With a stack this short I don't think I ever call $9. It's more than 5% of your stack and you have an offsuit connector. The extra calls give you better immediate odds but they may also mean that the flop bet will price you out even if you hit an open-ender. Not a fan of a call.
With a short stack there isn't much that you should be playing that your not raising with. The only hand that would be worth calling out of a blind is a pocket pair your not raising with. Given your short stack it's rather expensive but with all those calls your preflop odds are too good not to fish for a set. JJ+ is a raise, TT and lower depends on how much FE I expect to get. Favoring calls more the lower the pair gets.
If it's multiway limped you can limp behind from LP with some suited connectors. Not every time though and you need multiple limpers already in the pot. With a short stack you can't play around with every possible hand.
As effective stacks get deeper you can play more but it also becomes more situational. You need more awareness of who is in the hand already and what action might happen after you act.
I might call with this hand if the open was for 2x or maybe even 2.5x with four-way action.
But consider: We are in second-worst position. Our medium-rank offsuit connector is a not very strong implied-odds hands. It is quite difficult to realize equity out of position.
To be fair, it is easier to realize equity OOP with a short stack than a big one, because once we commit, no one can blow us off the hand. But the shortness of our stack limits the implied odds.
(Also, second-worst position here is nonetheless best configuration, i.e., relative position, because if the UTG+2 opener c-bets on the flop, we will get to close the action -- unless someone else raises.)
At game speed, I wouldn't consider much at all, but just throw it away.
This hand performs so bad multiway, regardless of stacksize. You won't have much chance to semibluff vs multiple opponents, any pair you flop is gonna be weak and vulnerable, and you are not gonna maximise equity because you're oop. At this stack size you should call with hands that make better top pairs (QJ,KT, etc.) or have more nut potential (Axs).
I probably would never do it myself ingame, but i think there is a legimitate argument to be made to fold 89s at this stack depth also.
I probably just fold as our hand is very weak and we'll be OOP (harder to play and harder to get paid off). However, if we play well postflop then I don't think it's a massive mistake to make a $9 call currently getting 7:1 and closing the action.
My plan would be to check/fold hitting just TP (I didn't call preflop to hit just one weak TP no kicker). Chasing a draw would be totally dependent on what odds I'm getting / how many are involved / who's involved / if my draw is nuttish (and with this stack we could also perhaps get aggro with a draw if we sense weakness).
What situation are you calling this hand with your short stack?
Grunch: Basically never.
Post Grunch edit: What QuadJ said.
I assume you folded and would have won a big pot, so you're frustrated, but the chances of that are very slim, and the chances of either having to either fold or overpay with what seems like good equity are very high.
Immediate pot odds are a trap. Obviously, if no one were allowed to bet postflop, we'd call, but that's not how this game works.
Last edited by Garick; 10-08-2019 at 07:20 AM.
Reason: post grunch
