When is it time to shove?

[steveg78]

10. You want the amount to still be big enough that some people will still fold and it not be an instacall.

[NoulRegulament]

thats what i see alot on here

[Mrlova]

I've cringed a couple times reading through all of this. If you are close to the bubble it should make no difference when you shove. Bubble money isn't the reason you're playing in a tournament. If you buy into a tournament for a $1 and the last paying place is $1.12 it's not worth it to try to just make it into the money. If that's your goal then I can't help you.

You have to approach all tournaments as if you're going to win them. For example a couple weeks ago I bubbled in two consecutive PO tournament because I played for the win and not the 60 cents 10th place prize. Both times I was under 10 big blinds and pushed in good positions. I of course lost both hands and bubbled in both of them, but the investments were good and I'd much rather bubble in a tournament investing good, then barely making into the money with no chance at winning.

As far as when to push and when not to it really comes down to the blinds. As stated many times conventional wisdom says 10 big blinds. I'm going to take this a bit further and say your shove window is when you have an M-ratio of 10 or less.

M-Ratio = Your stack divided by SB + BB + round of antes

In other words, instead of 10 Big Blinds being your push window, your push window is 10 hands. If there are no antes then 10 big blinds is where I say you should push, if antes are involved then a quick calculation of the M-ratio needs to be done to determine this.

Now lets say you are in the push window as I call it. What hands, what position, against how many players should you be pushing against. In early position I'd be looking for any ace or any connectors. The ace for obvious reasons, and the connectors because if I get called I should have two live cards. Middle positions follows the same gameplan. As for late position, my range of hands increases. If a couple players before me have committed chips to the pot I'll push more aggressively. The return on your investment has a much higher potential then if you're up against one opponent. It is true you will lose more often, but when you win you put yourself in a great position for a deep run. As I said earlier, I'd much rather invest good (with good pot odds), then go out with the minimum income.

[ssuglia]

Excellent post as always from you Mrlova.

One of the reasons I mentioned the bubble in my post was because many players DO factor the money bubble into their decision to call a shove. So knowing which players care more about min-cashing and who's playing to win can allow for exploitation of those players near the bubble, when you're short on chips and need to shove.

[bmeelneg]

so many factors lead into it being a good shove or not, but the 10 bb is where you should still have some fold equity

[zayzoo]

when you get into the redzone..about 5-to 10 big blinds should be good if you doubleback up .

[FrancescoSchettinos]

thats what i see alot on here.

[Prawney]

Shove 1st hand imo

[ssuglia]

Shove 1st hand imo

Only with 9-4 offsuit. Fold any other hands.

[Nicholas3154]

Hands become irrelevant after 8 bb and you're more just looking for a spot IMO.