn't get anyone playing back with light 3b all that often - and if you do, well then these are the players that are going to raise your limp anyway and make your life awkward.

bearlyther

Definately opening 6s and 5s both are easy opens. Folding 2s and 3s from this position fullring because of position and post flop playability. 4s is really close so would mix it up and open it around half the time from here depending on how good the players are behind me and other stack sizes.

markycash

Cheers for the replies folks!

Ivanovic highlighted a key point, the play here wasn't what I would 'always do' or what I would say is the 'correct play' in a random set up like this. The limp was firmly based on the activity of the players at the table.

Just my opinion but I don't think there is a 'correct play' here. There are optimal plays based on generic factors but these would be out-weighed and the course of action adopted altered based on the activity at the table, payout structure, table image etc etc.

I would always move away from having a 'standard approach' in this situation, mainly to balance my perceived range.

MattBates

I just think we are massively face up when we limp pre then explode into action post. In this hand our opponent played the hand pretty bad but that shouldnt effect our views on how we played the hand.