Single table endgame with small stack

[tvdad]

I've been playing the Paradise single table NL tourneys that pay 50-30-20. I do well if I've got a decent sized stack when the field is down to 4-5 people (I'm apparently pretty good at playing aggressively in this spot.) My weakness seems to be that I fold too much when I'm short stacked in 4th place. The three big stacks correctly raise my blinds every time, and when I have something like 73o I always fold when a call would put me all-in or close to it.

At what point do I have to call the raise with crappy cards? Obviously if I've got T310 left and the blind just sapped me for T300 I'm calling my last T10. But what's the cutoff point?

So many times I blow it when I'm in 4th place with the short stack. I know it's a terrible spot to be in, but there must be some tips for playing it better than I've been doing.

T

[Bozeman]

An important cutoff is 3xBB. Anything less and it is hard to steal, while calling after putting in your BB is at least 2:1. Try to steal before you get to this point.

Craig

[SoCalPat]

If the next hand is going to put you all-in when you post your blind, I would go all-in with any card jack or bigger, any connector or any two suited cards.

When it is obvious that you will not make it through the next set of blinds before being forced to go all-in, you have to loosen up considerably. Sklansky's Tournament Poker for Advanced Players has a great section on what is playable for situations in which you're desperately short stacked.