Was this really stupid?

[CybrPunk]

You are pushing behind a raise from a big stack that can bust you with a weak holding. He's definitely coming along here since the pot odds are right with lots of hands. The problem isn't the people behind you as much as the big stack as he can end your tournament right here. If you were first into the pot with this hand the situation changes drastically because you are employing what Harrington calls "first in vigorish".

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The problem I had with waiting is that I wasn't all that likely to find a better spot in the next few hands.

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I find it interesting that you say this after picking a horrible spot to push in the hand you posted. Note that you didn't say you would find a better hand or better cards, but a better spot. Opening the pot by pushing with 72o into this field is better than reraising behind the big stack. He's already declared that he has a hand and A8 isn't exactly the nuts. Your hand isn't strong relative to the action in front of you, therefore you should fold in this spot and wait for a better one. What's a better spot? Well, that changes from one table to the next based on many variables such as stack size, how tight your opponents play, how desperate they seem and what you perceive their calling ranges to be.

When you open push with marginal hands you're not looking for a call in these spots as much as you are looking to make use of fold equity. You win because your opponents fold and you win a percentage of the time when you are called. The sum of these two creates a profitable situation. In the hand you posted you were not utilizing fold equity as you didn't have a large enough stack to drive the big stack out after he had already raised. It was only another 36k for him to call into a pot of 96k and he was doing that without any hesitation with a very wide range of hands. You were correct in your assumption that he was committed. What you didn't consider was the fact that he could have your hand dominated where you are a 3:1 underdog. That means that 75% of the time your tournament ends here. Had you been the one opening the pot here the situation changes as there is now 60k to call into a 72k pot and the odds being offered are nowhere near correct for a call from anything that isn't a really strong hand.

You say yourself that you are new to tournaments. When you get this deep you would be surprised how many people panic just like you did here. Your stack is small but you don't need to get desperate and panic - doing this only causes you to get involved in situations where you don't belong and busting. Continue to play your game picking good spots to get your money in. I had a period where I would do the same things, however after busting many many times in this same spot I've learned not to panic. You can afford to still have patience here. I guarantee that others are on the small stack just like you are and it's likely they will be giving their chips away as well. Don't fall into those same traps.