late single table tourney, 5 remain - hand 2
5 handed late single table tourney $5,120 / $2,560
Hero BB - $72,080
UTG - $207,120 - tight
Cutoff - $280,640 - very loose / aggressive
Button - $167,200 - no info
SB - $75,280 - no info
Hero KhQs
everyone limps around to BB who has about 14 BB's left, 3 plays pay
KQ is a great hand, play has been very erratic with lots of all ins pre flop.
1) fold? - no
2) bet? - typically a good idea, its a good hand 5 handed and all have limped in. a decent bet should indicate who has a real playing hand
3) check? - have to change play up once in a while
Hero decides to disguise hand and just check option
Flop - $25,600 - 5s6sQd
SB bets out pot $25,600 has $47,120 behind
Hero - top pair second best kicker with backdoor flush draw to 3rd nuts. $72k behind, calling is over 1/3 of remaining stack and would pot commit hero.
What hands is SB going betting pot sized here? with flush on board it seems like a protection bet. probably has a queen, high pockets unlikely as they checked SB after 3 limpers. could have two pair in which case they don't have a straight or flush draw. could be betting spright-flush draw.
If hero calls it will be hard to fold further in the hand, the pot would be at least $76,800 (remember still 3 behind to act) and it encourages others in the hand to stay in with their draws.
only option here is to go all in or fold. can't win tournaments folding top pair short stacked.
Hero goes all in for $72k
it folds around to SB and he calls
he flips his hand and shows Qh2d - exactly the kind of hand we expected
flop comes 3d and the turn is a Ks hero takes down $169,760 pot SB has $640 remaining
Most of the time, I would raise pre-flop in this spot. The only thing that would make me hesitate is your stack size. You have about 25 big blinds and there are already 5 big blinds in the pot. You probably need to raise to something like 5 to 7 big blinds to give opponents a bad price to call with hands that you are flipping with (e.g., small pairs) or a 60-40 underdog against (e.g., A-7 suited). But, I'm not sure I like committing that much of my stack out of position against 3 limpers and with the small blind who came along. So, I think if you are going to raise, then you need to just shove here and I would probably do that 80-90% of the time. If you pick up the 5 big blinds great, if someone was slowplaying a monster, then maybe you can outflop them. And let's face it, there are 5 people left and 3 spots pay, so you need to take some chances to chip up.
If you limp preflop, then you have to shove on the flop with top pair and second kicker. If you are beat, then so be it.
Dave