Taking the worst of it

[BabyJesus]

I was just wondering the consensus out there on taking (slightly) the worst of it in a multi in efforts to get on a big stack. This is in response to an earlier thread that someone had saying anyone who gets it all in as an underdog is a bad tournament player.

This quote is from Ace on the River by Barry Greenstein
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Although the power of the short stack is a well accepted principle (see the Money Management chapter), I have found in practice that once I get a chip lead on the players at my table, I am easily able to exploit the wekness in their "survival" strategy. It may even be worth it to take slightly the worst of it to get a chip lead, especially given the fact that payouts are very top-heavy in tournaments.

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I said pretty much the same thing, but Greenstein put it in better words.

He also said part of the decision is how your table is. If he could fold whatever hand and still be kinda small or medium stacked that would be OK if he was at a weak table where he might be able to work his way back up. But if he was at a tough table he would be more inclined to call.

The whole hand that got across the point was this hand.
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50/100 blinds starting stacks were 5000 (3rd level)
80 remain from orginal 100
barry has 7150 in chips which is slightly above average.
Table is 7 handed. Barry opens for 300 with Q [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]J [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. "Miami" john calls(accomplished pro w/ 3000 in chips)
Another player who has been playing careful calls as well (16,000 in chips).
Inexperienced player in the BB goes all in for 1250 more.

Barry ends up raising 2000 more, then has big stack push all in over the top. Barry lays it down and is left with 3600 in chips

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He later adds that his table seemed to be competent.

How many players make that call and how many just fold?

Also comments on merits of taking slightly the worst of it in a situation similiar to this in efforts to try and get a chip lead to make a run for the tournament.

Or has all this been discussed to death in these forums???

[BabyJesus]

bump, if this is crappy thread or already been discussed, say so and it'll die.

[WakeHeel]

Running QJ out against two hands seems like a lose lose situation to me. One double and he is back to close to the average. Seems like Barry was trying to isolate the original player but once it became clear he was going to be a significant underdog he decided that, despite favorable pot odds, a fold was the better option.