[woodguy]

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This is almost a textbook stop-n-go situation. I found this in my notes from a post Greg Raymer made a while back (sorry no link)-

"If you were holding 99 in the big blind, that would've probably been the time for a stop-and-go. As was already stated, the stop-and-go play is where you are in early position, call a bet/raise, and do so with the intention of betting all-in on the next betting round. You do this because you think you have the best hand, but you also think the opponent has a good chance of getting out on you. You know if you re-raise now they will be pot-stuck and call, but if you wait for the next card(s) to be dealt, they could have enough room to fold."

I also found this from Greg-

"I tend to use the stop-and-go in spots where these criteria are met. First, I'm pretty sure I have the best hand now. Second, if I reraise, there is very little chance the other guy will fold... Finally, even though I can't raise enough to get him out preflop, I can bet enough on the flop that he will likely fold if he misses, even if he misses holding two overcards."

Stated another way - if he has an overpair or his overcards connect on the flop you're likely getting stacked anyway, but if he has 2OCs and misses the flop you can keep him from seeing all 5 cards by pricing him out ATF. (And there's also that rare instance where you get him to fold a better hand when 2OCs to his pair hit the board.)

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Interesting.

I was always under the impression that you did the SnG when you were pretty sure that you were NOT ahead.

I guess Greg uses this move not to maximize return on the hand, but to lower variance with the hand (avoiding getting rivered by KJ with 99 all in PF)

It has usually been the mantra of most here that if your hand has value, then you should get it in asap.

I remeber way back when I posted about pushing, or c/r safe flops in this situations and I was told that I was playing scared poker, and wasn't maximizing value.

I think you lose some value when you SnG with a hand that is as good as 99, but you do lower your varinance.

Would like to see others thougths on this, as my regular way of thinking is that 99 has too much value to SnG here so its terrible to lose that value with a SnG.

Regards,
Woodguy