Where do you consider the line to be?

Here's a question that does involve knowledge of the game but won't have a right or wrong answer.

We all know during a tournament (and cash games to a lesser degree) you need to take a risk at some point, obviously the more skilled a player you are the less you will need to take risks but EVERYONE at some point does.

Background:

MTT NL Hold'em tournament, Freezeout, 300 start and you're sitting 38th out of the remaining 102. You are on the big blind and have A9 clubs. 7 others are seated and the first 3 fold, seat four raises 3XBB and seats 5, 6 and the SB all fold. You rightly call the raise and see the flop.

Flop comes Ah 7c 8c

You check to find out how stong you opponant is, He bets 3XBB and you call.

Turn comes 6h

You bet 3XBB, not only to slow him down a little but you also have a good-fair hand. open ended, four to the flush and top pair.Seat four calls only.

River comes 10d.

You have made your 10 high straight and want to get some chips from him so you bet 5XBB.

Your opponent automatically goes all-in, What do you do?

Summary:

You flopped top pair, semi-decent kicker
He didn't flop top pair with a massive kicker or two pair otherwise he would have put a bet in on the turn.
No flush available,
No Full House available,
No Straight flush or Quads

So a straight is good, but is he holding a 9 too or what about 9 J. they could have been hearts for him to have called your bet on the turn - 3 flushing, gutshot and two overcards to the Ace plus he was the raiser pre-flop.

First question, Do you call?

Second question, If you were sitting 3rd out of the 102 instead of 38th would you make the call?

Either call would seriously damage your stack, let your opinions flow please folks.

(By the way, the underlying question is where do you draw the line at taking a risk?)

I think this depends on what kind of opponent you are up against.
Is he the type to raise with J9? He'd have to be a pretty loose/tricky player to do so.
Also what are the stack sizes?
i think that your reads and the stack sizes are an important part to answering this question.
If i had no reads on this guy, i'd call. If i knew him to be a player, i'd have to make the decision of whether or not he's pushing into a 4-to straight to bluff you, or if he actually has a 9 or even better, J9.
Also if he was shortstacked, I'd probably call him as he'd probably not be raising into a bigger stack with a hand as weak as J9 or anything with a 9 for that matter.
I don't know how to answer your question "where do you draw the line at taking a risk?" but i think it just depends alot on your read of your opponent and certain other conditions (position, stack sizes, his tendencies etc)
nice thread

gjshand said:

You are on the big blind and have A9 clubs. 7 others are seated and the first 3 fold, seat four raises 3XBB and seats 5, 6 and the SB all fold. You rightly call the raise and see the flop.

Click to expand...

This is debatable.

gjshand said:

Flop comes Ah 7c 8c
You check to find out how stong you opponant is, He bets 3XBB and you call.

Click to expand...

You check to find out how strong he is?
What did his bet tell you?

gjshand said:

Turn comes 6h

You bet 3XBB, not only to slow him down a little but you also have a good-fair hand. open ended, four to the flush and top pair.Seat four calls only.

River comes 10d.

You have made your 10 high straight and want to get some chips from him so you bet 5XBB.

Your opponent automatically goes all-in, What do you do?

Summary:

You flopped top pair, semi-decent kicker
He didn't flop top pair with a massive kicker or two pair otherwise he would have put a bet in on the turn.
No flush available,
No Full House available,
No Straight flush or Quads

So a straight is good, but is he holding a 9 too or what about 9 J. they could have been hearts for him to have called your bet on the turn - 3 flushing, gutshot and two overcards to the Ace plus he was the raiser pre-flop.

First question, Do you call?

Click to expand...

Yes, I have to. He wasn't betting like a chaser. The Ace scared him. My guess is Pocket Tens.

gjshand said:

Second question, If you were sitting 3rd out of the 102 instead of 38th would you make the call?

Click to expand...

Yes again. He hasn't done anything to make me think my Str8 isn't good. This is exactly what you want.

gjshand said:

(By the way, the underlying question is where do you draw the line at taking a risk?)

Click to expand...

In my experience, this kind of bet is almost never a bluff and almost always represents something better than top pair, therefore, I would need overtrips or better to call. Of course you have to take chances in a tournament, and sometimes you get the business end of the paddle but this is a call I would make every time.