The small pair, easy fold or easy all in?

Question

Ok heres a hand i played today that i think i could have got away from. Blinds were 1500-3000 and i was first to act with about 27k in chips. We were down to the final 18 players and only the final 9 get payed out. There are a lot of people with short chips who will be out very soon if i can wait a few hands. I look down to see 6-6 in the hole, i wanted to just limp, but im first to act. I also can't open for 10k since it would have me pushing all in on any flop. So i go all in for 27k and get called by two queens and go packing like 8 spots short of the money. Was over betting my hand here worth the risk of picking up 4500 in blinds? Should i have just mucked it to start with and pick a better spot? If you were in better position would that be a better play?

Answer 1

this is one of those spots where none of the options are really any good, but i think your only choice is to go all-in here...you already know that limping is a totally pointless and stupid play considering your chip stack, so that's out of the question...folding is only an option if you are going to try to hang on to make the money, and i know you aren't that style of player, and also you have a pretty long way to go to make the money anyway...the reason why you really can't just fold here is because you are going to be in the bb the next hand, and with only 9x the bb you can't afford to just fold a decent hand hoping to get through another round of blinds...if you're playing to win you have to win a race sometime, especially on a short stack, so i think you definitely made the right decision, you just ran into a big hand, that's all there is to it...i wouldn't be surprised if someone would have folded 7-7 behind you, knowing you were utg...and obviously, the all-in is much more effective when you have less players to beat, but i just think you couldn't afford to fold this hand considering your chip stack

Answer 2

Hal's Early Position Small Pair Big M Strategy (ref. Harrington's Vol 2 book, Chapter on Inflection play)

Fold.

Answer 3

get to the flop as cheap as you can w/ sm. pairs, an hope for trips.........get a free card on the turn, why not......if not fold, theres already 3 cards on the board that can beat you, plus  people still in,  paint on the board chances are somebody still in has you beat.....you want to risk your stack on 1 or both of the 6s still being in the deck.......................at this stage most anybody that stayed, is holding high cards.........

Answer 4

I would have mucked them in that situation.  really the last thing u want to do is push all in there, best case scenario for you there is evryone folds and you pick up the blinds but thats prolly not gonna happen because of the short stacks so really the best thing after that you can hope for is a coin flip.  That wasn't the case in this situation, but hey you learn for next time

Answer 5

You were kind of screwed either way.  You could limp, bet, do whatever, the guy with queens is getting all his money in.

If you limped, at least you could get away from the hand, and not be knocked out.

And actually, it's not always a mistake to raise, and then move all in on any flop.  If you had done that and the flop had an ace or king on it, maybe the guy with queens folds, thinking you had out flopped him.

But an all in move in first position with a small pair, I don't like that play really.  There are a lot of players to act behind you, and if someone has a hand, you are toast.

Answer 6

I would not have done that with that hand. The risk was way higher than the reward. Yes you have a pair in the hole, but there are at least 8 cards higher which can fall and only 1 where you can hit another 6 (not the correct odds). If you go all in you can bet someone else will have AQ or AK at least. once one of those get hit on the flop you are pretty much done.

Considering the blinds were 1500-3000 i think you made a bad call. But then again, you also learn from experience :o)

Answer 7

For me it would be a fold. Reason is that you were in first position and your chips were enough for you to see roughly about 9 more rounds of play. I say roughly because blinds will keep rising. Anywho... you said there were other people with short stacks.  More people could have been knocked out and you could have waited till you had better whole cards. Pocket 6 are not hands you want to chance your all in with. Too many chances of over cards to come out on the flop. Hope this helped.

Answer 8

in first possition  this is crazy play, your hoping for 8 other players not to have an hand and fold, not sure of the odds of them all folding but ur pot odd are about 5-1 against(27k to pick up 4.5k). if you were on the button and everyone folds around to you then put it allin, you only need 2 players to fold, odds are there looking at rags and will pass or will have AK or AQ and call which your a slight fav against.

my advise to you is to get rid of small pairs in early possition late in a tourney, early in tourney get in cheap where you can, if you miss the flop check or fold.