MTT's and going all in...

[Duckslayer2k]

Obviously, there comes a time in a large MTT where you are just going to need to push your chips in and try and double up. My question is, is it ever going to be worth it to push non high pair hands preflop? I just pushed AK in the 1 mil guarantee on pokerstars and got pwned by the CL at the table who was holding AQ.. he spiked a Q on the turn.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?369871

is being a 70% favorite enough to push all in preflop here? Should I wait until I see the flop? so I can be more sure that I will be a lock to win if I hit? Many problems arise from this, because say I call the 3xs BB raise and the flop comes rags and they bet out. I will be forced to fold, and If i do this often enough i will run out of chips. I need to accumulate chips sometime, and this seemed like a good spot. There was a chance that they both would fold too, as it would be a perfect squeeze play. I don't know.

It just seems whenever I push this hand it never works out. Another example, after I made money in another 1 mil guarantee on PS i attempted to steal the blinds with AK by pushing all in from late position, only to find the player to my left call off 1/2 of his stack with 66.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?274905

I've read HOH 1 and 2 at least twice each. I need help in this area of the big tournies, I can't seem to steal enough blinds like I can in SNGs because of the full table. Any suggestions or comments are welcome. Thanks.

[gabe]

is being a 70% favorite enough to push all in preflop here?

yes, 52% is probably good enough

[zenbitz]

[quote="Duckslayer2k"]Obviously, there comes a time in a large MTT where you are just going to need to push your chips in and try and double up. My question is, is it ever going to be worth it to push non high pair hands preflop? I just pushed AK in the 1 mil guarantee on pokerstars and got pwned by the CL at the table who was holding AQ.. he spiked a Q on the turn. [quote]

You have no choice here, none. You should, in fact, be pushing much worse hands here if your M is like 5. Just try to open push in as late a position as possible.

is being a 70% favorite enough to push all in preflop here? Should I wait until I see the flop? so I can be more sure that I will be a lock to win if I hit? Many problems arise from this, because say I call the 3xs BB raise and the flop comes rags and they bet out. I will be forced to fold, and If i do this often enough i will run out of chips. I need to accumulate chips sometime, and this seemed like a good spot. There was a chance that they both would fold too, as it would be a perfect squeeze play. I don't know.

Of course it is. In fact, I think being a 45-55 dog is good enough as long as the blinds are big enough (dead money). You are correct in that once your M hits about 7-8 even if you see the occasional flop (check in BB or a 3x raise gets called) you are pushing (typically any kinda pair or 6 out+ draw) or folding the flop.

It just seems whenever I push this hand it never works out. Another example, after I made money in another 1 mil guarantee on PS i attempted to steal the blinds with AK by pushing all in from late position, only to find the player to my left call off 1/2 of his stack with 66.

How is that a bad play? You should be pushing all in with almost anything. He is a 55-45 vs. like 70% of your range. You could be pushing with A4 here! (and probably should be)

I've read HOH 1 and 2 at least twice each. I need help in this area of the big tournies, I can't seem to steal enough blinds like I can in SNGs because of the full table. Any suggestions or comments are welcome. Thanks.

The full table works for you as well, becuase the blinds come around ~2x as slow. Just be very patient with OOP and very aggressive in LP if it's folded to you. Exploit people who don't call enough from their big blind. If you are short stacked, you are going to have to win a coin flip or 6 anyway.