All-in here?

NL hold em, with the blinds at 30-60. It is 4 handed and I have only 240 in front of me. Table pays 3. I am the lowest stack.


UTG, I get 22. I know the button and the LB will fold 80% of the time to an all-in bet. I also know that the BB will call 80% of the time, as he has the chip lead, and that's his style anyway.


Do I fold and risk getting blinded out while waiting for something better, or do I push in with a hand that is almost never better than 50/50, and a big dog to any other pair? Why would you do whatever you would do?


Thanks,

-Marlow


p.s.-If you fold, what pocket pair is high enough to push in with?

I'm pretty new to NL tournaments so take it with a grain of salt, but I wouldn't play 22 here. I would play it from the SB if the first two folded.


In your situation you can still back into the money by waiting. I would however go all in with any Ace, 77 or higher, suited K's.

Marlow,


raise all in and pray. If only the BB calls, you will have a 50/50 situation most of the time. If so, you have a +EV since there is already dead money from the SB in the pot. Maybe everybody folds (you stated that the BB will fold 1 time out of 5), which is definitly what you hope for.


Furthermore: When it´s one out of the money, most players get a little too conservative. The BB being both a loose player and chipleader makes it even harder for the other 2 players to call. So you might get it heads up against a random hand. Why not try and take the chances. When you win, you might go for 1st (I don´t know the exact chipcounts). If you fold, you will probably have 150 after posting the blinds, so your next raise will be called for sure. This time you have a samll chance that everybody mucks his hand. Go for it.


Regards


Martin

How big are the other stacks? It's really hard to make a determination without knowing if anybody else is close to busting, or what percentage of their stack somebody will have to risk to call.


Note that the BB will probably call you, not just because he has the chip lead, but because he'll be getting almost 2:1 on the call. Given that you're about to hit the blinds and are thus desperate to make a move, I call from the BB with any two in this situation.

I'm assuming this was a PP tourney?


If you only have 240, the other 3 players are sharing 9760 chips, so we can say 3200 each or maybe someone has say 5,000.


For 5-10% of their stack they're going to call and try to bust you out, plain and simple. In fact I wouldn't be suprised if you get 2 callers and they check it down to the river hoping someone can beat you.

Actually, no it wasn't PP. The money was much shorter than that. The chip leader probably had about 800 to my 250. So, the blinds were huge in relation to the money on the table. Also, I knew from years of experience with these guys that they wouldn't call and check me down.


Thanks for the response!

". I would however go all in with any Ace, 77 or higher, suited K's. "


You should note that QJ off is a much better all-in hand than K2s for example.


Andy.