Alizona
Visionary
Bronze Level
If I have a tough decision, I prefer to be patient and wait rather than choose the all-in decision... however, I'm not certain this is the ideal approach. It seems like many good players that I follow and listen to on podcasts, etc., they seem to take the opposite approach - when in doubt, shove. LOL I listened to one pro just the other day on a podcast and that's exactly what he said - he prefers to make the aggressive move and shove rather than take the passive route and fold... and the reason he gave is that if he goes all-in and loses, well he can still analyze the play later and learn a valuable lesson from it. If he folds, then quite often you never see a showdown and you never see what hand your opponent held... so you don't get the same sort of lesson afterwards when you analyze your play during a study session. It's something for all of us to ponder, it's a very good point, especially since most good poker players will tell you it is much better to be aggressive rather than sit and wait for the best spots before shoving. You simply have to realize and accept the fact that being aggressive means you are taking a much higher-variance route to success. You might look silly sometimes when it doesn't work out, so you have to be okay with that - it's just part of this game we all love, accepting failure when it happens to us.
milka1605
Legend
Loyaler
It all depends on the size of my small stack. If it is critically small, that is, within 3-4 BB, then it is natural that there is no time to wait for the arrival of a more or less good card and you need to put it all-in.
KRANKES
Rock Star
Bronze Level
It depends all on the situation. Yesterday I played a FT in a 10k tourney and folded, when I should have shoved and when I finally shoved, I better should have folded :banghead:
But in general, if it's a freeroll I tend to shove 20 % to 30 % of my hands in early hands, when everybody is shoving any two cards. If I win the battle, I start to play patient...
But in general, if it's a freeroll I tend to shove 20 % to 30 % of my hands in early hands, when everybody is shoving any two cards. If I win the battle, I start to play patient...
Mauricio Perrotta
Legend
Loyaler
In tournaments you have to have intuition to go all in, although there are some who do not take it into account and play everything to chance. One thing, be sure to win the hand when you go all in, otherwise your chances of making a good tournament disappear. Greetings
T
theStarfish
Legend
Platinum Level
Like often in poker you have to consider several factors, like your stack size, other stack sizes, blinds, position tournament or cash etc. If you have less than 10 bb, then you should think about going all in with a decent hand. But being patient is always important in poker.
Zvezda kz
Legend
Bronze Level
Sure. Patience is one of the fundamental keys to a successful poker game.
Polytarp
Legend
Bronze Level
If you're in the money and have a good read or won't get in unless you go all-in, then take the chance. Patience is required to get there and that means folding a lot..even AA depending upon the circumstances.
dreamer13
Legend
Platinum Level
One of the problems of poker players, even very talented and well versed in poker strategy, is the lack of proper patience. Which in turn affects the discipline of the player and, of course, his win rate. Of all the great ways to compromise your own game that exist, none is more common and more costly than impatience. An experienced player must be able to say no. Saying “no” to calls out of position, and calls like “I just want to see the flop”, playing on tilt, or being tired – a winning player should be able to answer “no” to all this. In addition, lack of patience can lead to you will continue to play on tilt, even if you know perfectly well that you should leave the table as soon as possible. Be that as it may, it is always about the same feeling - the desire to play now, which overpowers the desire to play well.
Z
Zirkzee
Rock Star
Silver Level
Depends on the stack to blind ratio. If I only have 8 BB left, I would only play push or fold. Your claim to an all-in capable hand decreases as your stack gets even smaller. With less than 5BB I would probably try my luck and push with K7 as well. But I would never go all in if my stack is more than 14BB. It's not worth it because the benefit/risk ratio is no longer good enough. There is one exception. It is a freeroll tournament with more than 2000 players. Then I would go all in with power hands like TT+, AK, AQ right preflop. In such a freeroll everything is represented and especially beginners who have no plan what to do. Since it's a freeroll, players don't particularly care if they're eliminated. You won't scare off a freeroller if you raise 4BB preflop. There will still be too many players simply calling. Even with AA, you don't want to have too many players postflop. The only way to get players to fold is to go all in preflop. You don't need to worry about everyone folding because one is sure to call and you're likely to dominate them with your hand.
CaptainMooti
Rock Star
Bronze Level
It all depends what stage of the tournament it is, what is the action before you, how big is your stack, what hand you got..?
There are so many factors to consider, it is a broad question you have asked us - very radical decision that can not be answered without taking the previous details into consideration.
teepack
Legend
Bronze Level
There are multiple occasions in a tournament where you have to weigh the pros and cons of going all-in. I don't like to put my tournament life on the line chasing an open-ended straight draw or a flush draw, but there are times I'll do that. For instance if my stack is well below the average and I've got fewer than 10 BBs, I'll probably do it and hope for the best. Or if it's early and you can get a big double up or rebuy if you bust, I might go for it, too. There are also times when you have a monster stack and a shorty goes all-in in front of you and you have to decide if it's worth the hit to your stack to try for a coin flip. It's hard to fold something like AK in that spot, but small pocket pairs and anything less than AQ I'll consider putting into the muck. But again, there are so many factors that come into play for tournaments, including how many players are left, are you already in the money, what's your stack size relevant to the tournament average, etc.
MattRyder
🍏 Tech That Works!
Platinum Level
It’s not either/or but rather when and how often. We all go all-in at some point. Do we do it out of desperation or as a regular tactic? Most choose the latter hence all the flips. It’s a real and essential part of the game.