[BrettButter]

Please note: this is NOT a results oriented post. I run into this situation (maybe not this extreme..) quite often, and am usually faced with a similar dilemma.

I used to play a lot of the Sunday Hundred Grand Satellites on P*, $2.20 buy-in, 36 people, top 6 get $11 seats to the SHG, 7th gets $6. I started up again, mostly due to boredom. They are turbo tournaments, 5 minute blinds.

I usually bust early trying to build a stack, or end up at the FT with a mid-high stack. Depending on the players at the table, I either bully, or just kind of sit and wait. This tourney was a sit and wait one for me.

Came into the FT with about 3000 in chips, but there were 4 stacks shorter than me. I doubled up a couple of times, but mostly hung between 2000-5000 chips the entire FT. We went on break, blinds hit 1000-2000 and I had a little over 2000 left, being in the SB next hand. There are two short stacks coming around on the blinds before I would go busto from waiting (Seat 6 and Seat 9). Do I call here and take my shot to stay alive, or wait for the blinds coming up to knock out 1 person for the $6 bubble..or risk doubling up and take home nothing if I lose?

I know I know, I shouldn't have let myself get this short in chips, but I did. If you did as well, what would you do here? Thanks for the input in advance..

PokerStars Game #14623396897: Tournament #74146367, $2.00+$0.20 Hold'em No Limit - Level XIII (1000/2000) - 2008/01/17 - 14:01:25 (ET)
Table '74146367 4' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: OpOne59 (12392 in chips)
Seat 2: jfd49 (6375 in chips)
Seat 3: BrettButter (1940 in chips)
Seat 4: klop64 (6355 in chips)
Seat 5: mdoll (15657 in chips)
Seat 6: muli201271 (1769 in chips)
Seat 7: dickee (7712 in chips)
Seat 9: riverman1314 (1800 in chips)
OpOne59: posts the ante 100
jfd49: posts the ante 100
BrettButter: posts the ante 100
klop64: posts the ante 100
mdoll: posts the ante 100
muli201271: posts the ante 100
dickee: posts the ante 100
riverman1314: posts the ante 100
BrettButter: posts small blind 1000
klop64: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BrettButter [5d 5s]
mdoll: folds
muli201271: folds
dickee: folds
riverman1314: folds
OpOne59: folds
jfd49: folds

Action on me. My call is less than the BB, if I fold I'm left with 840 at 100 antes, with two short stacks (<2000) coming in blinds this rotation. 8th is $0, 7th is $6, 1-6 is $11 entry, or Tournament$, because I usually unregister.

[detroitdad]

I push all day in that spot with a pocket pair............probably almost anything.

B

[whataboutj]

I would push w/ any pocket pair in that situation and be happy I got the pair to play. So what did you do???

[jmc]

This is a pretty easy push IMHO. The stars have to be alligned perfectly for your other two opponents to go busto before you do (i.e they could do something dumb and get lucky, and then you're SOL).

[ontheuptick]

No option but to push, although (like you said), you should have never been in that position, because there should have been some pushing much earlier.

[dano]

agree, push & pray

[jojobinks]

i think it's a fold. you're 60% to win (against a random hand), but winning the hand doesn't exactly do wonders for your chance to win the seat. either way you're shortstacked and need to outlast two players. if you fold, you can wait 9 hands and hope 2 players bust.

needless to say your fold equity is 0%. the chance of one or two of the shorties going bust in the next round is BIG, and there's a definite non-zero chance of someone else doing something silly.

the goal is to win the seat, not get your money in every time you have an equity edge (as in a cash game) or to accumulate chips (in a mtt).

[dad604]

My first thought was to push but Jojo is right, even if you win, it does not do anything for you. You still will be short stack and situation remain the same, the other two with stacks less than you will still have to bust out.

[BrettButter]

I actually did use my time extension on this one, and tried to think it through. Needless to say, the people at the table weren't thrilled about that.. but in my mind it was a huge decision.

In a regular MTT, non-satellite, I would have pushed a long time ago. The only reason I let myself get this short is due to there being so many people shorter than me, and I only needed 1 to bust to get any kind of money out of the tourney. People kept doubling up, and I waited too long, which was my first mistake.

My second mistake, was calling. I called. The BB had no choice in his cards to play, and I was delighted to see he only had one over card. Please believe me in the fact that this was not an attempt to post a bad beat. It was just unfortunate that it ended this way for me. I am (a little..) happy to see that initially a lot of people would have made the same move. I do wish I had gone the other way with it though..

BrettButter: calls 840 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [6s Js 4c]
*** TURN *** [6s Js 4c] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [6s Js 4c 8h] [Kh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BrettButter: shows [5d 5s] (a pair of Fives)
klop64: shows [8c 4h] (two pair, Eights and Fours)
klop64 collected 4480 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4480 | Rake 0
Board [6s Js 4c 8h Kh]
Seat 1: OpOne59 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: jfd49 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: BrettButter (small blind) showed [5d 5s] and lost with a pair of Fives
Seat 4: klop64 (big blind) showed [8c 4h] and won (4480) with two pair, Eights and Fours
Seat 5: mdoll folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: muli201271 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: dickee folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: riverman1314 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

So, I got 8th place, and nothing. The second I clicked the call button, it felt like the wrong move, and I regretted it before the flop even hit. I was okay on the flop..the turn made me a little sad.

Thanks everyone for the input, and anyone who didn't weigh in, I'd still love to see your opinions!