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I think it was Rizen who posted a tournament history where he was open pushing quite a bit and was wondering aloud whether it was a good idea. It's part of his game, partly to be "lazy" and to avoid making mistakes on later streets.

I've been open pushing a bit more lately myself when my M is around 10, maybe a little bit over. the blinds are getting up there.

The dilemma is, do you want to be offensive minded, be the aggressor and give up the ability to play defense while at the same time taking away the chance that you'll be defensive when you shouldn't, or have the chance to back off if others throw strength behind you.

If your M is around 11-13, if you make a 3x raise, and a 1/2 the pot continuation bet, that's more than half of your stack. So some people argue that you should just push
all-in since you're likely to be pot-committed on the flop anyway, thatyou should want to see all five board cards and that open pushing keeps you from making a mistake of folding when doing so would make you a small stack. It also
takes away a better player's ability to outplay you on later streets, and it may get better hands to fold.

On the other hand, open-pushing removes your ability to get out of harms way. If you raise to 3x the BB, and get an all-in and a call from a big stack, you can fold those good but not premium hands (ie 99 or AJs). If you open-pushed, you've lost your ability to get out of the way. if you raise to 3x the BB and get two callers, miss the flop, you can either continuation bet, or check-fold.

So the question for debate is, when should you open-push all-in in the later stages of an MTT?

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I don't think I ever did a very good job of really explaining this part, but I really think the key item in whether this is a good move or not is your chances of getting called by a lesser hand. In a lot of online tournaments (especially ones like the 40k on Party or even the Party supers that sat a lot of players in) you'll get a lot looser calls, so I think it's a much better move there.

Like I've attempted to say in previous posts, I don't think this is a move you should be like 'well I have 10M, and I want to play this hand, so I'll push' move. You need to have a read on the table that if you get called, it will be by a lesser hand often enough to make the times you pick up the pot contested + the times when you are called and win clearly +EV. I'm playing tournaments now so I can't run any math, but if I had QQ and 10M with 100/200 blinds and I felt the table's calling range on my push would be 99+/AQ+ then I think a push is definitley a move you should be considering. That kind of range isn't as uncommon as you might think in some online tournaments as well.

My stance really is and always has been that if open pushing around 10M isn't part of your 'poker toolbelt', then I think you're missing out on some value. Like any other tool though, it needs to be used in the right situation in order to be effective. Don't be the guy with the junk drawer full of odd screwdrivers and wrenches that doesn't know what any of it is for and just throws it all in there. Be the guy with an organized tool chest who knows where everything is, and knows how to quickly find the right tool for the job, even if it is one that should only be used ocasionally.

-Rizen

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add to that, that it matters what image the table has of you. If the table has seen you make a lot of loose or marginal plays that were showndown, you are more likely to get paid with your big hands and if the opposite is true and you've only been showing down good hands, then your more likely to get away with taking down the blinds.