Is it good to stay in the red zone?

[Kevin West]

[ QUOTE ]
I know how to play a mid stack just fine, and i'm sure Betgo does too. the point is, that a stack of that size simply can't be played all that profitably, no matter who you are. there are a whole lot of spots where you could raise or limp with a big stack, push with a small stack, but if you have a midstack you HAVE to fold. think about that. the reason its "tough" to play with a midstack sometiems is that all of your options are either breakeven, or very, very slightly +EV.

Its NOT a matter of learning to play the stack better. the point is that no matter how well you play, you won't have as many VERY +EV spots as you will with a different sized stack.

[/ QUOTE ]

With a mid stack you are able to fold marginal hands that would risk your tournament life because you aren't desperate. Would you rather have 10BB and AJo UTG, or 5BB and AJo UTG? Your EV is positive for the 5BB case, but your expected stack size after you push will be something like 6 or 7BB compared to the 10BB when you fold in the first case. Just because a play is +EV with one stack size and not with a larger stack doesn't make the larger stack worse. Your expected stack size is still larger in the larger stack size case. Combine this with the fact that your monster hands preflop have significantly more equity when your stack is larger and I don't think your argument works at all.