short stacked in tourney

I was in a tourney yesterday in the middle stages, my stack got to were it was a little less than 10 BB,so I went all in with K2s.I know the standard advice is Ax or pocket pair ,but it seems to me people are more likely to call you with A high card and your in worse sitituation if you go with a weak ace ,am I thinking wrong.

What was your posithion what you push K2s ?, this hand u can push only when cut-off , button or SB, and when all opponents fold. If before was one limp fold...
When less 10bb you can push in late posithion when all opponents fold, with very wide range 55% hands...but we must look not to have was aggrasive players who can too call with wide range, what was fold equity...

Not much you can do when shortstacked other than all-in. All you can do is wait for the right spot or the right hand. If you get lucky you can hit a time where everyone folds but the small/big blind. In that situation you can push all-in and steal the pots, which will give you some advantage. It will not win you the tournament, but it will give you an extra chips, so when you beat someone you will get a better stack. You should avoid pushing all-in when you see that many people will respond, unless you got a better hand ( premium or pocketpairs over ten ). Well, the most important thing when you are shortstacked is you either try to steal, considering you got enough chips to make it a fold-able position for your opponent, or look for a 1 on 1 spots, because you got a better chance at doubling up, no matter what your hand is. Put it this way - you got a better chance to win 1 on 1 with 10 9o, than you do in Ace Qs for example with 4 people in the hand. You should look for those two situations, but in both of them you need luck. If you get lucky you will be back.

It also depends on the stack sizes and how the players play behind you. A bigger stack opponent is more likely to call wider than a shorter stack since the chips at risk wouldn't affect their stack as much as a shorter stack calling.

short stacked

I was in middle position with one caller in early position wasn't looking to steal blinds was looking to double up,I felt like I was starting to get blinded off and it was time to make a move,of course ,I got busted by AQ.

Think of it this way, unless you're right at the bubble, you ain't got anything to lose when you're short stacked. If you don't double up soon you're out anyway.

I see too many players wait and wait and watch their blinds bleed out to the point where when they finally get a big hand and shove, even if they double up they are still in deep trouble.

When you shove, especially against medium stacks, you have good fold equity. Middle stacks don't wanna risk losing a good chunk of their stack and become the short stackers, so they will tend to call you tight. Even if you get called, you still have a chance to win.

Especially from late pos, open shoving with ATC is fine IMO.

To me it depends on how close you are to the bubble. If you can make it with less than 10 BB's you might wait it out so you can cash.Much depends on position. If you are shoving in early position you are probably going to be called.

terryg642 said:

I know the standard advice is Ax or pocket pair

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Standard according to whom?

When you have a push or fold stack, you mainly want to look for a couple of types of situations. One is where you can open-shove; i.e, be first in and make someone have enough of a hand to call. The other is where you can shove against an opener who is reasonably likely to fold; e.g. a table bully whose stack size is such that you have half-decent fold equity.