Bubble openpush from button with 79s: correct, or no?

[registrar]

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I'd like to hear some more thoughts on this. My friend, who knows more about poker than I do, said that I definitely should be making this shove, and the big blind calling me with AQo when it was for most of his stack was bad.

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Your push is fine. His call is definitely fine.

You're somewhat unfortunate in the distribution of stacks, in that big stacks are to your left. However, you have no resteal equity so your accumulation options are limited, beyond getting dealt a big hand and open shoving.

Turn the hands face up and you should still probably push even if he calls all the time. As it stands, even calling loose, the blinds will still be folding more than enough to make this profitable.

[levAA]

Pushbot Charts

Hope the link still works

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I open push 97s on the button with 8xBB with or without the bubble, even though there is apparently no ante.

So many really bad replies.

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yes - i misread the chart - you are def. right

[Warteen]

To clarify/correct a couple points:
The ante was 50
The SB, not the BB, was the one who called me with AQo.

[registrar]

This means that you should be shoving wider and so SB should be calling wider so both of you, nh.

[crankalicious]

Generally, it's a good play. The only suggestion I would have would be to make your blind-stealing pushes from seat 5 or 6 where it's not as obviously a steal attempt, but only when you're there and it's folded around to you.

Bubble play is hard and usually when so many of the M's are low, it basically comes down to luck as everyone is pushing all-in, all the time. Given your position, you made a good play with a high chance of succeeding (in this case, two folds behind you). It just didn't work.

Would you rather have pushed from early position with A4os? I'd say not. I was in a very similar position recently in a live tournament. My M was 3. I pushed early with A9 suited. Ran up against JJ and his jackes held. It's something that happens and there's no way to avoid it, but it beats getting blinded out.

[TFGoose]

Apparently I may need to think about these situations more, because my thought process has usually been that if I don't think my steal target will fold, I don't steal. Yeah, if we get called here, we're probably still fine vs. his range, but isn't it more important to try to pick up chips with as little risk as possible when you can? I mean, I know we need chips to win and everything, but don't you think we can find either a hand with better showdown value, or a target who obviously fears the bubble more than this guy?

Again, as I said originally, in a vacuum I shove this all day. But if I'm thinking this guy is going to call light, why push with 9 high?

--TFGoose

[betgo]

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Apparently I may need to think about these situations more, because my thought process has usually been that if I don't think my steal target will fold, I don't steal. Yeah, if we get called here, we're probably still fine vs. his range, but isn't it more important to try to pick up chips with as little risk as possible when you can? I mean, I know we need chips to win and everything, but don't you think we can find either a hand with better showdown value, or a target who obviously fears the bubble more than this guy?

Again, as I said originally, in a vacuum I shove this all day. But if I'm thinking this guy is going to call light, why push with 9 high?

--TFGoose

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Because the blinds may not have hands to call you with and you are not in bad shape against AQo or a lot of other calling hands. With the ante, you can almost push any two here.