Biggest leak in my game: down to four.

[Matador225]

I feel I am pretty strong early on w/ a full or almost full table and my headsup play is also a strength, but I have some problems when it gets down to the last four.

If I am third in chips and have about 1.5 times the shortstack (1500 to his 1000) and the fairly tight chip leader raises 3 X BB to 600 what kind of hands should I be pushing with?

Can I push w/ 99 or do I need something a little stronger? Do I push w/ AQ or AK?

Obviously I don't want to put my stack on the line on a coinflip or worse here and the chances the chip leader folds are pretty slim. Whats your standard play here, assuming the chip leader has a fairly strong range of hands here.

Thanks for the help,
Jack

[tigerite]

Sorry to have to say this but, it depends. On how often he's been raising. On when the blinds are going up. On your position relative to the big stack. On how much Fold Equity you think you have. There's so, so many factors here, it's very hard to give a black and white answer.

Chances are the chip leader will fold with at least 50% of his hands. Even the loosest players seem to tighten up to at least this on the bubble. Also you aren't guaranteed third here so don't think that busting out here is costing you a sure profit, you need to fight to stay alive. By pushing a hand like 99 AQ and AK you will almost always have the best of it when called by a loose player and if not you'll be stealing blinds and building a stack. Gettingone first place finish is better than two third place finishes, don't forget this.

[tigerite]

It depends because like everything else if he calls too much it screws your $EV up, it can be calculated with ICM.

[Nicholasp27]

i'd be looking to open push with a worse hand when first in pot rather than pushing after big stack raised 3bbs...

[Hornacek]

I tend to avoid confrontations with the big stack unless I have a top 15-20% hand. However, if the big stack is UTG and the small stack (but not pot-committed) is BB, I will push with a wider variety of hands IF they are tight/weak. This is key to me: I need to continually chop out his blinds. This can only happen IF he folds often though.