PokerWorks

There are certain situations where pushing all-in pre-flop with any two cards in a tournament or sit & go is a good play. Here’s a good example:

No Limit Hold'em - Blinds at 250/500
Seat 1: (6,190)
Seat 2: (10,806)
Seat 3: (8,326)
Seat 4: (3,550)
Seat 5: (4,390)
Seat 6: (10,205)
Seat 7: (7,780)
Seat 8: (12,135)
Seat 9: (4,118)
Seat 3 posts the small blind of 250
Seat 4 posts the big blind of 500
The button is in seat #2
Seat 5 folds
Seat 6 folds
Seat 7 calls 500
Seat 8 calls 500
Seat 9 folds
Seat 1 folds
Seat 2 calls 500
Seat 3 (SB) calls 250
Seat 4 (BB) raises to 3,550, and is all in
Seat 7 folds
Seat 8 folds
Seat 2 folds
Seat 3 folds
Uncalled bet of 3,050 returned to Seat 4 (BB)
Seat 4 wins the pot (2,500)

In this situation, the player in the Big Blind was last to act pre-flop and pushed all his chips in after four limpers entered the pot. He sensed weakness and had enough folding equity to force the rest of the players to fold. Even the biggest stack in the hand would’ve had to commit one quarter of their stack to make the call. Limping in pre-flop, with marginal hands, then folding to a raise is a good way to donate chips to aggressive players. It’s doubtful the player in the Big Blind had a strong hand. He had less than 8 big blinds, saw a lot of dead money in the pot and effectively almost doubled up by making an aggressive play with any two cards.

Another good situation for pushing with any two cards is when action is folded to you in late position. There are several factors to consider before making this move, such as the number of players left to act, stack sizes and opponent’s willingness to fold. Please keep in mind we’re discussing tournament and sit & go play with escalating blinds. This is not a move you should be making with regularity at the cash tables.

Throughout tournament or sng play, you should identify who shows a willingness to fold. Those are the players you need to punish later when the right situation comes up. It’s important that when you’re pushing all-in, you have enough chips to force your opponent to a difficult decision. If your push requires a player to call off a good chunk of their stack, they will be forced to fold unless they have a strong hand. Short and big stacks will be more willing to gamble with marginal holdings. You’re better off pushing into medium stacks and players who are tight. One or two spots away from the money payouts is also a good time for stealing blinds and limped pots. Players will have tremendous difficulty calling off a lot of chips without a monster hand.

The flip side of this is when you do pick up a monster in early position, it’s a good opportunity to limp/push if you think one of the players in late position will make a raise or steal attempt. But, be careful with this play if your table has a tendency to limp behind early position limpers.

There will also be situations where you may need to call down “light”. This is with a marginal holding against what appears to be a late position steal attempt by a shorter stack. A-x, pocket pairs 5-5 and above and any two Broadway cards (K-J,Q-J,J-10, K-Q, etc.) are considered marginal but are worth calling down a short stack push. Especially if you already have chips committed in the BB, you’re heads up and calling a push doesn’t put a big hurt on your stack if you lose a race. You’re better off pushing than calling with these hands.

All the situations I’ve described above come into play when the blinds/antes become a real factor in your decisions. You don’t want to be pushing 50 big blinds into a pot when blinds are low.

Pushing with any two cards is good poker in the right situation. Embrace your inner donkey.

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