[6.50] Bubble Callaments

[Jack Sawyer]

Blinds are creeping up, and the bigstack has been shoving wide every hand. The rest of the table has been tightenined up, so unless I pick up aces, I'm next to go. How should I defend myself in this spot?

For example:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $6.00+$0.50 Tournament, 100/200 Blinds 25 Ante (4 handed) - Poker-Stars Replayer from Poker Hands Replayer

BB (t4095)
UTG (t6430)
Hero (Button) (t1045)
SB (t1930)

Hero's M: 2.61

Preflop: Hero is Button with ,
UTG bets t6405 (All-In), Hero ????

[tuuk2]

I think this is an easy push. You're probably at worst a coin flip, and in this case, that's good. If you win, you basically have 2500 chips and that would put pressure on the SB to act, giving you a better chance to get ITM.

[Nakamura]

Interesting spot. I think since everyone else has at least 2x as many chips, I'm prepared to gamble here against a very loose range.

[taipan168]

I ran this in SNG Wiz and there actually isn't a shove range for UTG that makes calling +EV in this spot, even with the blinds calling tight (I set their ranges at 8% for the SB and 4% for the BB).

[Fortitude]

It may be -EV but you have to consider the possibility that both of the next two hands (UTG and BB) will be even more of a -EV push. You will inevitably get called by the big stack and maybe one or two more if you push next hand, and if you wait until you are in the BB, the big stack will push on you; so I like a call here.