Context: In a tournament. 120 players. Only 8 pay. About 12-13 players left. Blinds are 8k/16k.

I'm short stacked in the SB with a low pocket pair. Everyone folds to me. BB is a big stack. Should I always be shoving all my low pocket pairs here like 22 to 66? Is it okay to call in the SB to possibly see a flop? Is it always either a fold or shove, and never call situation? Especially being so close to the money.

I find that generally in these positions I tend to just call to see a flop and depending on the villain's table image (TAG vs LAG) I will either fold to a shove or call. Not sure if I'm playing these hands in this position incorrectly though.

It would help if you stated your stack size, but I would definitely never call here "to see a flop". The only reason to call would be to reshove all-in against a light raise, but only if your stack is big enough that you don't think he will just put you all in himself.

Do you really want to give some random J3o a free flop to hit top pair and beat you?

Yea that's true. My stack at the time was like 36k, and villain's was ~90k. He also had a bracelet from a decade ago, playing this $75 tournament with us lol. Felt good to double up through this pro. Ended up finishing 3rd and he finished like 6th or 7th. Just this one hand got me thinking what better plays I should be making in this position.

If you are that short you probably did sth wrong before. Anyway, you absolutely want to jam 22-66 however it doesnt really matter since BB will call ATC for that prize. At the same time you cant fold ever aswell, so I would just put it in immediately.

Good chance I think. But I'm also guessing that it is some small daily tournament with a horrible structure. Original Poster said the big blind is one of the "big" stacks and the big blind has like 5.5 big blinds.


And easy shove here with a lot of worse hands than 22-66. Should be very happy to see 22-66 here to shove with.

And easy call for the big blind with any two cards.

If your down to 10 or 12 bb I am shoving with any pair, let the poker gods do the rest!