Mix up all in bluffs with low M

When I am down to a M of 5 or less I go all-in with basically any hand from mid-early position if everyone before me folds. I also shove the SB/BB most of the time with a M of 10 of less if it is SB/BB battle. I think this is a profitable move, if my opponents don't have memories....

Today someone busted me from calling with a K3. He was a fair bit ahead and this was a fail on my part not to recognize my extremely poor image(almost got busted and manage to come back by lots of pushes). But that was rather minor. The problem is is when I play live; the players remember all those bluff pushes and because of this I have a poor reputation and players are calling more often. Some of the players don't recognize that I play bluffy/loose when I'm short stacked and give me more action in the early levels, which is extremely good because I was having a problem where everyone would fold whenever I would enter a pot.

The tournaments I play live have very fast blinds and it is a incredibly short stacked game; between a turbo and super turbo on pokerstars. So low M's is a big part of the game. I'm thinking that to mix it up I should develop some system that Harrington advocates for normal stack play(using his watch to dictate how to play certain hands) Perhaps even use the combination's of the cards suits as well. What are peoples opinions on this?

An example would be I am on the BB, everyone folded to me, the SB calls and I have 7 M with 75o; perhaps I should push this 40% of the time? How would I add player tendencies into this percentage?

100% of the time. Unless you're so short that you have no fold equity to his stack, you should always be stealing this.

edgie212 said:

100% of the time. Unless you're so short that you have no fold equity to his stack, you should always be stealing this.

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Lol 100%?
What happens when he figures it out and flats aces and k's?

IamRude said:

Lol 100%?
What happens when he figures it out and flats aces and k's?

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Well this is exactly what is starting to happen. I'm thinking I need to develop some system which factors in the M levels(maybe bib blinds instead) and the cards/circumstances, just like Harrington did. Was wondering if it had already been done though

Have you tried mixing in some raises?
Personally I consider going all-in a fairly weak move done by someone who doesn't want to play the hand. I'm far more likely to call an all-in with a weaker hand than a strong raise; for that matter, a lot of weaker raises too.

tookie21 said:

Have you tried mixing in some raises?
Personally I consider going all-in a fairly weak move done by someone who doesn't want to play the hand. I'm far more likely to call an all-in with a weaker hand than a strong raise; for that matter, a lot of weaker raises too.

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Yeah I was thinking. Most players where I play at don't realise if I raise a third of my stack preflop I'm basically committed so that would confuse them a tad.

The stack size of the person you are pushing on should play a factor too no? If I am less than 5 M and I push all in on a middle stack BB is should I be expecting the same fold rate as if I am pushing on the Tournament Big Stack?

kmixer said:

The stack size of the person you are pushing on should play a factor too no? If I am less than 5 M and I push all in on a middle stack BB is should I be expecting the same fold rate as if I am pushing on the Tournament Big Stack?

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Of course. It is even better when playing live since it is easier to tell if the big stack is playing "sheriff."

Umm so yes that would need to be considered. Was wondering though if someone has already done this sort of thing

IamRude said:

Lol 100%?
What happens when he figures it out and flats aces and k's?

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then you have to go to bed ) and lose your remaining chips

aloneboy_uae said:

then you have to go to bed ) and lose your remaining chips

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Umm that is really bad logic. Shouldn't I try to reduce the chances of going home instead of hoping they aren't observant?

An example would be I am on the BB, everyone folded to me, the SB calls and I have 7 M with 75o; perhaps I should push this 40% of the time? How would I add player tendencies into this percentage?

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In my view with an M of 7 is not a profitable move. Consider your position post flop. The SB will miss the flop 66% of the time, factor this into your thinking and its obvious that if the chips are definately going in then its best to do it post flop. However I personally prefer to wait until you are in late postion and shove on the blinds yourself.
I spent about a year studying all the maths of shove/folding, exploiting tight players and optimal shoving and calling. I printed off charts to use but I've now stuck them up online. Try googling poker and shove to find the site, there's a lot of information including how to adjust your shove range according to loose, tight and optimal calling play. Its amazing how the graph of tight vs loose crosses to create the optimal zone and how few players are able to adjust.
I'm play mostly live and its helped my game using my own charts. Of course live players hate you with a vengeance when you start shoving your 12BBs from the cutoff and you do get spite calls! This is hard to adjust to.

NL08_Rob said:

In my view with an M of 7 is not a profitable move. Consider your position post flop. The SB will miss the flop 66% of the time, factor this into your thinking and its obvious that if the chips are definately going in then its best to do it post flop. However I personally prefer to wait until you are in late postion and shove on the blinds yourself.
I spent about a year studying all the maths of shove/folding, exploiting tight players and optimal shoving and calling. I printed off charts to use but I've now stuck them up online. Try googling poker and shove to find the site, there's a lot of information including how to adjust your shove range according to loose, tight and optimal calling play. Its amazing how the graph of tight vs loose crosses to create the optimal zone and how few players are able to adjust.
I'm play mostly live and its helped my game using my own charts. Of course live players hate you with a vengeance when you start shoving your 12BBs from the cutoff and you do get spite calls! This is hard to adjust to.

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Hmm ok. There is a ton of links with poker and shove, could you please link me to your graph? How accurate are they anyway? I have found a few and am a tad skeptical of them....

Uh it seems less about your play and more about the tournament... any tournament like this is going to breed opponents that will call more shoves. There is less room to bluff in high blind low stack size tournaments, no way around it. That being said, I would fold in that spot unless I know SB is conservative and will fold to shoves.

In tournaments like that, I don't think a shove/fold mentality is bad... you just have to constantly be thinking about position, your stack size, opponent stack size, and opponent type. That will determine the range of hands its possible to shove with.

Your basic range when short stacked should be any face card, suited connectors and pairs. Medium stacked limit yourself to two face cards and pairs. Big stacked depends on how you want the table to perceive you, but I usually stick to the same stuff I play when medium stacked.

One more thing, when you're getting close to becoming a short stack, shove a little more when you know tight players are in the blinds, you never want to become a short stack... blinds are huge, so fold equity is extremely important.