"Getting all your chips in there" during tournament play

Hey all,

Regarding NL Holdem, I've read a lot around here that you want to get all your chips in the pot while your hand is the favorite. I see that for ring games, but for tournament play, I can't get my head around it, and the reason is this:

Let's say your hand is an 80% favorite on 3 different occasions during a tournament. If you go all-in (and are covered by your opponent) only 3 times in a tournament, even as an 80% favorite each time, there is only a 49% chance you'll survive those 3 hands. If you're a 70% favorite each time, then there is only a 34% chance you'll survive. And at a 60% favorite, there's a less than 22% chance you'll survive.

It seems like "getting your chips" in there in a tourney is not so great if you're covered.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? I don't know if my intuition is off, or my logic, or what. I think that's what makes NL Holdem tournaments so intriguing. Makes for good discussion at the very least.

Thanks,
dave

The point is that you go all in either on a super strong hand or if you have no chance or if it will not hurt you too much (i.e. your all in is much higher then the opponents all in.)
So the mathematics above are correct however in many cases it is a necessity because if you do NOT go all in you lose too much and you are too low to continue the game.

OK, yeah, that I do understand. Nothing is worse than blinding out. So it looks like people (so far) are in agreement than if you have a relatively healthy stack, there's no reason to put it all at risk, even when you are "favored". I don't think everyone believes that, but it seems to make sense to me.

Thanks for the replies. Let's see what others have to say.
dave

The Goal in a cash game is to make money or have a positive ROI.
In a tournament the goal is to get all the chips and win the tournament. In a tourney if I'm favored I'm getting as many chips in as I can, so I can win as many chips as I can. Also a tournament has an end. That being said you make decisions based on that fact. Sometimes you can't wait for a better time to take a chance to "win this pot", so if you see that your favored, you push. If you don't get a call, you win. If you do get a call you have the best chance to win the hand and continue. Many other factors come in to play of course, like early or late stage of the tourney, stack size and such. But i hope this kinda answers the Question.

Yes, definitely. I think the part about "not getting a call" is critical. It's one thing to push all in and have someone call you. It's quite another to go all in by calling someone else's. I like to use my chips as leverage when I can... can't do that just by calling.

Thanks,
dave