going all in in tournaments...

at the end of a tourney when your struggling to stay alive, do you think its better to go all in with A-4 or something like J-10, because if someone calls you, they usually have a bigger Ace, thus crippling you odds.

what do you think?

At the end of a tournament with low stack I fold or go ALL IN. Nothing in between. You have to double up at least one time or you have no future in the tournament, so its in or out!

Your stated logic answers your question. If you are convinced that you will be up against a bigger A when you push with A4, then it is even more likely that you are behind with JT. I'd rather go out on Ace-high than Jack-sh*t.

EDIT: What I'm trying to say is that you want to be ahead, you don't want to be drawing to 6 outs. You will more often be ahead with A4 than dominated by a bigger A (I have no numbers to back this up).

[JonPKibble]

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because if someone calls you, they usually have a bigger Ace

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Heads up I'd rather have ace high than jack high. In this stage of a tourney most hands are heads up rather than multiway. If someone calls you, they might have an ace, but they may not. You really can't assume they do or don't have an ace --- the only thing to consider is how good YOUR hand is.

If you have A-4 and are up against A-10 you are in the same boat as if you have J-10 against A-10. So it really does not make a difference. Ace high is the better hand to hold in this situation, against a random hand. You could be called by a small pocket pair, but you could also be up against KQ.

I always have problems with these. You know the blinds are coming back at you and if you end up with 27o or a hand like it you will be crippled or out. So for the 3-7 hands before you try to find a hand that you have a chance on and push all-in. Sometimes your get lucky and get a hand to call and other times you don't. when I get down to 2-3 hands left I tend to push all-in on any suited with an ok highcard, suited connected, or two over 9. I don't like waiting for the bb to force me to push all-in, people see you in a blind with a short stack and have no respect for your all-in. it seems if a push in out of blind I get 1-2 callers and in bb I get 2-5.

I'm not a great poker player so I'm interested to see what others have to say.

[9cao]

It depends a lot on your relative position, how many big blinds you have left (also antes), and the stack sizes of the opponents left to act.

Let's say you only have 2 or 3 big blinds and it is folded to you in late position. In this case I would rather have A4 all day long since it is going to be an auto-call by the big blind.

Let's say you have something like 4 or 5 big blinds in the same spot. My answer would now depend on how big the stacks are behind me. If they are quite large I would probably prefer the A4 because I would get looked up more often, but if they are not that big relative to the big blinds they will probably only look you up with Ax or any PP and you are usually dominated, so JT has some advantages here although it is close.

If you have 10+ big blinds it is once again dependent on the stacks behind you. Small stacks would call with a bigger range and A4 could be in good shape, bigger stacks will only call if you are dominated, so JT would be better in most spots (not KK, QQ, TT, or JJ). Also dependent on how tight the playes behind are. If really tight I would always prefer JT.

[benfranklin]

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at the end of a tourney when your struggling to stay alive, do you think its better to go all in with A-4 or something like J-10, because if someone calls you, they usually have a bigger Ace, thus crippling you odds.

what do you think?

[/ QUOTE ]

Stack sizes are more important here than the cards. Either of those hands are above average pushing hands when it is short handed and you are short stacked. If you are about to be blinded out, you need to push with any 2 cards if it is folded to you. In a very short-handed game, it is unlikely anyone has a bigger ace.

The other thing to keep in mind is fold equity. The shorter your stack, the less FE you have. You need to be pushing with hands like A4, JT, or worse while your stack is still big enough to scare people out rather than waiting for an ace with a big kicker and watching your stack evaporate.

[WHOOPINGCRANE]

If you are of the opinion that you will get a caller with any Ace-high (which you likely will) then whether you have J-10 or 2-3 you will need to hit the board to win. However pushing with A4 you may get callers with J10 and not need to hit the board to win. In short, I would prefer A4 over anything less unpaired.

[Sykes]

Pokerstove equations:

Player 1: JTo/JTs 39.5 Equity
Player 2: 22+, A2o+, K9o+, QTo+, JTo+ 60.5 Equity


Player 1: A2-7o/s 44.0
Player 2: Same range as last time 56.0


Even with A2o/s against this range, you have a 42% equity against this range. Now on a very short stack 42% equity is pretty good when you need to double up. This is why a lot of people go all-in when they look at just the lone ace.

On a side note, if you ever find yourself on a very small stack and see one card and it's an ace, don't bother looking at the other card. For 2 reasons:

One, because if people want to play against you, they either A. want to gamble or B. have a bigger ace or a pocket pair.

Two, You really don't give off any tells on whether or not if you have a big ace or not. It's just as likely for you to hold AK as it is A2.

[diebitter]

I'll happily all-in with either when I'm short-stacked and it's late (unless it's the bubble, and there's at least 1 smaller stack).

They're only a big dog to a overpair or a matching card and your second card is below his.