A J

Down to four players in a tournament that pays top three. I am in third position with about 5000 chips. Fourth place has about 4000 chips. I am dealt A J off in the BB. Blinds are 200-400. Fourth place raises to 1000, Other two players had folded. What is a good play here, raise, fold, or call? I went all in, villain tanked and then called with A 4.

I think all-in is a perfectly good decision in this situation. In the long run, A, J is much better than A, 4.
So all-in and prayer to the poker gods to hold your hand.

I agree. I'd go all in, too.

I think all in is the play too you've got around 12bb waiting for better spots might not come

You played correctly here i hope that the luck stayed also with you in this hand.

Here's an all-in without options.

Villain did make the call and sucked out a 4 on the flop. This crippled me and I was out a few hands later on the bubble. Because the villain was in last place I thought , after the hand, I should have waited for him to either blind out or get beaten on a later hand. I thought this might be a leak I have. Thanks

Hello my table friend,As Negreanu says, it is always better to be the aggressor of the hand. All In or raise !? Go with your style, play safer watching the flop or risk an All in ... seeing many wsop, EPT, Caribbean tournaments, there are both situations, some professionals give All In and others raise.

gl!!

That's an all in for sure. Strategically the 4th place player is the worst one for you to lose your chips to (as you're both fighting to qualify for the 3rd place cash) , combined with ranges and effective stacks, there's no question about the play

At that point, with 12.5BB I am definitely going to go all-in. Trying to wait the short stack out is an option. However, with only 2.5BB separating your stack from his, I would forgo that option. You see, while you feel, that you have the option of waiting, the short stack is likely to feel that they have no choice but to play. If he takes down one pot or even just picks up the blinds a couple of times and suddenly you're on the short stack, and it could be a while before you see a hand as good as A-J again. I'd rather take my fate in my own hands than count on someone else getting knocked out.

amxvulcan said:

Villain did make the call and sucked out a 4 on the flop. This crippled me and I was out a few hands later on the bubble. Because the villain was in last place I thought , after the hand, I should have waited for him to either blind out or get beaten on a later hand. I thought this might be a leak I have. Thanks

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Unlucky, but the right play and you have to focus on what you did rather than how the board ran out.

In terms of ICM (and I'm no expert), but waiting for a guy with 2.5BB's less than you is not a good tactic. If you have 20-25 BB's and you have 2 big stacks of say 40+ BB's then yeah, maybe you let this go and give the big stacks the opportunity to bust the short stack.

Yea in that moment all in is perfect move.
So yeah,well done and good Job.
That was good move from you.
Cheers!