How do you guys survive in situations like this:

7 left of 400. $10,000 up top. Current cash is $1500. 6 million chips in play, all stacks above 400,000. chip leader has 1.6 mil. Hero has 555,000 currently in 5th.

Blinds 15000/30000 3000

Folds to SB chip leader(aggressive and competent) who completes.

Hero in BB with 10 8hh checks.

Flop 8 5 3 rainbow 1 heart.

SB bets 30,000

What do you guys do?

Keep in mind i told myself 2 hands earlier that laddering up in this one is worth it and I'm gonna play tight as hell and fold almost everything for a while....ya....right.....

I bust out on this hand. Turn 7 River 3. Didn't get unlucky, got beat. How do you guys stay alive when you want to stay alive? Can I avoid losing my whole stack here? Can I avoid losing half my stack? If so how?

I think you know the answer to these questions, but here is my take:

I am never folding the flop to a min bet with top pair. Since you want to ladder, the way to keep the pot small is to call flop (duh).

As I am sure you know, the value of one pair shrinks as more cards come.

What cards are good/bad for your one pair hand on the turn? Besides 8/T, Kings and Aces are good, since they are unlikely to have helped Villain. What cards are bad? 765432 are all bad, as they help Villains range and don't help your hand at all.

You can fold the turn and wait for better. You will still have 16BB. If you want to ladder, this is clearly the way to go. Just don't tell anyone.

Pop it to $90k and check back turn if he calls.

Making it 90 is pot control in a way. You can fold to a turn lead or three bet.

I don't see him betting stacks on river if turn goes check check.

Many players are checking their entire range from small blind.

In position, I see no reason to go broke on this hand unless you improved turn and villain makes huge bet.

So Smudger youre saying that by popping it to 90K i can then make an exploitative fold to a 3 bet OR Turn Donk bet because villians are underbluffing here?

Do you find that to be true? That Villians are rarely 3 betting or donk betting after a flop raise in these spots without very strong holdings?

I'm saying, if your goal is to ladder, and you show aggression, and he shows more aggression, I can surmise I am beat a lot.

If you want to play the hand without ICM conditions, and laddering is not important, I probably flat to keep his bluffs alive and end up calling three streets.

But yeah, if you pop to 90, what is he 3 betting you with that doesn't beat you?

67, 4-6, sure. but, if he makes the move with those hands, he just got my 90k.

Is he going to 3 bet you with a 5 or 3 with an over? Seems fishy. And certainly, donking the turn is a thing, but I suspect if he flats he probably checkds the turn over to you.

Anyway, I hit the breaks by making a small flop raise, which was your question.

And if you are trying to ladder, why do you care if you become exploitable at this point?

I mean, folding for $30k, I guess in a vacuum is best way to ladder, but that just seems so super nitty and I could never do it with your hand. But, you don't need to play for stacks either.

Yea what i meant by exploitative fold was that I can fold my top pair to his aggression knowing Im beat. Id be confused if he flatted the raise and then donked the turn 90k+ though...

But if say laddering is not important, you said you'd probably flat to keep the bluffs alive, but wouldn't a hand like 810 call for a raise for protection as a lot of cards can come that will hurt my hand, his bluff can become a better hand. If my top pair was a K or Q maybe I'd flat to get more chips in the upcoming streets, but with such a low top pair and board I dont really wanna see any more cards. Or am i wrong?

Hindsight is 20/20. Even though i say laddering is important, my actual actions don't show that. I shoved. I think the leak I need plugging in my game is keeping myself from GII when i have "most likely" the best hand. Honestly, I got played. His bet was to induce me and I fell for it thinking he was either trying to pot control with 2nd,3rd pair,str8 draw or he had 2 overs and was bluffing.

Certainly there are many cards that can mess you up on turn in blind versus blind spot. There are also many cards taht make your hand super strong.

I would be interested in other people, but maximizing this hand, in my mind, is flatting and popping turn regardless of what comes off would be my standard line if no ICM considerations.

Blind vs. blinds are the quirkiest hands.

And, the game is moving towards a limping approach with the majority of little blind hands now.

ANyway, sorry you got stacked, but there were many many ways, in position, to play this hand not to get stacked.

I'm just calling flop and evaluating on turn. We have BDFD so seeing a cheap card could be beneficial.

We could get blown off our hand on the turn but that flop should be hitting our range harder than SB's, so the SB flop bet seems like it could be strong.

If our goal is to ladder up then I think we should be trying to get to SD as cheap as possible here. And if it starts getting too expensive, look at strength of our hand vs villain's range on turn and river.