Playing King-Jack Suited Against a Big Opening Raise
DECISION POINT: In a no-limit hold'em tournament, it folds to the cutoff who makes a large raise. It folds to you in the small blind with K♥J♥. Action is on you...
PRO ANSWER: Reshoving generally relies on creating fold equity against our opponents to be profitable. In this situation, we likely don't have fold equity given that villain raised to 15,000 and we only have around 35,000 in our stack.
Since we won't cause our opponent to fold very often, then our decision comes down to simply running king-jack suited against their hand range if we move all in.
The total pot will be 76,800 if we move all in and are called. We are risking 34,800, so we need 34,800 / 76,800 or 45 percent chip equity against their range to continue.
We'll likely have less than that given their very large raise size. For example, against a range like 22+, A9s+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, ATo+, KJo+, QJo we only have 44 percent equity with K♥J♥.
We can assume that most players are even tighter than this when they raise to over 6 big blinds, especially if we haven't seen this as their standard raise size.
So against this raise size, we should fold. Against a standard raise size of 3 BBs or less, then we should reshove here every time as a default.
Folding is the best play.
LearnWPT is a poker training site dedicated to transforming the poker games of rank beginners, skilled amateurs, and aspiring professionals. Offering both Live Workshops and Online Training, is a one-stop shop for poker education, designed to provide all the tools a player needs to become a winner. Visit LearnWPT.com today and get 2 Free Strategy Episodes that will immediately impact how you play. LearnWPT.com - Think Like a Pro!
