Eric: I will reveal Villain's hand in this question as it is directly tied to the reason for my question.
Tournament, 1st place gets 10K WSOP Main Event seat, 2nd gets a lesser WSOP 1K seat. Started with 20, down to 10 players. Average stack = 39BB
1500/3000/300
5 handed table, will consolidate to a 9 handed table after the next player busts out
Hero, BB, has 27000 (9BB) after posting the BB and ante: A7o
SB, 50BB
SB characteristics: loose aggressive. I've played with him quite a bit in the past. At 20BB-30BB, this game, he was shoving his stack in as first in player a lot. He raises as first in player during the big blind levels in previous tournaments; I don't really recall him limping before at this stage of the tournament.
What the SB thinks of me: He knows that I am aggressive and that I am easily capable of restealing an attacking weakness at any opportunity.
Preflop: Folds to the SB who calls. (Pot = 7500 which is 28% of my stack) What should Hero do?
QUESTION 1: My basic strategy here is to shove with ATC if the pot represents > 15% my stack size, therefore I usually shove here. However, this SB call was out of character for his usual play. Would you still shove here, or would you check and re-evaluate on the flop? At just a 5 handed table, my chances of shoving 1st in as a LP player is high if I wait for a different spot, so it may be better to wait. Yet, a 5 handed table also means potentially blinding down quicker.
QUESTION 2: If you have a strong sense that the SB is trying to trap (never seen him limp before in this situation, and I have only ever seen him raise as the 1st-in player in numerous games before during the big blind levels) what default tricky/trapping range would you put him on and what would be your shoving range vs that trapping range?
Preflop continued: Hero decides that aggression is best in a tournament and he needs to accumulate chips, so he shoves; SB calls and shows 99
QUESTION 3: Does his revealing of 99 change your trapping range for Villain?
As an exercise, after the hand, I made a note that he may have a trapping range for this situation of 77+/AT+/KQ. Since I'd need more than 43% equity, my shoving range vs this trapping Villain is AJs+/AQo+/88+ = 6% of hands = much more narrow than my default ATC
Don