$5.5 NLHE MTT Rebuy: AJ in the CO, shove or raise/call?

[Larmuar]

Id like to hear some opinion about the above, specific question and maybe somebody has something to say about general strategies for 20-25bb Stack in late pos. when to shove directly and when to raise/call?

I figured that a direct shove with a small PP in late Pos has to be more +ev than raise/call. But what about medium pairs? Where do you draw the line between direct shove and raise/call?
And what about medium aces? Any thoughts on this topic?

Here the specific hand and how i played it:

888 Poker - 2500/5000 Ante 625 NL - Holdem - 9 players

MP+2: 23.68 BB (VPIP: 16.67, PFR: 16.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, hands: 6)
Hero (CO): 86.76 BB
BTN: 20.17 BB (VPIP: 19.05, PFR: 14.29, 3Bet Preflop: 10.00, Hands: 42)
SB: 16.19 BB (VPIP: 18.46, PFR: 13.21, 3Bet Preflop: 9.09, Hands: 67)
BB: 15.84 BB (VPIP: 17.65, PFR: 14.67, 3Bet Preflop: 6.45, Hands: 85)
UTG: 22.36 BB (VPIP: 21.05, PFR: 15.17, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 153)
UTG+1: 15.28 BB (VPIP: 17.96, PFR: 13.21, 3Bet Preflop: 6.78, Hands: 170)
MP: 12.57 BB (VPIP: 16.00, PFR: 15.79, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 25)
MP+1: 31.46 BB (VPIP: 12.12, PFR: 6.25, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 33)

9 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.63 BB) Hero has J:spade: A:diamond:

fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2 BB, fold, fold, BB raises to 15.72 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 13.72 BB

Flop: (33.06 BB, 2 players) 8:spade: Q:diamond: 3:spade:

Turn: (33.06 BB, 2 players) K:diamond:

River: (33.06 BB, 2 players) 9:heart:

Hero shows J:spade: A:diamond: (High Card, Ace)
(Pre 48%, Flop 33%, Turn 23%)
BB shows 2:club: 2:spade: (One Pair, Twos)
(Pre 52%, Flop 67%, Turn 77%)
BB wins 33.06 BB

 

[ph_il]

Looks good to me.

Don't post results at the end.

 

[GreenDaddy1]

When playing against someone in the blinds with that stack size you need to be prepared for a lot of shove resteals. And on the flip side of that, any time you have a short stack like 25BB or less you are going to be shoving quite a lot, from various positions and in various spots.

An open from CO with AJo is not bad, but noticing the stack sizes of the Button, SB and BB you have to expect it likely that one of them might attempt the resteal with an all in shove. So any hand you open from there you need to be thinking before you open it what you are going to do when they attempt the resteal. This might affect your decision making process when selecting what you open raise with three resteal stacks still to act pre flop. Things to consider might include tournament type, which stage of the tournament you're at, and the question of whether is it tactically better to tighten up ahead of the resteal stacks and protect your own stack rather than risk 1/4 or 1/5 of it on a 50/50.

That said, I think I'll yield to someone more tactically advanced than me to go over the nuts and bolts and what is the best strategy - this is an area I'm keen to improve upon myself to be honest.

 

[wrapper]

You're by far the biggest stack at the table, so if you have a middling hand that you're going to call with on any reraise, then you may as well just push all in, especially if there are antes in the pot. You may get coinflip hands like 22 or any other small pair to fold, and it eliminates a possible resteal.

In a tournament (especially a SNG or close to the money in a MTT), I myself would likely push here with any middle pairs to JJ, AJo/ATs or better, and KQ. I'll save the non-shove raise for the small pairs, big pairs (QQ+), suited connectors, or straight steals, though I might occasionally shove with the big pairs too if I perceive there's a loose-passive caller in the blinds.

 

[QA77]

You have fold equity so there’s no reason to shove. That seems like a good play by me.

 

[Poker Orifice]

You have fold equity so there’s no reason to shove. That seems like a good play by me.

Care to explain?

 

[wrapper]

You have fold equity so there’s no reason to shove. That seems like a good play by me.

I think you mean, you have fold equity so there's no reason not to shove. Yes?

 

[JustSoPro]

This is what most people call a "coin flip". You are the largest stack at the table by far and you can't let a low stack bully you for you chips by just folding here, it's a standard call. The only reason why you wouldn't call is if this was a satellite tournament and you were already basically guaranteed to win as long as you didn't spew off chips.

 

[TDTODDY]

pretty standard stuff. If a sat., then no real reason to call chips off w/ AJ. Regular tourny dictates a big stack calling almost always.

 

[Tuan]

I see this scenario towards tourney cash out many time. It's a race and you have to win the flip most of time when you have short stack. In my opinion, I think a call is good because you want to open AJo so that you can still pots later; plus you are up against a 15BB stacks which is good for us. Call!

 

[Poker Orifice]

You're by far the biggest stack at the table, so if you have a middling hand that you're going to call with on any reraise, then you may as well just push all in, especially if there are antes in the pot. You may get coinflip hands like 22 or any other small pair to fold, and it eliminates a possible resteal.

In a tournament (especially a SNG or close to the money in a MTT), I myself would likely push here with any middle pairs to JJ, AJo/ATs or better, and KQ. I'll save the non-shove raise for the small pairs, big pairs (QQ+), suited connectors, or straight steals, though I might occasionally shove with the big pairs too if I perceive there's a loose-passive caller in the blinds.

What if we're playing vs. 'capable' players &/or ones we might have history with... if we're open-shoving with range you've suggested (I'm not opposed), wouldn't we want (need) to be balancing our open-shoving range by including QQ+ as well? (I suppose it's not too transparent if we're also including sm pp's, sc's & straight steals in there too... & of course 'it depends' (lol)... villains on table & our image/history vs. them.

 

[wrapper]

What if we're playing vs. 'capable' players &/or ones we might have history with... if we're open-shoving with range you've suggested (I'm not opposed), wouldn't we want (need) to be balancing our open-shoving range by including QQ+ as well? (I suppose it's not too transparent if we're also including sm pp's, sc's & straight steals in there too... & of course 'it depends' (lol)... villains on table & our image/history vs. them.

I was reluctant to exclude big pairs from a non-all-in raise because that makes such a range too limited, especially against tight-passive players. You're basically telling them, okay, I don't have that strong a hand if I do this, so make your move.

That said, you make a great point if there's a solid player in the blinds who knows that I can push with a steal, small pair, connector, a big hand, or pretty much any hand. Then, sure, may as well dispense of the non-push raise completely (and the call, I really don't like calling with such a big stack) and make it a push-or-fold situation.