poker.yoga

Q7s from BB facing a SB shove — call or fold?

The answer

Call

make the call

The math: A 2bb jam into a 3bb pot gives you a huge price — Q7 suited is priced in, so call.

Why

When the shove is this small, the price does the work. The small blind is risking their last 2 big blinds, and you only have to add one more big blind to win the whole pot — so you only need to win about a quarter of the time to profit. Queen-seven suited clears that easily against someone jamming their last chips, which is a wide and desperate range. You're priced in. Call.

The spot

Villain · SB
jams 2bb
POT · 3,000
preflop
Q
7
BB
500 / 1,000 · 10bb
Your seat
BB
Stakes and stacks
500 / 1,000 · 10bb
Your hand
Q♦ 7♦
Board
Preflop — no board yet
Pot
POT · 3,000
Action on you
SB jams 2bb

Every option

  • Foldkeep your stack

    Why not: Q♦ 7♦ isn't a hand you'd get excited about, so folding feels safe. But the jam is only 2 big blinds — the price is so good that even a weak suited hand turns a profit here, and folding just hands over easy chips.

  • Callmake the callCorrect

The idea behind it

When an all-in is tiny next to the pot, your pot odds get enormous. You need only a small slice of equity to make calling profitable, so your calling range widens dramatically — sometimes toward any two cards. The smaller the jam, the wider you call.

Concept: Priced in

Terms in this spot

Play it instead of reading it

The trainer deals this hand with hints, grading and spaced repetition — and randomized variations of it once you have seen it.

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