Am i undervaluing PP late in tourneys?

So ive never been a big fan of pushing low/mid PP
too hard any point in tourneys, but i keep seeing these seemingly suicidal players online that think they are gold pre flop. EXAMPLE, 4 of us left, only 3 make it ITM and im in the chip lead and the person UTG who has the second largest chip stack pops it to 3.5 times the blind with 55. Understandable, folded to me and i double the raise with AcQc, when its his action again he immediately moves all in, and i call for about 2/3 of my stack knowing he is a fairly loose player.

End result is his pair holds up. While i know it was a coin flip PF, i just cant see making a move on the bubble for all my chips with 55, but yet i see it going on all the time. Am i just playing too tight in the late parts of sng's? thanx in advance, the hand had me quite steemed.

There are few other factors I would like to know regarding his play. I know you said he was second largest stack, but how many BB did he have, i.e. had he pot committed himself or would he be pot committed if he called?

Also, if he puts you on the hand you actually had, then he has the edge preflop. Some players are willing to push whenever the believe they have the edge pre-flop.

One question you have to ask yourself, do I want to be all in with the second chip stack on the short end of a coin flip on the money bubble. I'm not saying to fold pre-flop. Try flat calling the initial raise and see what the flop brings. If you completely miss your hand, then give it up and focus on busting the short stacks.

I hate to oversimplify this, but if you are dealt a small pp, and push your stack in late in a tourney, its better than a coin flip.

It is only a coin flip if someone calls. If the blinds are big, and they usually are, you are counting on your fold-equity to pick them up. The fact that you have a hand is just back-up in case you do get called. Its really more of a semi-bluff than anything else.

I guess another take could be "why do people overvalue AQ suited late in a tournament." Calling a big part of your stack, and putting yourself at risk of being crippled against any two cards he could have is a pretty big gamble. Even against K3 offsuit, you are only a 2 to 1 fav to either double through, or get knocked out, and there are a few hands he could show you that make you a big dog.

califantasy said:

I guess another take could be "why do people overvalue AQ suited late in a tournament." Calling a big part of your stack, and putting yourself at risk of being crippled against any two cards he could have is a pretty big gamble. Even against K3 offsuit, you are only a 2 to 1 fav to either double through, or get knocked out, and there are a few hands he could show you that make you a big dog.

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i take it you didn't read his post thoroughly. he said that the player was playing fairly loose so he thought he was just trying to steal and then resteal after getting reraised.

but to the original question, i guess it really depends on the type of player you are whether you risk being bubble boy in a coin flip situation. i can see some pros like gus hansen or brandon cantu making shoving with 55 preflop headsup because they could potentially gain a monster stack and boost their chances of taking the tourney. then again, players like hellmuth don't like to risk it all in a coin flip, so really, it just depends on the type of player you are. none of them are inherently wrong, and i dont think you made a wrong play in this hand, just got unlucky

So...the 2nd largest stack gets aggressive against the largest stack on the bubble...He moves all in, over-top of your raise.

With AQ(s) you should consider that he could possibly have AK or any pair in his hand. There's only two of you left in the hand. He has to consider that you don't want to get involved with the only person who can cripple you at this critical time in the tournament.

Sure, he's praying that you don't have a pair, but he's seen your weak minimum raise. A middle pair up to QQ wouldn't make that small of a re-raise (in my opinion) in that spot. You've either got AA, KK or split cards. So he got really aggressive and pushed, hoping you'd fold AJ or worse.

I don't think you made a poor call, but you may have considered that a coin flip for 2/3 your stack on the bubble wasn't the right spot to pull the trigger. But hey, we've all got to take our shot at getting lucky, and if you had won you probably would have cruised to first place in the tourney.

Better luck next time.