I was playing short stack at a 2/3 table with 100 in chips or 33 bb. Everyone at the table had me covered and I was trying to play along ed millers short stack theory. I was in the small blind, one player in ep, two players in mp and one on the button limp, I call the dollar with Q10os and check dark. Flop comes Qs10d9d. Its checked around to the button, he bets 8 and I push to make it 97. Everyone else folds, he calls with J8 for the straight. My thinkin was I had top 2, and with a straight and flush draw on the board, it was best to push here because it would be positive ev against any draw, and I'm only losing to a set, which may fold, or a made straight which has me beat, but with little action unlikely. So was my push correct in this sticky situation or what should I have done? Any help would be great.

well, being first to act i would have led out all the time here i think, especially on this board. if the flop was Qd10c2s thats different, but since there is a flush draw and a straight draw all over. you need to lead out. anyway, you don't need to shove all in you can raise 3x his bet and get the same results, and than make your decision.

Ok, but if I raise 3 times his bet, that would be me raising to 24, leaving me with 73 chips or 24 bb, and the pot being aroud 50 with my raise and 65 if he calls, esentially commiting me to the pot. The turn and river came blanks for straights and flushes so no help would have come. If I push instead of raising as you say I avoid some tuff decisions and since would already be committed, I put anyone on draws or tptk to the test. Not saying this is right or wrong just saying the way I see it.

yeah i mean, you can push back if you want you are getting some FE, in doing so. But to just shove like 12x is sorta sick.

No matter what your money is going in the pot. I would favor 3x raise over shoving but it's just a matter of the best way to get all my chips in. 33bbs isn't enough play to consider folding top two and this level IMO. Shame it was a cooler.

Stop checking dark.

1) Short-stacker should never check dark.
2) If you can even find 2+2, you are likely way better post-flop than the competition, so buy in full.
3) If you cant afford to, cause you're trying to bootstrap a bankroll and this is the smallest game going in your area, OK. Just save up another hundo and try again.

You bet $97 to try and take down a $26 pot with 6 runners on a very wet board. What do you think?

And checking dark.... I'll never understand why people EVER do this.

To his defense, the bet does give villain odds to fold. And if he does call with a draw, then he forced villain to make a horrible mistake, which is good.

I like the bet if you think he calls all in with a draw as well as the nuts.

Why does everyone want villain to fold? Yes, we want villain to have to pay lots of money for more cards. No, we don't want him to fold without putting more money in the pot.

Shove if you think a worse hand will call. (You are short-stacked. It is actually quite possible.) Otherwise, raise if villain will never call with worse.

I am not saying to give villain great odds to call, but betting 90 into 25 will fold out almost everything but the nuts against some players. Unless you have a good read that villain calls a shove sometimes with a draw he fell in love with, raise to an amount that allows you to shove the turn. ~$25 to 30.

The goal is not to avoid tough decisions, it is to make money. If you can't correctly make tough decisions, then those may go hand in hand. Either way, play this hand for value.

And yes, NEVER CHECK DARK.

In the end, you are usually going to have to stack off here for only 30bb.

Preflop: Good.

Flop: With your stack size you're going to go broke in this spot no matter how you play it, but you're far better off betting out than checking and then making a huge overbet raise. The board is coordinated, so if you check and it gets checked through the turn card could allow someone to outdraw you. If you are going to check/raise, your raise should be smaller because when you put in a raise that big you'll make all hands worse than top two pair fold, but all better hands than top two pair will still call.

Just my opinion...

ok, so i ran into the nuts and was bound to lose here regardless as i wouldnt havent gotten away from top two with my stack size. but to learn from this in the future, dont check dark, and open for somewhere around 20 or 25 on the flop? I was checking dark because i felt bets would come if there was no early action based on table dynamics and was hoping for some action before i pushed. I do realize the error in this now and will corrrect it. WONT CHECK DARK.

This is one of those rare threads where the OP hasn't been overly flamed and also given some good advice. Furthermore, the OP has learnt something from it, i.e. not to bet dark. (Just read my earlier reply, it comes across as a lot harsher than intended - sorry OP )

Contrary to some of the feedback, I do though think that it is not a guaranteed stack loser, short stacked or not. With the raise to $8 from the button, you can still find out whether or not your two pair is good by re-raising to something like $25. If the button then 3-bets, you can still let it go, confident that you are up against a set or a made straight and save yourself $70+. There aren't many players that I have seen able to make 3-bet bluffs at low stakes live.

Being able to let go of two pair in situations like these will make a big difference to your bankroll over time, IMO.

Based on the V lead of 8 into 18, I can't put them on a set or a straight, unless they have KdJd. They would bet more to protect. Either way I don't see how you can get away here, as the V will semi-bluff raise with a J and/or diamonds.

I'd lead for the pot, and go from there. If the V puts me AI, so be it. I believe the odds of flopping a straight are ~75-1, so it is bad luck.

Like others, I'd suggest playing for a min of 60bbs, preferably 100 bbs if possible. If you play for less, best to fold marginal hands, even with tempting odds.