Hey guys I have a tricky questions that has to do with short stacks...

Game: NLH 1/2 Effective stacks of 200.

So I'm sitting UTG with AQss and I raise it up to 8 pre flop. Villain, who seems to be somewhat straight forward is sitting on a small stack of 50 and calls. Everyone else folds.

Flop (20): A510dd

I check to his action. He goes all in for 41 more. I snap call and he flips over A9dd. I knew he had an ace and was drawing (it was super obvious).

So here's my question. Since his stack only has 41 more dollars should I even make this call since my odds are almost 50/50 to win the hand. Is this a profitable call to risk 41 more dollars to win 101 minus the rake for around 94 bucks?

If my odds are 50/50ish I could fold in this spot or play it and eventually it will end in the same result?

How do stack sizes affect this hand?

Simple answers:

If you are ahead, put your money in.
If you have the actual odds to make a wining hand, put your money in.
If you have sufficient implied odds (stack sizes) and think you can get paid, put your money in.

Questions?

The only reasons you ever think about this hand are
1. you are money scared
2. you are not properly bank rolled to play this stake


His short stack range way wider than top-pair + flush draw. If you put him exactly on that hand, your read is way off.

You have a lot of work do to before you get good at poker if this is even a question for you

1) This is an instacall against a short stack
2) Even moreso if he showed you his hand in advance. You are a slight favorite so you should never fold this.
3) You're risking $41 to win $61, not $101. If that wasnt a misprint, then you have serious work to do to be able to calculate pot odds and things like that.
4) Being a slight favorite when youre getting 1.5-1 is easy money
5) Checking was a mistake unless this guy shoves his short stack in all the time post flop like this.

No offense OP, but everything Mikestarr says above is right. This is a super standard spot and a very easy call. You also should have lead 12-15 on flop and shoved turn yourself.

Preflop: In many 1/2 games you can make preflop raises larger than this without it having any effect on the number of calls you get. If $8 is as big as you can go to get action, then this is the right raise size, but usually you'll be able to squeeze more preflop value out of your hand.

Flop: Bet $16ish. You have the flop you want and with these stack sizes you're going to go all the way with it. Betting close to pot helps make it easier to get it all in.

As played, call. He could be shoving with all sorts of hands here, you beat most of them, so get the money in.

Just my opinion...

Bet the flop. Don't ever think about check and calling. Just go ahead a bet it up