Re: A further explanation of my red zone theory
 

I think when I originally posted this 2 years ago, I used this approach in an extreme way to work with the strengths and weakness of my play at the time. This is partly why it was flamed so much.

I wanted to bring up the concept in a more limited way. My main point is that if you have 4-8xBB, you can push with FE in ways that are usually cEV+. Therefore keeping alive with that level of stack is valuable.

So I would tend to avoid making marginal early position pushes with like 10xBB. I also would tend to avoid calling allin in marginal cases with a short stack. If I have a relatively big stack and am taking a big gamble, I would prefer that the worse case result is I am left with a small stack, rather than busting out.

I think I am pretty good at exploiting every edge with the short stack, and can often stay in that mode for a long time and then amerge to have a decent size stack and sometimes place well. My orange zone game is better now than when I originally posted this, but I probably play better in the red zone. So some of this depends on your personal style.

I do think that sometimes we underestimate the value of survival in tournaments. This concept is emphasized repeatedly in TPFAP. We see people playing weak/tight and getting blinded out, and this makes us think the right approach is to gamble. However, in borderline situations, I think it still is correct to take the play likely to keep you in the tournament.