nah I think his call was fine to be honest given my likely range..

also given that he had been to my immediate left for over an hour and would be there for the rest of the MTT - any 'move' I made was bound to include him...

no. you need to insta push. bottom line, he needs a hand to call you, especially since he'll be calling off 1/3 of his stack. think of all the hands that can be dealt in hold 'em. not many of them are worth playing, and even less of them are worth putting in a third of your chips with. you're just hoping he doesn't wake up with something. but bottom line, you need to chip up here.

As for the AQ, i completely disagree with low dough. if you're not calling with AQ here, i don't know what you're waiting for. excession has something like 7 or 8 BB's here, and it's HU. are you only calling with TT on up? because you're not gonna get that very often. his range is gigantic, literally almost any two. If he's tighter, he could easily just be pushing any ace. AQ is an insta call all day and every day against a short stack. yes, it could easily be a 60/40, as it is here, but the bottom line is your still a favorite.

as for my preference for moving up vs win or bust - I was really asking what move led to the best cash EV overall - if it was a $1m guaranteed maybe I'd wimp out and just fold - but when neither 1st or 10th makes any real difference to my roll - then I'm happy just to make the 'best' play..

BTW, you said he has been on your left the last two tables. Why haven't you tried a couple of test steals so you know a little more about his calling range? I like to learn that early when I get a chance. It comes in handy in just this situation

I said I hadn't been stealing much - which was true - but when I had raised he had folded. Clearly if he thought a long time before calling with AQ here he was playing pretty tight..

Especially since reading NLTAP and the S-C ratings and playing more SnG's I have been pushing more in MTT's.

To be honest I thought it was an auto push (and especially given my read and table image I think it was), but the thread has been interesting as this situation is typical when the money is starting to get worthwhile in an MTT.


My view on coinflips when you are in or near the money is pretty simple. Once the blinds are up and the pushing starts, I take them.

If I have a stack of 25k that puts me in 80th/100 with 100 in the money and the chip leader is 100k I will gladly take 2 coinflips for my stack - sure 3/4 times I/m out but 1 in 4 I'm up there with the leaders...you look at what 80th gets and then look at what 1st gets (or any top table position) in comparison - way more than 4x as much..

Now of course I prefer to see flops and hit sets or get dealt AA and then get my money in - but you can't hang around for that late on in an MTT..

I also prefer to be the one pushing so I've a good chance of picking up chips without a fight but if need be I will call and flip (as emmasdad saw when sweating me in the Stars 35k two nights ago). You have to pick up the chips sometime after all...

I am wondering if I have become too push/flip-happy as I am forever busting late on, but of course when I string 3 or 4 flips together I am going to be taking home a lot of $$$