Calling all-ins in the early stage....

Suppose you've got QQ or AK in the early stage of a micro- buy-in MTT with about 40 people.

Two people shove all-in. Given the stakes, there's a good chance you have the best hand. But then again, it's not just one, but two shoves, so your chances are probably 50/50 at best.

Do you just fold and wait for a higher probability play or do you try to build a big stack? If it were a cash game and you were getting better than 1 in 3 odds, it would be worth it, but obviously, this isn't cash.

If I recall correctly, ICM says a push with QQ+ is positive, but of course, ICM isn't perfect.

If you can rebuy to get back into the MTT, I would say it is worth it at micro level. All sorts of donks go all in with anything from low pairs to AJ. The way I would justify it is by thinking about it as if I were playing at a later stage of the MTT where I would be shoving with these holdings anyway, BUT there's a chance to do it right at the start where you can rebuy if it doesn't work. If there's no rebuy, then really KK+ or fold is the conservative answer in these positions.

You're going to be better than 50/50 if you are facing an underpair and a hand like AJ or KJ...one over. You'll be better than 50/50 if you are facing Ax and AK. You'll be slightly worse than 50/50 if you're facing AK and an underpair. You'll be a 2 to 1 favorite against 2 underpairs. You'll be a 4 to 1 dog if either player has KK or AA. And don't forget, it's for a chance to triple your stack. Especially if you can rebuy, that's an easy call in the micro stakes considering I could see guys calling an allin with as low as A 10 suited or pairs as low as 6 6...even KQ suited might call. Hand ranges improve signficantly in the upper tiers. You aren't going to see a guy calling allins preflop early in tournaments with little money invested with 88 or AJ...you're probably looking at a top 3-4% hand which increases that chances of it being KK or AA significantly.

I would play and try to increase my stack, but there is always that dilemma of whether or not I should play with those cards in that stage of the tournament, because the idea is to advance in the tournament, to reach ITM, FT, etc, everything is to doubt , I must arrest myself so soon in the tournament when there is still a lot of play ahead? many times I follow my instinct, I will not deny that 2 times I do not bet with QQ, for that same reason, but it was my instinct and those 2 times right not to bet

Thanks for the response. I can agree with most of the logic, but I'm not 100% in agreement about whether it matters that you can rebuy.

The way I look at re-entry is like this: suppose I'm playing online, and this particular site runs 50+ micro- MTTs per day. If I bust out early by calling two shoves with my QQ, yes, I can just re-buy. Or, given the large number of micro- MTTs, I could just go hop in one of those. It makes no meaningful difference. Suppose all the micro- MTTs were freezeouts with no re-entry. Given the availability of so many other micro- MTTs, why would it matter if I could re-enter or not?

AJantwan said:

Suppose you've got QQ or AK in the early stage of a micro- buy-in MTT with about 40 people.

Two people shove all-in. Given the stakes, there's a good chance you have the best hand. But then again, it's not just one, but two shoves, so your chances are probably 50/50 at best.

Do you just fold and wait for a higher probability play or do you try to build a big stack? If it were a cash game and you were getting better than 1 in 3 odds, it would be worth it, but obviously, this isn't cash.

If I recall correctly, ICM says a push with QQ+ is positive, but of course, ICM isn't perfect.

Click to expand...

ICM does not apply whatsoever in the early stage of an MTT. Honestly I have never seen anyone in this forum correctly apply ICM principals correctly to there posts. It seems to be a fancy buzzword people say but know don't know anything about.

The situations where ICM pressure applies is when your are very near payjumps, this is when the ICM pressure comes into effect where it may be more profitable to fold a good hand you would play under normal circumstances. Unlike a cash game, doubling your chip stack does not double your money won in the game.

An example would be if you have a large stack, and there is a few short stacks at risk of bustout on the bubble, you can shove on small/medium stacks light because they wont be able to call you without the nuts, or risk busting out and missing the for sure ladder/payout.

ICM affects how tight/loose you should play around big pay jumps.

If you are using ICM in early game situations then you are wildly misapplying the concept. :icon_stud

Use chip EV mode on your ICM calculator for these push/call spots.

NO because you are suppose to steadily and surely get your chips post flop in early stages. If you lose you lose your tournament life if you win you win nothing but soon to be useless chips. Also AKo is not an all in hand early stage even aces loses 20% of time and i'd probably go with those since when will you have a 4.2 to 1 favorite opportunity in the tournament.

It depends if the tournament is a rebuy which most are these days. If it is then of course jam it in and hope for the best. I would fold early if not a rebuy.