Big pocket pair on the short stack, nl tournament

Game type: NL tournament
Your image: Desperate short stack
Stage of tourney: late; 46 players remain out of over 500
Avg stack: 34k
Misc notes: You went all in preflop last hand and picked up the blinds
Your hand: K♠K♣

The setup: You lost a devastating hand a bit back that knocked you down to short stack status. After pushing all in preflop last hand, you are dealt a serious pair the very next hand with kings. What’s the best way to play cowboys in this spot and why?

8 COMMENTS (Jump to comment form)

Mary

All-in. With six to act, one of the big stacks is bound to feel obligated to stop you from getting away with this all-in move. What’s the worst here, you won’t get a caller and will only pick up an extra 30% of your stack?

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Chad

Like Mary said, there’s almost a third of your stack already in the pot, and with around 6BB the rest of the table knows you’re looking to push with just about any small pair, weak ace, or big connecting cards. Push and hope for a call. If not, you still pick up enough chips to survive a couple more orbits.

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XcitrateX

It might seem tempting to push here, but I think they’re right on this one. A push is just a scared play here. You want to double up and you want to make it easier for someone to let you. None of the stacks are big enough to call an all-in with a marginal hand.

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Bob

Yes But even if u are a big stack u still have to call 12k people… the average stack is 34k if they calll 12k and lose then they will be left with 24k which is significantly smaller considering the stage of the tournament. Don’t get me wrong you bet 6k into a pot and ur pushing the rest on the flop NO MATTER WHAT. You might get a 34K calling 6K with a marginal hand and folding on the flop. At least you will get more than the blinds by this play. Besides, there is a higher chance of you tripling up.

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Frank

I agree with Bob:

Raising about $6,000 would be the best move here because you’d want as many callers in this situation as possible since KK has higher equity than any other hands you’ll be dealt wth anytime soon. The only hands that will call are hands like AA (obviously), AK, AQ, AJ, and all of the pocket pairs, which you have completey dominated. In other words, if you’re going to get more then one caller, the chances are they’re going to be sharing an ace, or you’ll have them dominated. That’s a hell of a situation to be in when holding KK on the short stack.

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ripp

you look desprate so, push all in. you will probably get a caller. thats better than letting 6 people limp and catch their crap 2 pair. if not you steal the blinds. i would rather win a small pot than loose a big one.

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Mikey

An easy question, if you consider that winning the blinds here doesn’t help much: $16k is still fatally short stack. You gotta take a risk to get out of this ditch, and now seems like as good an opportunity as you’re likely to get. Throw in $4k, get a few callers and a pot they can’t get away from, then all-in on the flop. If an Ace doesn’t land and no-one catches their set/2-pair, you triple up or better – putting you right back in the running. Otherwise you go home earlier and hopefully the gf is still awake…

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Greg

I would lean towards limping in in an aggressive game, and putting in a small raise otherwise. KK still does well against a lot of hands. You can’t be afraid someone is going to catch their ace every time you have KK, and that ace won’t be out in someone’s hand every time. The best scenario is when someone else raises, allowing you to reraise. Say player D puts in a small raise, the blinds both call, and now it’s back to you. Wouldn’t you be glad then you didn’t go all-in off the bat? Now you can come over the top and maybe quadruple up, or at least knock out one of the weaker hands. Surely you can’t count on a scenario this perfect, but if people are raising with some regularity, it’s probably the correct play.

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