I think the only plausible hand that beats you in this spot is probably 77 for trip 7's that the villain turned as i would fully expect most players to raise with TT preflop versus a limp and if he had made trips on that flop I still expect him to bet and try to get some value from the hand as big hands do not come along too regular.

The only issue that I can see with check/shoving here is that I am not sure what can call you that you beat assuming you are in the hand versus a competent player. Having said that, this is a $2 tournament so as One Time says, guys will certainly stack off light in those spots if they are weak players. For example, a guy may check flop with a pair of Ts and then bet turn and river and end up pot committed due to his sizing so I think at this buy in I raise all-in but at higher buy ins I may well think that a call is better in this spot.

TBH stealing the blinds/antes is such an integral part of my game that I play very conservatively pre-ante.  Basically, I'm trying to develop a tight image and also I want to survive to get to the antes.  Once I get to the antes I'm raising when its folded to me in MP/LP > 60% time and 3-betting light-this strategy has been very successful for me.  So how does that relate to this hand? I'm not really looking to build a massive pot necessarily.  Although I do think it is extremely likely that you have your opponent beat, given the weak line that you took, he probably thinks 2 pair is good. However, I'm not shoving in this spot.  I'm definitely just calling.  There's no real hand that you beat that can call a shove, it's mostly just getting worse hands to fold, and then on the off chance that he did river a full house that is a terrible result.  For me, it's a call for pot-control.  However, I do realize that sometimes I'm losing value that way.

*PS I only play large buy-in live so I honestly don't know what the online metagame is like.  In live tournaments, this is certainly just a call imo.

lapp3r30 said:

Fair enough… I mean. I just completely disagree that the buy in has that much of an impact. I play these things all the time… And like I said… You will almost never see, I will never say never lol, a check raise on a paired board w 2 pair… Just my observations. You even just said… ” the only problem w check/shoving is I dont know what hand we beat call us”… Then you go on to say its a $2 tournie so call it off.. I'm a bit confused… Let's say this is the Big One Drop what do you do??

The buy-in absolutely has an impact. I have played all buy-in ranges from micro stakes right up to sunday majors and some £1k buy in live events in the UK and I can tell you now that I have seen way more people stacking off very light in the micro stakes than in bigger buy-ins. I am not sure they necessarily mean to stack off but they get pot committed due to bet sizing which may or may not have happened in this case. Bear in mind that this does not mean all micro players do this, but just more than you would see at high buy-ins.

At the end of the day, whether you call here or check/shove or fold probably depends on what you think of your opponent. If your opponent is a nit but competent then I would say calling is best. If your opponent is loose, aggro and bluffy then check/shove. I personally cannot and would not fold this hand given the way it was played out, particularly at low stakes.

If it was Big One Drop then I would make the call I expect because we have under represented our hand completely but at those stakes I suspect if you check shoved then you would only get called by a full house. Its more about whether you can get value from a worse hand and at low stakes it is possible but at high stakes highly unlikely.

I am guessing that the opponent turned up with a full house in this hand?