DECISION POINT: In a big field multi-table Tournament where blinds are 500/1,000 with a 1,000 big blind ante you are dealt A♦A♠ on the Button. An Early Position player, the MP2 player, and the Cutoff limp and you raise to 2,500. The Big Blind calls and everyone else folds. Your opponent bets 3,000 on the 9♥8♣5♠ flop and action is on you.

What do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: We are dealt AsAd in the middle stages of a big field multi-table tournament with 500/1,000 blinds and a 1,000 big blind ante. We are deepstacked with 100BBs but most of the table is in the 40-50BB range except the Big Blind, who also has nearly 100BBs. Three players limp in front of us, UTG+1, MP2, and the Cutoff.

It is crucial to raise an appropriate amount to thin the field and put our opponent to a meaningful decision. By default, this means raising whatever the standard amount is (likely 2.5 times the big blind or 2,500 here) and adding 1 big blind for each limper onto the total raise amount. In this spot that would be a raise to 5,500. However, in the moment we don’t account for the limpers and only raise to 2,500 and thankfully only the Big Blind calls.

The flop is 9h8c5s and the Big Blind leads out for 3,000. In poker terms this is often called a “donk” bet or a probe bet. Very good players can use donk bets to balance their range to incorporate a mix of strong hands as well as hands that need protection and some semi-bluffs.

From most recreational players a donk bet represents a medium strength hand where the Big Blind is trying to control the size of the pot by leading out. With a 9,500 chip pot and over 90,000 chips behind we have a stack to pot ratio (SPR) of over 10. At this stack depth getting all-in with one pair requires multiple aggressive actions to the point where one pair is unlikely to be the best hand if stacks go in.

If the stacks were significantly shorter with an SPR of 6 or less, then raising would be a very valid option. When stacks are more shallow we benefit by both protecting our hand from some of the draws that are on the board, and allowing us to build value against hands like K9s/Q9s/J9s/T9s as well as hands like 66/77 that are well within our opponent’s calling range.

At this stack depth though raising, then getting reraised, and potentially playing for stacks is just brutal. Just calling here allows us to keep our opponent’s hand range wide so that they can continue to fire future streets with a variety of hands we have dominated.

Calling is the best play.