Hi guys ,
Quick question for you - last freeroll I was in situation where they were 32 players left (27 places paid) , I was on 26 place with short stack (2200 in chips , blinds I don't remember but 150/300 or 200/400). And I must make a decision - don't take action , survive and get my 1$ or try to double up and try to get to final table ???
What are you guys doing in that spot ??
With blinds being at either 150/300 or 200/400, you only have ~7BBs to 5.5BBs. If we include antes, you're paying 690 to 920 in blinds and antes per rotation for an 8 handed table. So, you only have ~2.3 to 3 rotations to either find a hand and double up or get chipped out with your stack. That's only 18-24
hands.
On top of that, you have very little fold
equity. So, if you let your stack dwindle down even more, you're likelygetting called if you decided to shove.
You do have the option of just folding and waiting. The problem, I see, with this is that you:
-are banking on that chance that 5 players will bust out before you do. Unless the bottom 5 players are sitting on 1BB or less, this might not be an optimal strategy since position in MTTs can fluctuate a lot. If a player in say 20th position suddenly jumps up to 3rd, this affects all of the players below and can easily push you out of your 26th position into 27th or lower.
-could be giving up +EV spots to get your money in that could give you a better chance at finishing deeper and, potentially, making more money.
To answer your question, I'd find spots to shove my short stack in to pick up blinds and antes. And I'd be doing this way before I fall down to 5-7 BBs, especially if the other short stacks at the table are playing tight and looking to just min-cash. I'll take advantage of that of by constantly applying pressure to them.
However, it would also depend on what is more important to you. If that winning that $1 is important and would be a big improvement on your BR, then I could understand wanting fold into the money. I'm not sure how effective it'll be given your stack being only 5-7 BBs and you'd probably have to at least steal a few blinds+antes or possibly double up at least once to stand a better chance of making it. Aggressive play > passive play in this situation.
If the min-cash isn't important to you, go for the win.