Playing low pocket pairs, early position, late in tournament

[IGotADonk]

Big stack: fold
Medium stack: fold
Small stack: shove
Early position: fold
Late position: raise

I don't like playing small pairs when I think it's going to cost too much of my stack, unless I've been card-dead for long enough that it's becoming a concern. In which case, if you open up after mucking hands for a while, it'll probably make the table fold. If you're small stack, you're probably shoving most of your hands anyway to just pick up blinds. If you're big-stack and your M is above 15, don't waste your time, just watch the underlings fight each other to the death.

 

[teepack]

If you are in the money and you have 5 BB or less, I think you shove, hope one person calls and the pair holds up and you can get a quick double up. Remember, you're in early position, which means you are getting ready to post the blinds very soon, and you might not get a better opportunity to play a hand. I'd hate to fold it with a short stack, and then lose my BB and SB to pre-flop raises. Now I'm down to about 3 BBs and pretty much desperate. If you've got between 5-15 BBs, you probably want to fold that. When I am down to that size of a stack, I'm pretty much holding out for a monster hand (QQ+ or AK or AQ) and shoving. If you've got a good size stack, you're one of the chip leaders and you can afford to lose 2-3 BBs, I might give it a little bump and see what happens. Hopefully with that big of a stack, you should have a somewhat strong image at the table, and folks who are playing it tight might be afraid to raise you for fear that you will come back with an all-in.

If the bubble has not yet been broken, and you really need to finish in the money, then that's an easy fold.