Shoving Question

[RobertJohn]

A hand came up where I spewed off my chips from the button by jamming over the CO with A8s and ~ 14BBs. He had been raising very aggressively and he had folded to raises in previous hands so I’m still undecided about that play (although in the long run it probably isn’t very good).

However, afterwards I had a discussion with a friend of mine about the play. I said I should be more inclined to shove if I was in the BB rather than the button facing a CO open.

He said he would rather shove from the button b/c he wins more due to the blinds in the pot.

I said yeah, but there are also two more players behind you when you shove from the button and it costs less to shove from the BB.

Then we became confused in discussing this last point and the term “sunk cost” was brought up or whatever.

So here is my question:

All else equal, does it cost less to shove from the BB as opposed to the Button over a CO raise?

[jay_shark]

Of course it should cost a bit less if you shove the cut-off from the big blind . This doesn't necessarily mean that shoving otb for this particular spot is an inferior play . I think the decision to shove is a very close one and may depend on his overall level of aggression and your fold equity .

a-8 s against the top 25% of hands wins slightly less than 50% of the time . If he's been very aggressive , then this total may push you to being a favorite even if he were to call you every time .

Anytime an opponent raises (i.e 3x from the cut-off) , then he must call the big blind and raise an additional $2. So your effective stack after posting the big blind will always be one less than any player not in the blinds . The big blind is able to shove at a discount due to the chance of having to post the big blind .

[Siegmund]

I would speculate that the one- or two-chip difference in cost is pretty tiny compared to the major difference in dynamics -- the button has the advantage of committing his money last on every street if he doesn't push, the blind can negate the disadvantage of acting first if he does push.

[punter11235]

[ QUOTE ]
All else equal, does it cost less to shove from the BB as opposed to the Button over a CO raise?

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course.
1)It costs you amount of BB less. It doesn't affect the EV of shoving by much but its always something.
2)There are two more players afte CO which might have been dealt KK+. Again its not very important factor but it lower your EV by a bit.