Late in tournament, desperate short stack.

[Pat Southern]

Party Poker Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind t3000 (7 handed)

Button (t22269)
SB (t9299)
Hero (t12047)
UTG (t53379)
MP1 (t16793)
MP2 (t15397)
CO (t122818)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 6/images/graemlins/diamond.gif.
UTG folds, MP1 folds, <font color="CC3333">MP2 raises</font>, CO folds, Button folds, SB calls, Hero .....

After I busted in this tournament I was wondering about this hand. Because the blind just ate 1/4 of my stack and the payout structure was essentially flat until it got to 9th place (there were 14 left at this point, I was 13th in chips), is a call correct here? I think this may have been my last chance to pick up a significant ammount of chips.

[Al_Capone_Junior]

It's not terrible, but when desperate, high cards are much better than low ones, even suited connectors like you had.

al

[Chief911]

Even with it eating 1/4 of your blind, suited connectors that are low dont have a whole lot of value here, especially with a raise in front of you. Of course alot depends on whether the person who raised is a normal blind stealer, but I think you'd be unhappy with yourself if you busted out overplaying 56.

[eMarkM]

Not with 6 high.

[bunky9590]

Dont even think about calling with that there

Wait for any ace or any pair first. Hopefully you'll get lucky.

[Savo]

I had a very similar situation last week and went all in with 4 /images/graemlins/spade.gif5 /images/graemlins/spade.gif On reflection i don't think its a good idea especially with someone betting in front of you. But even if that isn't the case and you are the one open raising you're just so likely to get a call from someone willing to gamble with usually any two overcards or a pair that despite being painful these sort of hands are probably best mucked. I've been thinking about this very situation quite a bit, and feel that in a lot of cases the below 10xBB factor messes with your hand requirements.
On that issue what are peoples thoughts on this? Sometimes I read people saying that you're in a pretty desperate situation with less than 10BB. Yet I also remember William stressing the importance of survival in tournaments. With the quick increases in blinds and the sometimes maniancal nature of online tournaments you do seem able, at times, to quickly increase your stack size pretty quickly anyway.

[Pat Southern]

The reason I was posted this hand was because I was playing around with 2 dimes, and thinking about maximizing EV. Now because the payout structure was flat until 9th, and I couldn't fold to anything higher than 11th, I think chip EV and $ EV are pretty much the same. There was no logical combination of hands where I was worse than a 5-1 dog. Granted, the results started this question, but shouldn't I be pushing close gambles with a short stack when I can't move up the prize ladder easily?

[whiskeytown]

I echo the sentiments of the other players here...

the only value in 5/6 suited is with 3 or 4 players besides yourself....heads up...you're probably slight dog to anything a raiser would have....not worth it yet...

RB