help with a tournament hand

[JimmyWellington 1]

All right, let me set the stage first. Buy in is $250, I got in off of a $30 satellite. Live tournament, final table will be on TV for the Southern California Poker Tour. Start with 4500 in chips with 25/50 blinds. Blinds go up every TWENTY minutes (ridiculous, I know. I was told it was every half hour, only slightly better). They say that the levels will most likely get longer depending on how fast the tournament goes. So anyway. I'm sitting with 13,500 a little more than an hour and a half into it. I built my stack by playing aggressive, haven't knocked anyone out, just taken a lot of 1000 chip pots, etc. Every showdown, I've had the best hand, and it's been a good starting hand, so it probably looks like I've just been catching some good cards. The only player higher than me is 2 to my left with around 16,000. We'll call him Chip leader. He's been VERY aggressive, stealing a lot of pots, raising preflop around 4 times an orbit. Here's the hand. I'm in the BB (400/800 blinds). Chip leader calls 800 in UTG+1Small blind calls 400.I check with :clubsk: :diamonds3: Pot has 2000.Flop: :spadesk: :diamonds7: :clubs3: Small blind checks. I bet out 2000. Chip leader thinks about it for about 30 seconds (a long time compared to most of his decisions). He calls 2000.Small blind folds.Turn: :hearts4: Pot has 6000. My stack is 10700, his is 13200. My read was this. I didn't think he had a monster. He'd shown down some bad hands where he called preflop and hit the flop hard. On those hands, he raised on the flop. I think his long thinking before calling my flop bet was genuine. I'd been playing with him for an hour and a half, and it seemed like he was genuinely thinking. I put him on a pocket pair that didn't make a set on the flop. Considering I checked preflop (I'd been raising a lot from the bb if nobody showed strength), I don't think he put me on AK or a high pp. I think he thought I had maybe a KJ-K2, or a small pp. One last thing, if you make a normal size bet, he will most likely put you all in. He'd made that play a few times before. What do you do?

[Scott3705 0]

I'm probably wrong here. Since you posted he probably he probably hit a str8 or was slowplaying a set or something like that. I personally, do not want to be scared that if I bet, that some one will put me all in regardless of whether he has a hand or not. (especially when i feel i am holding the best hand) In this situation, I would want to put him to a decision. If you really think he has a pocket pair, I would make a bet about 4000 to see if he wants to go any further. He might fold as that would be 1/3 of his stack or if he goes all in and your read is correct, then he only has two outs for the river. I guess you may worry about 56 suited. But I would not think he would be playing that UTG with the blinds beginning to creep up. But like I said... I"m probably wrong.

[Vade 0]

I think he has to put you on a fairly good hand, as you've been showing down mostly good cards.Most likely, with playing UTG he either has a big king or a medium pair. The problem is it could easily be 7777 and 56 are the only hands that could be a problem. There's no flush draw out there.What do you think would happen if you just checked here, and then if he bets reraise all in?I'm thinking that might be the best play. If he thinks his big king or what not is the best hand, he'll bet it. You said he'd be willing to reraise you all inI think there are only two hands that have you beat, if you dont' think he has either of them, check raise is the best play

[Scott3705 0]

After reading Vades response I agree. The pot is so big that if the 7 hit, well more power to him. If you think he's aggressive enough to push all in or make a big bet if you check it to him, then the check raise is really the best play.

[JimmyWellington 1]

 I personally, do not want to be scared that if I bet, that some one will put me all in regardless of whether he has a hand or not. (especially when i feel i am holding the best hand)  

I wasn't scared that he would put me all in, I just tried to take that into account. I felt I had the best hand, normally I would bet around 3500-4000. If I did that, he would have more than likely put me all in with any 2 cards. Once again, I wasn't fearful of it, I had to take it into account. I felt that my two choices were either check or all in. If I go all in, I take away his play and put him to a huge decision. I was almost positive he didn't have KK or 56 and that I was ahead on the flop. I trusted my read on him and pushed. Without the fast levels, I wouldn't have played this so aggressive. I thought about checking, looking for a check raise. This was my thinking why I didn't. It could definitely be flawed, hell that's why I'm looking for advice. If I check and he bets, I wouldn't be sure if he was trying to steal the pot, or if he was genuinely betting (maybe the 4 helped him). I'd been betting most flops I was in, so my bet on the flop didn't necessarily convey strength. I thought the only hand he could instantly call an all in was with 56 or KK and I didn't think that he had one of those hands. So even if I was wrong and he was ahead, he still might fold, since if he calls and was wrong, he's in big trouble chip-wise.Do you guys think that the check-raise was better? I'm not one of those stubborn "my way was right". I'm open to discussion.

[Vade 0]

I think there's only three legit ways to play this hand1 Go for the check raise2 Go all in on the turn3 Fold if you think the 4 beat you somehowSeriously though Check raise is the best, though all in isn't a bad play necessarily either

[Absolute 0]

I don't think the chip leader of a tournament is limping with 7-7 when its folded to him.Just my thoughts.

[JimmyWellington 1]

He wasn't the chip leader of the tournament. Just at my table. I should have clarified that.

[snowbird 0]

Without being there and seeing the previous hands to get a good read on everything, I just think that he does not have a hand that beats you. I would checkraise and then see what he does. All in would be a good play also IMO, because that would really put some heat on him. I would make sure I am the bettor, not the caller. :?

[NickTheKid 0]

Push, you got the Krablar! You get to dance when you win!

[looshle 6]

He's got a set, there's no 2 ways about it. Most likely 77, maybe 33 but you'v got one of those. KK has to raise preflop. Either way, that flop offers no draws whatsoever and a flat call is scary. He may be dumb enough to flat call with a hand like KT or K9 but I doubt it. It's a really tough spot but I think you have to push in and hope hes got a weak king. It's just one of those hands you're gonna have to go broke on.