I've gone back and forth on what's a better hand to make a small stack push:

Suited connectors or A-rag.

I think I'm finally won over to A-rag because it is a 3:2 favorite vs. a lot of hands in a looser calling range, and isn't completely dominated by any pair except AA (7:3 dog vs. the pairs equal to or greater than the kicker).

I'm wondering if a lot of it also has to do with position, e.g. is it better to push SC's in EP because K-high hands and a lot of pairs might fold given the location of the push?

Here's an interesting article in 2+2 online magazine on it .. . . . http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/c...kagan0706.html

I'd say that this depends more on how deep stacked the tourney is and how many people are left behind me as a whole than the individual people to act behind me and the individuals that have limped in front of me. Online tournies get short stacked really fast. The average stack goes from 40bbs to 25bbs to 15bbs in the span of an hour. I've said over and over that this is a whole new game than it was a couple of years ago with larger fields and more dead money. The chips belonging to the dead money doesn't get equally distributed to the top 15-20% of the field.

Building your stack is very important online to be around the average stack when the shorties are pushing at regualarity because the high amount of callable hands that you'll receive can easily put you down to a short stack. The key here is that later in the mid-stages (first 2/3rds in the money), when you have 7 or 8bbs, you'll get more action depending on the people to act behind you and the people already in the pot.

Because you're gonna get multiway action at this point, I prefer suited connectors to A8-A2. This was a good article to read, but ignores multiple callers as are a norm when I push with 7bbs UTG+1, someone with 4 or 5 are calling with almost anything, someone else behind him is call or push to knock out any more callers.

When you know you have a strong chance of multiple callers, dump the Ace-rag. If you have a strong chance of being heads-up, fold the suited connectors. I never did this until recently and it's proven successful over about 6 weeks of about 12-15 tournaments a week.

Early and mid position:
A9, KJ, 89-45, gapped connectors from 79-46

Late position and blinds:
I'll open-push (or push against 1 limper) with: any Ace, KT, K9, QJ-45, gapped from T8-35

If 2 or 3 have limped or I'm facing a raise, I'll stick with those early position hands. This isn't an exact method I follow and honestly, I'm not really thinking in the form of a chart when I play, but those are my general thoughts. I spent way too much time open-pushing with A7 UTG or MP and getting called by 2 people. Fuck that. With average stacks getting smaller as the tourney goes along, "chip and a chair" isn't a myth.

Now, there's also the "me" factor in here because I don't dwindle down to a short stack when I get there. I've usually above average or among the chip leaders and made the stupid decision to play a big pot in a marginal situation or I've taken a tough beat. That's important because I've been playing with these people for quite some time by the point I get short and I've had chips. This means that I've been pretty aggressive and seeing a lot of flops prior to getting short so when I'm short I normally have a target on my back and many people are willing to call my shorty pushes with a large array of hands, so I have the luxury of sitting back because the action's damn near guaranteed.

The problem with A-x is that if people know you are short stacked and desparate they are very likely to call with any A and you end up dominated. With a suited connector you are much more likely to have two live cards in addition to the straight and flush possibilities.