Satellite, tough decision on the bubble

GaryQQQ

This is a hand from the League Stars freeroll on Sunday evening, which is effectively a satellite into the Sky Sports Double Stack, the top ten finishers each win a seat worth a tasty £200 + £20.

At this stage of the tournament there were only 12 players remaining after over 2 & 1/2 hours play, so it was a fairly tense bubble situation. I almost never play satellites, so I was unsure of the optimal strategy.

While placed in 8th of the 12 remaining I know I played the crucial hand below very badly, it's been playing on my mind ever since. What should I have done here? Shoved pre-flop? Folded pre-flop? Called the reraise? Something else? Any opinions gratefully received, also any general advice for satellite bubble play.

Stack sizes;

GaryQQQ - 29K
phil12uk - 21K

Hand History #265772703 (21:33 13/06/2010)

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
WAINBARBER	Small blind		1500.00	1500.00	50705.02
phil12uk	Big blind		3000.00	4500.00	21327.50
	Your hole cards	8 A
IRONZ	Fold
SHY-BOY	Fold
GaryQQQ	Raise		9000.00	13500.00	20946.25
WAINBARBER	Fold
phil12uk	All-in		21327.50	34827.50	0.00
GaryQQQ	Fold
phil12uk	Muck
phil12uk	Win		19500.00		19500.00
phil12uk	Return		15327.50	0.00	34827.50

JohnConnor

Sitting in 8th out of 12 (for £220 or nothing) I might just muck these first anyway. However, on the button, with just 2 people to get through I think I am shoving the lot in pre. (I am definately shoving these in the SB). As you've chosen to play it, and if after considering it further you still want to raise-fold here I think you should definately min raise here instead of committing (wasting) a further BB of 3000. I think a min raise works just as well for your purposes here.

JC

BlackFish3

Easy shove pre. Being so close to the bubble you will only get called by a small range so you can chip accumulate by steal shoving so that you can survive a coin flip if you have to and still have chips.

dylan12

It all depends on how much of a stack 9th 10th 11th and 12th had?
My first instinct is to fold pre tbh. You are able to shove pre obviously but personally I dont like this play on the bubble - If the other stacks are distinctly less than what you have then it is an easy fold imo. When shoving with A8 you are most likely going to be called by a better hand hence why I personally don't like to shove with A rags and this is especially true in a Satellite. Get the other table up - use your timer to the max and pick a better spot imo.

JAEGERBOMB

fol pre even with AA

TommyD

Phil's stack is exactly the wrong stack to be shoving against while approaching the bubble.  As you were 8th at the time of the hand we know Phil is somewhere between 9th-12th.  He is definitely thinking he needs one more pot to get a seat.  You should be shoving on a medium-large stack that is in 'fold to seat' mode (not the chip daddy though).  Easy fold pre.

GaryQQQ

Thanks all, there were no particularly small stacks at either table, I dropped to 12th place after this hand.

Almost as soon as I clicked I realised a 3xBB bet was a waste of time, it should only ever have been shove or fold, nothing else. Though a 3xBB bet clearly would have been a valid play with AA or KK.

If I could turn back time I think I would muck them and use time wasting tactics while waiting for a better spot.

Two orbits after this I got all-in ahead blind v blind, the caller had a big enough stack to call with any two and I got outdrawn, I have no problem with that, it was the hand posted above where I screwed it up. 

BlackFish3

Oops for some silly reason I thought 10 cashed not 11. I can't read. Yea I fold on the bubble soz. Depends a lot on stack sizes though.

robc

I fold pre and look for a better spot to take the blinds if stack sizes are close, as raggy A's are so often dominated if they decide to play i would rather do it with cards i think will be live. 

  i often min raise on the bubble especially in sats, do people think this is just as effective as a 3x raise on the bubble on sats if you have a medium stack?