I was playing a home game the other night with my housemates. None of them are big poker players or gamblers, but have an interest in the game. As i have just got a full tilt poker set through they asked for a game, i obliged.
the game was a $5 buy in 5 handed top 2 get paid. As it was quite late at night and they didn't want a "long game" it was 2500 starting stack with blinds at 25 and 50. After about 40 mins of play we were 3 handed and this situation occured.
Player A on the button had blinded himself down to 750 with blinds at 150 , 300. He pushed all in on the button. Player B chip leader called, i'm in the big blind with j 6 off. The pot had 1800 in and was 450 to call.
Should i call?


The reason i asked this question is that i elected to call. The flop came 6 6 7. And i proceeded to win the hand and knock him out.
Player A on the button had pockets 55s, and player B the chip leader had j q off and didn't hit any part of the board.
My housemate who held pockets 5s then called me a fish and said how can you call.
i saw the situation as a standard part of a sng where two hands against one short stack all in will give a better chance to get to heads up?
Afterwards his comment got me thinking, hence the post on here.
Comments and opinions would be appreciated.
Cheers.

Late at night huge $5 stakes, 5 good friends, seems pretty standard to me. Actually, ANY time 3 handed, 4-1 odds, chance to knock a guy out and get in the money (assuming you had enough chips to still be comfortably in 2nd place stack wise, even w/ a loss), and it seems pretty standard. Good call

And I wouldn't let a housemate who is "not a big player but has an interest in the game"s calling you a fish after losing a pot get you thinking too much, as that would also be standard IMO.
Sounds like you guys have started your hopefully regular home game off correctly by getting a friendly rivalry going straight off the bat. Hopefully you'll have many years of bad beats and "horrible" plays to look back on as your game grows.

Concur, standard call with J6 and with far worse. In fact, I am calling with all but the crappiest of hands. It needs to be something like 42o for me to consider folding. You didn't tell us what your stack was at at the time though. If losing would cripple you then you need something better, otherwise standard call.

Also tell player A that the key to surviving in poker tournaments, is to have enough chips so that you can afford to lose a coinflip or take a bad beat and still be in. Or don't tell him, and let him keep blinding himself down and be the bubble boy game after game, until he realizes it himself.

You left out the important details:

How much bigger was the chip leader's stack, compared to yours? How much of a threat did you pose to him? And would he be aware of this concept, or not?

What would the chp leader limp with here- ten-high? Jack with a worse kicker? You would have been a little worse than 3:1 if big stack had just overcards, rather than dominating you.

How good a player was the short stack? Your t450 only gives him more double-up power on the next hand.

Your key consideration was outplaying the chip leader, not worrying about anything that the button had pushed with. You got lucky to hit your kicker. You were about a 4.6:1 dog, getting 4:1 to call... and then the question is implied vs. reverse implied odds.


That being said, chip leader should stop whining about fish until he learns to raise, rather than limp, if he's looking to isolate.

I agree, stack sizes matter a lot. As does the notion of whether the other guy will check it down. But be careful not to talk or even make googly-eyes about checking it down, it's something the both of you have to simply know to do.

thanks for replies guys.
there was 12500 chips in play. Short stack (player A) obv had 750 at start of hand. Player B chip leader had around 7.5k and i had 4250.
Player A had been playing tight weak the whole game, this was the reaosn he was given he had blinded himself down as he "hadn't had any hands". i thnk it was more of the reason he isn't very use to playing short handed.
Player b the chipleader had been playing semi tight aggressive pre flop, but then turned very passive post flop. He was trying to trap with any made hand he would make post flop and in a couple of spots would randomly fire to try and buy pots.
in my eyes chipleaders callng range pre flop n this spot would be anytwo broadway, any pair , any ace. and sometimes some random hands such as q9, j8 suited etc.
was confident i could outplay him post flop as is very passive, this also lead me to beleve he would check it down unless he connected wth board. (apart fromt when he is trying to trap me with top pair no kicker lol) and was also not that worried about short stack as felt i had big edge on both players.

hope this info make situaton more clear.

If this is your thinking, then I recommend folding preflop.

The goal here is not to outplay your opponent for a dry sidepot, it's to eliminate the third player, as that guarantees you both a significant increase in payout.

interesting point.
thought wth the pot odds being offered and the situation here that i have better chance of eliminating 3rd player by calling?
also was just wondering form a mathmatical perspective is the call correct ignoring other factors, or can these other factors not be ignored and have to be factored into equation?

J6o is a really crappy hand. Unless you're calling with the idea of checking it down (but you can NOT say this during the hand), you should fold.

Okay, so you outmaneuver the big stack and win the side pot of... nothing.

There is no way in hell you're going to outplay the person all-in.

I think it's a reasonable call. You are probably about 20% against the all-in and calling hand. It seems likely that SB just called to check it down. If he had a good hand, he should be raising. Even if shortie wins he is less than 10BBs.

I have no idea what everybody is on about ITT

This is such a standard call in any form of SnG except some weird bubble situation.

Your call was right but you made it for the wrong reasons.

Since this WAS a bubble situation, what is a "weird" one?

OP had SB covered by a chunk
You can fold if you know BTN or SB are in with something like <5% of hands
and even then its probably close

or if you are the SS in the OP and on the BB when both Chipleaders are Allin

this looks like an easy call to me. 4:1 odds and might knock him out. done deal imo.