.. everybody gives me different answers when this subject comes up --- but I wanna know the 'standard' strategy.
...There is no 'standard' strategy because there are too many things to consider for every situation. I can give you examples of when you should go all in with AKs and when you shouldn't. It's the same hand, but because both situations could be different, the decisions differ.
When is it okay to go all-in? .. I mean, obviously if you're shoving a short stack, and obviously if you hit the nuts.
...Honestly, it's not as obvious as you think. Open shoving a hand like A8s from the BTN with 10BBs is much different than calling a shove with A8s in the BB with 3 all-ins in front of you.
The same goes with the nuts. Sometimes shoving the nuts isn't the best way to extract the most value from your opponent.
if I have 10BB, I'd rather see a flop and hope my opponent hits something. The odds are just not in my favor when I shove. whether I have a monster hand, or marginal hands --- I just honestly feel really uncomfortable about it now, because I almost NEVER win all in pre-flop.
...The reasons why you don't want to see a lot of flops with a hand worth shoving are:
a) you miss most flops than you hit with unpaired hands. So, 2/3rd of the time, your hand misses and you find yourself in an unsure situation. You're already short stacked and the last you want to do is to call/fold when you're short stacked and end up even shorter.
b) you want to extract the most value for hands. Lets say you have 10 BBs limp in with AQ and someone checks with AJ in the BB. You both miss the board, check it down to the river, and you win an extra 2 BBs (if there are antes). Yes, you played it safe, but you really didn't improve your situation by much as there is no difference between 10 BBs and 12 BBs.
If you had shoved, AJ may have folded and you'd end up in the same situation as above, but theres also a chance they would've called and you're winning AQ > AJ about 70% of the time.
Not to mention that if you see a flop and you both miss, your opponent can still take a stab at it if you check and that can put you in a bad spot because now you are probably folding.
I see a lot of pros shoving with 27BB with AQ? .. like just ridiculous. to me, this feels like playing the slots.
...Shoving 27 BBs with AQ might seem like a crazy play, but it's really not. There are somethings you need consider:
-27 BBs isn't that much, depending on the structure of the MTT. If we assume that we're seeing 50 hands/hour and blinds increase every 10 minutes, we're only seeing about 8 hands/blind level. So, most of the time, you really don't see a lot of hands per level and with increasing blinds/antes, your stack can drop fast if you don't pick up strong hands.
-AQ is still a very strong hand and still beats a lot of hands you're opponent's could be call your shove with with.
-Most pros are mass multi-tabling MTTs. They're looking to find small edges over their opponents to build large stacks. If they're playing 10+ MTTs, shoving 25+ BBs with AQ is a standard play as they're either a) double up and possibly run deep or b) they'll bust out, but they can always re-enter or reload another MTT and keep playing. They know that shoving AQ is only way behind a handful of hands, flipping against most pairs, and has a slight edge over all other non-paired hands and they're willing to make these risky plays where they feel they have good equity preflop.
-It depends on their style. If they're very LAG, their shove range could be very wide and there is a chance they're get called by and paid off by much weaker hands like A10 or KQ when they shove.
so guys,
WHEN IS IT OKAY TO GO ALL IN?
...It depends.