Someone's all-in doesn't increase your hand's value

This Fish Chums

This Fish Chums

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Don't let yourself get caught up in trying to take someone out. The value of your hand does not increase just because someone else has gone all-in. Yes, you may have a decent hand, but if it wasn't good enough to bet big to begin with, it certainly isn't good enough to call someone else's all-in just to try to knock them out.
 
vinnie

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I am inclined to disagree with this statement. If the only other player (or players) in the hand are all-in, I am much more likely to consider calling compared to when I am up against the same size bet and there is more money behind. That is because my hand does have more realizable equity than when there is a chance I could be forced to fold.

When I call a bet, there value of my hand is devalued by the amount of cards that could come and force me to give up my equity to a bet or by the possibility that I have to give up to continued pressure when I don't improve. I might have equity on the turn, but fold it (correctly or incorrectly) when there is money left in play. Once I we are all-in, my hand no longer loses value to those times.

My hand is also devalued by negative implied odds, that is the chance that I will put in more money, thinking I improved and am winning, but I am actually beat. The probability that I could hit one of my outs and lose more money, means that the value of my hand isn't as high as it might seem.

These problems go away when all-in. Sure, the showdown value of your hand doesn't change when someone goes all-in. But, the playable value of your hand might have improved.
 
MattRyder

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I'm not really sure what you're getting at.

I will say though that you will see a lot more all-in shoves pre-flop than post. Depending on what type of game you're playing, a pre-flop shove could mean a lot of things. For example, in satellites, especially ones with a rebuy, a pre-flop shove may come with a lot of higher quality playable hands (most pairs, AK, AQ AJs, ATs, KQs). It may be correct in this type of game to call with less than the top 1% of hands, realizing that there is a large crapshoot element to this type of play. Whereas in a cash game, a pre-flop shove usually means the bettor IS holding the top 1% of hands. You often see AA vs KK or AKs in these games, and not much else if the play is all-in.

However post, especially on the river, it usually means that the bettor has a really good hand, such as a set, or has completed that flush or straight draw. Calling a shove post is rarely warranted without an equally (hopefully better) fantastic hand.
 
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Gabinho12345

Gabinho12345

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When someone raises to 3BB preflop and you are in big blind, you have to fold hands like Q2o, but when someone shoves 3BB and action folds to you in the big blind, you have to call there.
 
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