Looking at the other stacks made me call this , if I give this up chances to cash will be slim so decided it's time to gamble . Would you play different?


Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, 12 Tournament, 200/400 Blinds (4 handed) -

Hero (BB) (t1950)
UTG (t5040)
Button (t3505)
SB (t3005)

Hero's M: 3.25

Preflop: Hero is BB with J, 2
2 folds, SB bets t3005 (All-In), Hero calls t1550 (All-In)

That's definitely a fold if I've ever seen one. Yes, you are extremely short-stacked, but you always want to be the pusher instead of the caller. J2 is on the low end of his range, so I can see you winning with this call somewhere around 45% of the time. Don't ask me where I pulled that semi BS number from, but it sounds right

You still have a few more hands before you're BB again, so I'd fold here, and then push the next face card/connectors or better that you see. I can't stress how important it is to be the pusher and not the caller.

You have a couple of options, and they're all bad. So I think calling here is actually the best thing you can do, for a few reasons.

1.Shoving the next hand puts you up against the Big Stack BB, who knows you're desperate, and can call you with nearly anything. Worst is he has position on you for 3 out 4 hands.

2.If you don't push next hand you're left with 1350, doubling up with put you up to 2700. 2700 is still going to mean you're the short stack and still be at risk.

3.Calling and winning now means you're going to cripple the next smallest stack, as well as you're going to be at 3,900 chips. Nearly 4k chips means you not only are likely to cash, but you just set yourself up a possibility to win the tourney. That's way more +EV than trying to slide into oblivion for a chance just to cash.

Folding leaves me with 1550 left (1350 without the small blind , it's turbo with 3 min levels not sure how close the next level was) so I'll have no fold equity the next couple of hands . It would slightly depend on the SB's push range , but no decent player would give a walk in that spot .

Good points Knight , I'm calling this all day vs regular and hope to have two live cards If the SB folded a lot of blinds to me before I would consider a fold but that was not the case .

I can see you winning with this call somewhere around 45% of the time

I take 45 gladly at this spot

According to PokerStove J2 is 38% vs top 60% (let's say he shoves anything "nice") of hands and I'd take that gamble as well at this spot .

If you're thinking of calling with ATC here, why not shove ATC in the few hands before this?

As it is, if hes pushing ATC, you're ~45% to win so I'm as likely to call as I am to fold but hate myself forever for leaving myself in this situation.

Originally Posted by DeeYakaBaka

If you're thinking of calling with ATC here, why not shove ATC in the few hands before this?

As it is, if hes pushing ATC, you're ~45% to win so I'm as likely to call as I am to fold but hate myself forever for leaving myself in this situation.

I was replying to his situation as it was from that point on, but dee makes a good point that you should have been pushing before getting into this messy diaper.

If you're thinking of calling with ATC here, why not shove ATC in the few hands before this?

Was multitabling and didn't notice this spot , had 1-2 opportunity to shove 52o and 84o (checked the HH) but that would have been the perfect time for a -$EV push . I know it has to be ATC sometime but once in the spot I change my mind and remove the bottom 20% .

You gotta couple semi cheap hands left in ya. Against a shove, this is an easy fold. Maybe you'll even fall into the money. But I gotta fold this everytime. Sooted maybe... but not this.

I really gotta frown upon anybody who would call this cause "the odds aren't so bad".

Theres one stack with 12m-ish, 2 with 8, and you with 3 now. You just posted the expensive hand, fold this and hope one of the 2 small stacks gets knocked out. This is bubble time. Your not making a long run for the money, you just have to survive.