MTT : The All-in Re-steal

For a MTT during mid -late stages I figure re-steals are mandatory...but what I am not really sure of is what kinds of stack sizes you need for an all in re-steal..

10-20 blinds? 20-30 blinds?

You want effective stack sizes to be large enough so that your opponent isn't priced into calling. For some timid opponents, even if you're offering them 2.5:1, they still won't call without a monster. But they'd be pretty much priced into calling with any 2. For example, A6os is a 1:2.5 under-dog to pocket kings or AK.

But in general, if you're jamming against a small blind or button raise to 3x the BB, then we'd want to offer our opponent at most 1.35:1 pot odds, which is more than a pot-sized raise.

Why 1.35? Because that makes it incorrect to call in a classic overcards vs. undercards situation. So if the button raiser raises with 89s, and you shove with AK/KQ/JT/AT/other overcards and turn your hand face up, its incorrect for your opponent to call you.

In order to make a raise that offers our opponent 1.35:1 odds, assuming a 3xbb raise from the button, then we would have to have at least 24.5xbb's in our stack (or an M of 16). A pot sized raise would require a stack of 10.5xbb's (which offers our opponent 2:1).

Obviously, things can be different if the raise size is smaller, your opponent's range is terribly wide/small, or you have a super tight image (that people actually notice). But I'd say an M = 15 would be a pretty good guide-line for restealing, at least from a mathematical point of view. But in reality, you could probably get away with less than 15, since opponents are going to want to risk that many chips on a hand like 89s, even if they're priced in.

So keep in mind, I'm a pretty bad tournament player. This is all just from a mathematical perspective. Experience might allow you to steal with a smaller stack, or maybe you need more fold equity. I'm not sure.