Shortstack in early position

[TimM846]

I've noticed that I've gotten myself into trouble late in scheduled tournaments by pushing all in with a good hand in early position. For example, in the Sunday night 200+15 on Ultimatebet a few weeks ago, I was 24/26 (top 20 money) with JJ in first position. I had about 3700 chips and the blinds were 300-600 with 50 ante (IIRC) and I pushed all in (it would have cost 600 to limp in or about 2200 to bet the pot). As soon as I got a reraise from middle position I figured I was beat and correctly so (he turned over KK).

Was this a bad play on my part? What if I had AT in this position? Should I fold it, limp in, raise? Would it make any difference if the antes are high and taking down a pot could be the difference between moneying and not moneying?

In the above example, the JJ was tough to get away from as I needed to catch a hand before too long and the blinds were about to hit, but had I played it differently I may have been able to survive and money. I'm just looking for some general comments on how to play with a shortstack late in a tournament, particularly out of position. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Tim

[iRoD]

No problem pushing JJ here, you want to take down those blinds obviously and most of the time you will. You may of course get called by hands like 88-1010, in which case you are dominating them, and sometimes AQ and AK (although AQ may fold).
What is your image so far at the table? How much do you think people will respect your all-in raise?

The fact that you made the correct play and ran into Kings is just unfortunate. Considering the blinds and the size of your stack, this is a standard play. Make it everytime in this spot, and usually you will be in a race situation (something that you have to take considering your stack)


Cheers

Pat

[TimM846]

Thanks for the reply, Pat. I don't have a maniac image (though I'm aggressive when I'm in pots) so the raise would be respected.

How would your strategy change if you held AT or AJ? In a normal situation obviously you can't raise much in first position with these holdings, but knowing you need to double up or at least take down a couple pots to have a chance at moneying, do you push here? Do you make a small raise and face the risk of being crippled if someone puts you all in and you decide you're dominated and have to fold? Do you limp in and hope there are no raises? Do you lay down a good hand and wait for a decent hand in better position or do you have to take the risk? To me it seems that you're in an "all in or fold" situation with a shortstack and if AT isn't a good enough hand to go all in with you have to fold it. And considering I've lost a couple tournaments by pushing with good, but not great, starting hands, folding here might just be the right play despite the fact that the blinds are about to hit and if I lose the blinds I'll be even more desperate for a hand.

I think my biggest weakness until recently has been not giving enough emphasis on position. I've noticed that I'm getting into a lot less trouble since I started making it a primary consideration before I get involved in a pot.

Thanks again for the input,

Tim

[Lurshy]

Also what may help, is thinking about what you will do if you are raised after limping. If you had limped with the JJ and the KK came over the top would you have folded? Not likely on a shortstack. If the answer is no, then clearly pushing 1st is the right decision. Pushing 1st may get the marginal hands out. You weren't getting KK out of the hand no matter what happened, so that is just bad luck.

[davidross]

THe thing you need to realise about being in the late stages with a short stack is that if you run into a big hand, or you get unlucky, you're going to get knocked out. THiis will happen a lot. Even if you stgeal the blinds two or 3 times you usually just stay pretty much where you are. You need to double up probably a couple of times to get in the hunt for a big prize. JJ is a great hand to double up with, way stronger than your opponents will put you on.

WIth your stack and those blinds you need to be going all-in at least once an orbit. You just have to get lucky at least once.