The Freakonomics of Tournaments: A Preview (74s UTG at final table)

[nath]

I think Doyle was the first to realize 22 was ahead of AK preflop. At least, he writes in Super/System about taking a bet with two players where he took 22 and they took AK and they ran out the cards for $100 a hand.

That said, I don't know how many tournaments I've played, but I've got a pretty decent sample. My point is that I think I have some insight into counterintuitive tournament strategies that work well and nobody really seems to be interested in discussing them. It's easier to brush them off.

Whether or not the specific hand is a positive-expectation play is debatable for sure. But I'm more interested in using it as a lead-in to discuss my overall strategy, and it seems like a lot of posters-- good ones-- would rather insist that that hand is not +EV, and being a bully with a big stack is nothing new or interesting, so BFD.