Poker couple of key hands

Dont be in a hurry to dump a whole heap of chips into
a the pot ! A lot of ppl just push all in, and as
a result leave their fate, in the hands of the poker
gods. Eg. a coin flip situation or 60-40. If you can get
your opponent to fold, however, thats a lot better outcome,
as you are guaranteed to win.

First hand, is a hand where u can get caught pushing too
hard with a marginal hand. I pick up pocket 6s, in
the small blind, with one limper. The limper limped
in from early position, and as a result, i am reluctant
to raise with the 6s, Also the guy in first position limps
into a pot, with a very short stack, which is very suss.
So instead of re-raising with my 6s at this point which
could well be the best hand i decide to call. Read below for
the result of the hand.

***** Hand History for Game 1992630469 *****
100/200 TourneyTexasHTGameTable (NL) (Tournament 11875145) - Tue May 03 11:26:41 EDT 2005
Table Table 10874 (Real Money) -- Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 2: rkruok (1085)
Seat 4: eoppynation (2433)
Seat 5: jstexas (737)
Seat 6: XDsGrrrr (1270)
Seat 7: mmmhh (2760)
Seat 9: hermannaftel (1715)
rkruok posts small blind (50)
eoppynation posts big blind (100)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to rkruok [ 6c, 6h ]
jstexas calls (100)
XDsGrrrr folds.
mmmhh folds.
hermannaftel folds.
rkruok calls (50)
eoppynation checks.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 9s, Jd, 4s ]
rkruok checks.
eoppynation checks.
jstexas bets (637)
jstexas is all-In.
rkruok folds.
eoppynation calls (637)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 9c ]
** Dealing River ** : [ Js ]
Creating Main Pot with $1574 with jstexas
** Summary **
Main Pot: 1574 |
Board: [ 9s Jd 4s 9c Js ]
rkruok balance 985, lost 100 (folded)
eoppynation balance 3270, bet 737, collected 1574, net +837 [ Jh 8c ] [ a full house, Jacks full of nines -- Jh,Jd,Js,9s,9c ]
jstexas balance 0, lost 737 [ Kh Kc ] [ two pairs, kings and jacks -- Kh,Kc,Jd,Js,9s ]
XDsGrrrr balance 1270, didn't bet (folded)
mmmhh balance 2760, didn't bet (folded)
hermannaftel balance 1715, didn't bet (folded)

My decision to smooth call was right as the limper
did in fact have kings. He got unlucky as the big blind
decided to call the all in after hitting top pair that
turned into a full house. It was prolly incorrect of the limper not
to have raised. If he did in fact raise to 200, i may have
called, and the big blind wouldnt have got to see a cheap
flop. The chance of the short stack limping with any marginal
hand was remote, which should have alerted the big blind.
However sometimes a short stack has to gamble and try and double
up with a big hand, even if it means the other guy hits a
lucky card to bust you.

Next hand i pick up 6-7s on the cut-off (1 off the button),
and i raise to 250 (blinds are 50-100). 25% of my stack,
hoping to pick up the blinds. Now im up against two big
stacks in the small and big blinds, so pushing all in
is not the best of plays, coz they may well call you.
As it turns out the big blind calls my raise. Now i dont
know what he had, but say he has A-j,A-10, 9s,8s , hands
which he would easily call with, i would have been a big underdog
if he called my all in.

***** Hand History for Game 1992633356 *****
100/200 TourneyTexasHTGameTable (NL) (Tournament 11875145) - Tue May 03 11:28:00 EDT 2005
Table Table 10874 (Real Money) -- Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 2: rkruok (985)
Seat 4: eoppynation (3220)
Seat 6: XDsGrrrr (1170)
Seat 7: mmmhh (2560)
Seat 9: hermannaftel (2065)
XDsGrrrr posts small blind (50)
mmmhh posts big blind (100)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to rkruok [ 7d, 6d ]
hermannaftel folds.
rkruok raises (250) to 250
eoppynation folds.
XDsGrrrr folds.
mmmhh calls (150)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 4h, Ks, Qh ]
mmmhh checks.
eoppynation: i guess thats why you dont limp with K's in thiese things
rkruok bets (275)
mmmhh folds.
** Summary **
Main Pot: 825
Board: [ 4h Ks Qh ]
rkruok balance 1285, bet 525, collected 825, net +300
eoppynation balance 3220, didn't bet (folded)
XDsGrrrr balance 1120, lost 50 (folded)
mmmhh balance 2310, lost 250 (folded)
hermannaftel balance 2065, didn't bet (folded)

The flop comes 4,K,Q, giving me absolutely nothing, but
after i lead out and bet another 250 chips. He folds.
And if he had any of those hands i mentioned before a-x,
medium pair, with K and a Q out there, its hard to
call such a bet after the flop, but quite possible
to call an all in with. As a result, I pick up a handy little
pot and stay in the game. Pushing all in, has its advantages, but its
worth considering other plays as well.