Late Tournament Pushing

In the few books I’ve read on late tournament play (and coming off a conversation with my buddy Durden in regards to the subject), the subject of how to play a short stack late in a tournament to stay alive and/or steal blinds has come up several times in the past few days for me. The logic on what kind of hand is good to try to take control with surprises a lot of people in that it doesn’t quite go along with the logic of normal play.

For instance, would you rather push all in in the cut-off with 6 times the big blind with a unsuited Ace Three or a suited 10 6? A lot of people would choose the ace, but for the most part pushing with big card little kicker like that, even when suited will put you in with a worse expectation that the 10/6 if you end up getting called.

The reasoning behind this is that in the instances that you get called, a lot of players are either going to have a better ace or a pair that dominates your under card, which distinctly cripples the weak ace but is a significantly less favorite against the two live cards. Going into a situation dominated is obviously the least favorable of all positions.

What about when you have a 9/2 against the blinds with two pretty tight players? It doesn’t get much worse than 9/2, but you also have to factor in the idea that these players need to pick up hands most of the time to call you, and the odds of them doing so aren’t high, so it’s better in the long run idea of the game, if you’re playing to win, to steal those blinds while you can.

A lot of players play this backwards, they wait for any ace or any two big cards and push and end up dominated or whittled down on chips so that they’re playing just to cash rather than to win. And that’s no way to build a bankroll, unless you’re okay with earning the equivalent of less than half of minimum wage.