UTG with JJ late in a 10/180 + Table Image Considerations

[Andrew1593]

Background: One level earlier than the hand in question, I was in MP with JJ, M of 10, moved all-in and picked up the blinds. After showing my hand, another player at the table said "showed his cards cause thats the first time he made an honest raise." I thought this was strange since I had been stealing, but in recent memory had gone to showdown with TT and AK after calling shortstack all-ins.

Nonetheless, I took this to mean that my image was perhaps LAG, which would make stealing in the future difficult. A few hands later, I pick up AA in MP and raise to 3xBB. I figure with the wise guy still to act and my table image being what it is, I'll get action. Nothing doing. I buy the blinds and show my cards (I figure that as the bubble approaches, it's better to get respect for my raises and be able to steal than to wait for a big hand and punish someone who mistakenly thinks I'm LAG).

Now, 27 players left (incidentally, the wise guy from earlier has just busted), I'm in 9th with an M of 12 and I am UTG+2 with T7o. I raise 3xBB and buy the blinds. UTG+1 I pick up 77 and raise 3xBB, buy the blinds. I don't show my cards. Finally, I'm UTG with JJ:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t600 (8 handed) internettexasholdem.com

SB (t16360)
BB (t2976)
Hero (t11768)
UTG+1 (t15650)
MP1 (t19945)
MP2 (t25392)
CO (t14956)
Button (t14781)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].

What's my play here? Whether or not you agree with my raises on the previous two hands, I think you might agree that they both look like steals and will perhaps cause a raise UTG to be given less credit. JJ is a good but vulnerable holding and I'd probably prefer to just pick up the blinds here. If I raise 3xBB as I did the previous two hands, how will I respond to a reraise which, given my table image, might represent a resteal? If I move all in, will it look suspiciously different from the previous two hands? Does this work to my advantage and perhaps convince LP with A-x to look me up? Is folding an option here since I am perhaps only interested in picking up the blinds, which I can continue doing with ATC in LP? Should I wait till I'm ITM to push hands like this and risk big confrontations? Should I have been showing my cards earlier?

Any and all comments here are welcome. Don't feel like you have to answer all the questions I posed, I'm just looking to spark discussion. Thanks guys.

[Cornell Fiji]

3bbs, call a shove/shove over a raise.

Hopefully someone will play back at you because you have been laggy. I am check-shoving a lot of flops if I am smooth called.

In general I absolutely hate giving away free information at the table. It seems that you are thinking about the image that you are cultivating which is great but there really isn't any reason to be showing your cards every hand.

Also, welcome to the forums. It is great to see a new poster who puts thought into his posts and doesn't just throw up a raw HH. While I think that this hand is fairly basic I really appreciate your trying to paint the picture for us, that will allow us to provide the most relevant feedback as often it is your thought process and not your actions that need to be evaluated.

Make sure you read the anthology sticky atop the page, there are a lot of great threads contained within.

[Andrew1593]

Thanks for your input, Cornell, and the welcome, as well. I've been lurking on these forums for a while and I'm happy that my first HH post went over well.

I see what you mean about giving away free information at the table and I think I will be less willing to in the future. Also, I can see your point that I might have been overthinking the situation. In general, I try not to worry too much about table image, especially in online tourneys where the tables break up quite frequently and a lot of the players have the memory span of goldfish.

I've read a few of the articles in the anthology, but I will be sure to look over them all.

Thanks again for your thoughts. Hope I'll hear from a few more people, after which I'll post the results.

[advilandy]

Despite jj being vulnerable you should still raise your standard 3xbb and follow cornell's line. While it sucks to shove over a raise and get sucked out on by kq, I would make this play all day.

[woohoo88]

I was going to type out a more fleshed out response, but Cornell pretty much covered it.


Welcome to the forums! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Gesangsverein]

I think you should just never show your cards!

Why?

Whenever a MTT has proceeded to a point where you can assume the remaining players to have at least a little bit of skill, showing cards draws attention and raises suspicion.
You don`t want your opponents to pay more attention to your action - thats just not good if you plan to steal blinds frequently.
In addition to that such a move (showing some good hands in order to create a tight image) is far too obvious.

[Andrew1593]

Thanks everyone for your responses. To be honest, I'm glad that this hand has proven to be more basic than I perhaps originally thought. The reason, I guess, is the results of the hand (I know I should eschew results-oriented doubts about my play, but, being a beginner, I try to entertain every doubt I can so as to improve). What really happened is I raised all-in and got called by the button, who flipped over KK, which held up. That's poker.

In retracing my thought process, I was also trying to figure out if there was any way I might have been able to get away from this hand, but I pretty much found myself agreeing with Cornell's line: even if I had raised 3xBB, I couldn't possibly fold to a reraise and I would end up stacked. Regardless, I see now that I probably should have made this play rather than opening for all my chips.

By reconstructing my thought process, however, I have gained other insights, such as the dangers of showing my cards. Gesangsverein, I see your point about drawing attention at the table. I had never thought of it that way, but I think it makes perfect sense. It's probably more suspicious than anything.

Thanks again for all the responses. Any further comments are welcome. And I look forward to making more posts! I already have a dozen more hands in mind that I would like to see discussion about.

[JoeyJoJo Shabadu]

If the blinds were increased one level then shoving would be fine. Sounds like everyone is nit tight on the bubble. If 3x buys it with no resistance then fine 3 x it should be and a r/r should scream strength. Oddly though...You can fold jacks to a re/reaise here since you can just keep stealing unimpeded... but that's easy for me to say [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Cornell Fiji]

[ QUOTE ]
You can fold jacks to a re/reaise here

[/ QUOTE ]

This is very wrong. We have a loose image. The money is going in if raised. (note: the money should go in even if we have a tight image as long as AK is in the shovers range)

[gholizad]

I personally think that table image is overrated in 180 seater tourneys. People just dont pay as much attention and a reraise usually means a monster.