tourney situation

[coonjalay]

blinds 200-400 with small ante. i have ~4000 in chips. large mtt with players being eliminated at a fast pace with antes and blinds going up. 11 spots till the money. im in the middle in terms of chip counts. action gets folded to me, i have kq off. i pushed. got called by pocket nines in small blind. get eliminated in practically the bubble. did i make the wrong move by pushing? do i fold and wait till i make the money?

[mudgey]

What position are you in?

In EP I think it is a mistake....
In CO+1 or later, I like it.....if you get called you will likely be an under dog, but with people titening up to sneak past the bubble, you have a good shot at adding 15% or so to your stack.

It also depends on your goals, if you want to win the tourney, moves like this are necessary....

[Bond18]

If your in mid to late position you should be shoving this. Don't enter multis with the mind set of cashing, go in thinking about making the larger money (top 3ish in most)

[Mclane665]

[ QUOTE ]
It also depends on your goals, if you want to win the tourney, moves like this are necessary....

[/ QUOTE ]

If your not trying to win the tournies you play make sure yo do next time. Going all in preflop is a big weapon that you need to learn like second nature. the main points in my opinion are:

1; How big is your stack compared to the blinds and antes? This is called M (D.Harrington v2) Add together total blinds and antes and devide by your stack. If the number is less than 8-10 you need to start going all in preflop pretty soon.

2; What is your position at the table? In early Position you need a stronger hand than in late position as there is more chance someone wakes up with a hand.

3; Who is in the blinds? Are they tight or loose? big stack or small? A loose player will call more liberally as is their nature a tight player will fold more hands that could beat you. A big stack can call you with relative impunity making them looser against you. A small stack might be just as desperate as you and will play more hands than a medium stack that you can hurt. These medium stacks are the ones you want in the blinds.

4;Are you first in the pot? This is probably most important being first in the pot gives you the best chance of taking the blinds uncontested the more players in the better hand you need to play. Limpers are ok although not ideal but raises will usually call you so make sure you have a hand to showdown.

5; Last and by all means least is the cards you hold. At this stage when the conditions are correct your cards dont really matter you of course want ok cards when you M is low but getting the other conditions right is far more important. Really you want to win the blinds in an uncontested pot and stay alive long enough to double up. when you look down at J5os suit and sigh before tossing them in you could be giving up on a big chance at taking down the blinds and staying in a tournament.

Stealing is a massive part of staying in a tournament and when you do it right in the correct situation the poker gods smile on you and deliver you with that KK you need for a double up. Stealing is important but not nearly as much as restealing. Have a look at the MTT anthology on this subbgect its very very good.

Always play a tournament to collect chips not scrape into the money and your big wins will compensate for a lack of small ones.

All the best
Greg

[coonjalay]

sorry, i forgot to mention this in my previous post...i was on the button

[Cornell Fiji]

This is completely standard. Anything else is horribly wrong