$50 Stars Table... med pocket pairs.... Vs Shortstacks

[kurto]

I wanted to poll because I keep finding these weird situations where I'm not sure how to play hands.

The problem is... at the $50 Stars tables, there seems to be a hell of a lot more aggressive short stack players (though they still stink) mixed inbetween large stack players. Leading to confusion for me about midsized pp.

Hand from last night.
Shortstack ($16) (I know, pathetic) He raises UTG to $2.50.
Folds to me in about 2 from the CO fullstack) with Pocket 10s.

What goes through my mind... I can't call for setvalue. There's 2 semi-loose players after me with fullstacks who I would call if I know they are in. The blinds are also shortstacked and tight so they're not so likely to call.

I'm not certain 10s are good enough to reraise.

What is the play?

(This may seem basic but I'm not used to so many smallstacks playing. I would normally leave but it seems rampant at Party and, they're also often the juiciest tables.)

[Jigsaws]

This is FR, right? I'm not qualified for that and stuff. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

Call and play poker. See whether the flop is decent for TT. I'll usually shove an all-under flop, call a c-bet on a board with one over, then generally fold to a second-barrel.

Since I've always played on Stars and UB, I'm very used to shortstacks - assume they suck at poker.

[BukNaked36]

Reraise to try to isolate shorty.

Call a push from him preflop and go to the felt with TT on an all under or 1 over flop. 2 over flop, I'm probably getting away from.

[robinmbuk]

Yeah, this situation is problematic:

1. Folding: Your hand is a bit too good to fold for a 5xBB raise.
2. Calling: You don't have the implied odds to call for set value.
3. Pot sized raiseto isolate: shortie will probably respond tp a push and if you call your getting alot of cash in the middle for TT pf, when your at best a coin flip.
4. Push: Your not closing the action, and if anyone behind you calls you are screwed. Don't like getting all my money in pf with TT unless there are special conditions to consider.

I would probably pot reraise this, but I think I have lost money playing like this. I voted for pot reraise but I don't think calling and pushing a non A/K flop is bad either.

[Yaboosh]

If by "at best a coinflip" you mean "at best a 4:1 favorite" then I agree.

[Sir Winalot]

I like to get the money in now when I most of the time have the best hand, so push or bet pot/call push, whichever gets the money in. I voted for bet pot.

[ QUOTE ]
Call and play poker. I'll usually shove an all-under flop, call a c-bet on a board with one over, then generally fold to a second-barrel.


[/ QUOTE ]
I think that with this line you'll end up loosing money for a couple of reasons:
First of all you won't see a T or under flop too often, and even if you do and push, you probably won't get called by whiffed overs, underpairs or anything else that missed. Then again if you check to them, they'll allmost allway bet flop and push turn, and you won't know if they do it with a real hand or out of desperation or whatever.

And this doesn't even take into account the other players who might call behind you getting good odds, and then you're between the shortie and other guy on the flop: crunch time on an A-J flop.

Sir Winalot

[kurto]

I kept having this issue with these midpairs. If I knew some deepstacks were in or likely to come along, then I would always call. It was the awkwardness of the stacksizes that troubled me. If I reraise then most likely the shortstack pushes... in which case I'm likely either a coinflip or possibly behind. (I'm speaking about a tighter shortstack raising UTG... obviously if its a lagtard shortstack, I'm happy to reraise)

Regarding the answer... "Call and play poker"... Assuming villain Cont bets, We're basically playing for his whole stack as he'll basically potcommit himself. I don't think a majority of flops are going to look good for pocket 10s... which is why I think the real decision is preflop.

Am I wrong or is the heart of the question is... are pocket 10s worth 32bb preflop against an early position raiser?

[kurto]

[ QUOTE ]
This is FR, right? I'm not qualified for that and stuff. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

Call and play poker. See whether the flop is decent for TT. I'll usually shove an all-under flop, call a c-bet on a board with one over, then generally fold to a second-barrel.

Since I've always played on Stars and UB, I'm very used to shortstacks - assume they suck at poker.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think I will give this a shot for awhile. What range of PPs would you do this with? (how low a pp?)

And I do agree most of the shortstacks stink. I just find them irritating because they're so short there's so little implied odds for a lot of hands I want to play. I find myself folding a lot of hands I would play if they were deeper. But because of their miniscule stack, I feel its not worth it. I end up folding hands preflop that I don't feel comfortable folding.

[orange]

Few options. You can make it $7 and shove any safe flop (i consider safe = 1 broadway tops). or you can call and c/r ai on a safe flop.