Big Stacks Clash - What to Shove

You are in a tourney. You are one of the top 5 big stacks. Your opponent is also one of the 5 big stacks. You raise the pot in MP and big stack on the blind shoves on you. You had just reached itm positions, losing the hand means busting out with the minimum money, winning the hand means you will be the top stack. What hands you will call the shove with? What premiums you will fold? What will help you to decide what to do?

The big stack could be playing a little loose knowing that they have a guaranteed cash. I would definitely call with AA, KK and AKs. I think I wouldn't call with anything else, because even if they are not that tight anymore doesn't mean that they can't get the cards they need to win.

Not knowing how many players are left, blinds, etc I am only calling with AA or maybe KK. I know I can make up for it down the road.

I would depend on how many big blinds it cost me and the average chips stack BB ave. If we as the big stacks only have 15-18 BB I would be calling him much looser than say we have 50 BB each and the average is 15. Over all I am calling pocket aces and kings here and probably queens and AK.

I made this mistake of shoving in the 44 bounty builder final table on Stars but there was an $800 bounty in him so maybe not such a bad choice. We were the big stacks and I had TT and he had AT. Had I just not forced the issue I could have gotten away when the A hit the flop.
I honestly thought he would fold and not risk all of his chips vs the other big stack given my bounty was small.

This issue is constantly addressed in many educational materials, you are not studying the theory enough. I think you need to read the material on this issue, which would not be asked in the future.

ChickenArise said:

I made this mistake of shoving in the 44 bounty builder final table on Stars but there was an $800 bounty in him so maybe not such a bad choice. We were the big stacks and I had TT and he had AT. Had I just not forced the issue I could have gotten away when the A hit the flop.
I honestly thought he would fold and not risk all of his chips vs the other big stack given my bounty was small.

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I feel that the dynamics in BB tournaments are way different than the regular ones. Bounties make people go crazy.Without knowing any other information I feel that bounty wise there was a +EV move for sure.Unlucky man! cguru:

I always play with caution against a big stack because any mistake will harm my stack. We don't want any ''fight'' between me and the opponent.

Try to avoid those high variance spots and try bully the average stacks , be careful with the smaller ones simply because they have no ICM and they can shove way wider.

Between 2 good regular players, you will see many 3bets preflops because they know the dynamics. I feel that I am calling off with the top of my range here KK+ with no other info but still, how often does he make that move?How hands have you open raised when he was on the blinds?Many factors to take into account!

Zvezda kz said:

This issue is constantly addressed in many educational materials, you are not studying the theory enough. I think you need to read the material on this issue, which would not be asked in the future.

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Perhaps you would be so kind to recommend the study material you think is best on the subject? Thank you!

Nowhere to talk directly to play certain hands at a certain point, but to talk about the factors influencing the decision. Any material is suitable for study, but you should read it carefully. Any material containing the basic theory of poker.

You can get stuff at least at the PokerStarter PS school.

Zvezda kz said:

This issue is constantly addressed in many educational materials, you are not studying the theory enough. I think you need to read the material on this issue, which would not be asked in the future.

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I have no money to buy poker books, Cardschat forum is all I got.

Literally AA KK and maybe QQ

Interesting but I guess I'd stick with AA AKs/o QQ and (depending on reads = JJ)