should i have called

[steeveg01]

hi all, i need a bit of help with this sort of situation,
i am a tag sort of player, i am always going well in a tournament and this sort of thing happens,was i right to call,$10 feeder 18 left, 2 get a seat,i have 2200chips i am in bb150,with js 5h, 2 players limp, flop comes jc 3c 5d, i bet out 300 with 2 pair, straight away a player who had just called someone after the river with queen high moves all in and has me covered,i thought hes got tptk or on a semi bluff, he could have trip 3s or 5s but why should he move all in if he has trips, so think more lkely to be a semi bluff or tptk,so call ,yes he has pocket 3s for his trips, and i am out,the thing is i have called a lot in this sort of situation and player has jack ace for tptk or on a flush draw, but i am now starting to think it may be best in the long run just to fold to these sort of out of the blue all ins,any advice please

[cheburashka]

This is a very clear call, IMO.

If you win, you get 2875; if you lose, you lose 1750. That's 1.6 to 1 pot odds.

If he has a set, you win 14% of the time and lose 86% of the time. Doing the math makes this event worth -1102.

If he has something else (AA,KK,QQ,AJ, KJ, QJ), you win 78% of the time and lose 22% of the time. This event is worth +1857.

So even if it's 50% likely that he has a set, this call has a +EV of (1857-1102)/2, or 378. For this call to be -EV, you'd have to believe he had a set 63% of the time.

P.S. Please look at how people post hand histories and do them in that way, if possible. They are a lot easier to read. I'm a computer idiot, and I can never get the hand history converter to work, but I anyway take the time to do fix them up in Word. Since I'm asking advice of guys with a lot more experience than me, I figure the least I can do is make it easy for them to figure out the hand.

[PantsOnFire]

You would need an exceptional read to fold here and that includes how villain thinks about you. This is often overlooked because if villain thinks you are aggressive, he might just smoothcall with a set. If he thinks you are tight and capable of folding, he will move in with a draw. If he thinks you are loose, he will only move in if he has you beat. Also, the stack sizes are important as is the size of the pot.

It looks like there is about 500 in the pot after the flop. You bet 300 making the pot 800 and you are left with 1750 behind. This is important because he knows he has some fold equity since you have plenty of chips left to keep playing (over 10BBs).

And the tournament structure and payout is another factor. You don't have a whole lot of chips and you are fighting 17 other players for 2 spots. That alone might dictate calling.

I would only fold here if there were three or four players left and two spots up for grabs or if I had a very good read that villain had a set. And that sort of read is usually very difficult. If your physical read of villain is that he pushes quickly out of the blue with a big hand, in this case a big hand could be AJ, J3, or a slowplayed overpair.

I think you made a good call. The results are irrelevent, unless this is the last tourney of your poker career.

[oddsock]

Don't feel bad. It's a call. So he hit trips? It happens - next time it will be KJ or 35 or whatever.

You made a read and called based on it. It sounds like you were short in chips anyway.

[SunyD]

I would have called there, as I think most people would. You had top 2 pair against bottom set.. you still have 4 outs (to make a better full house). Unfortunately you didnt get there this time, but dont let it deter you.

[steeveg01]

hi all thanks for some great advice, yeah i think your right a player would have to have a very good read to fold a hand like top 2 pair,and as you say not that much of a stack left to fold hands like top 2 pair,so i suppose the only time you could fold a hand in this situation is when you have a big stack and where called all in and feel something is a bit fishy,