Calling off short stacks

[blix177]

What is your thought process in calling off short stacks with mid pairs?

You are holding 30bb in late position cutoff/button. You are mid/late in the tournament but not yet in the money. Blinds are big fairly large lots of players are in the sub 10BB range and they can just playing push/shove.

What is your position on calling these sub 10BB shovers? Most of the time they are holding AX, any pocket pairs.

Usually it seems like it is a +EV move, but easily you can get dominated or at best a flip. By not calling you have a better chance to steal chips.

What do you think?

 

[fundiver199]

It depend on their position, your position, your exact hand, exact stack sizes and reads. I guess, it can often be fine to fold, especially if you have other big stacks left to act behind you, and they are jamming close to 10BB from early position.

 

[MikeCarasone]

I usually do call short stacks off with mid pairs. Especially if they shove after I really big bad beat. Many players tilt off their remaining chips and try to rebound too hastily. Mid pairs win flips more than they lose. Obviously if a player is super tight, or there are many players left to act that are likely to float as well , the table dynamic becomes a factor. Mostly I am willing to gamble here as I am likely ahead pre and in some cases a big favorite.

 

[Acesinthebig]

If you have them covered, take a gamble, just depends what percent of your stack it is.

 

[Jon Poker]

Stack size and position are the most important factors for me in these spots. I have a simple system and it works for me so take this with a grain of salt.

Assuming we are closing the action - in other words, we are the BB - button shoves and SB folds::

10-15bb jam from the button::
-30bb+ I am calling off 77+ and folding all the other pairs.
---10bb or less jams I think I call off 55+ and fold the other smaller ones.
-40bb+ I am calling all the pairs for 12(ish)bb or less.

If we are the SB and button shoves 10bb
-I only call off 88+ with 30bb or less because I am never folding to rejams from the BB.
--35bb+ I think I take the same line and call 88s+ and i will fold 88s and 99s to a BB jam that has me covered. For us to flat from the SB should show relatively high hand strength - so in a spot such as this the BB should never really be shoving light and we dont HAVE to flip with AK or any other 2 overcards. Fold, we have 25bb and live to fight another day.

 

[gryphon3005]

If it's in the mid/late stage with the bubble still on the horizon then your 30bb stack isn't much better than those 10bb stacks. You call one and lose and you're trying to survive with 20bbs. Like Fundiver pointed out, there are lots of variables to consider. I would consider position to be the most important. If I'm in late position I'll certainly want to play middle pair against a small stack shove but I won't make the move if there is a monster stack on my left yet to play. If there are only small or mid stacks on my left then I will play by shoving my stack. I'm doing this because 30bbs just isn't good enough to make the money.

 

[greatgame230]

I think the main thing here you mention in your thread, it is done because it is + EV and you must take into account that in most cases a player with less than 10BB has to be aggressive and push practically any regular hand from 89o , there are many who do not share this idea and play a little tight in that situation but they are the minority

 

[300HPGOD]

Your question is specifically in the cutoff or button so it will depend on the players in the blinds and how early the raisers position is. If the players in the blind have you covered (especially by a lot) then just calling leaves the door open for you to get squeezed. I would not be excited though to have 8s or 9s and just jam 30 BBs either. When players behind you have you covered I think you are better to just fold as there is a good chance you are just slightly better than flipping with the initial raiser and the blinds will squeeze you.

The initial raisers position has to be taken into account as well. The later they are the better chance they have of being stronger. This sounds counter intuitive but of they are mid position then they also know they have a few hands to see before the blinds get to them and shouldnt be jamming with junk. If they are jamming UTG then it is possible they are jamming any cards since they know the blinds are next.

 

[Eric Salvador]

If they’re playing push or fold and you get to the flop I’d assume you’re way behind. Unless they’re a perfectly balanced player you’d have to assume they don’t have bluff and that you’re looking at QQ+ and AK