Getting near the final table now (probably 20 players left) - $18k up top.

Villain's stats: VPIP: 12, PFR: 10, 3B: 13, AF: 2.0, Hands: 90
Hero's stats: VPIP: 25, PFR: 18, 3B: 8, AF: 2.5

I know this might seem like a stupid question, but what do you do here? Do I call because it's only 8 big blinds total?

You call because the pot odds indicate you have the required equity vs a realistic 8bb jam.

This is part of playing poker. Before you raise this hand, you should already know who you can call off to a shove. If you cannot call off profitably the players who would be shoving most, you should not even open with this hand.

^that's not necessarily true.

How so?

As played you call here because what Greg said.

But maybe opening A-8 in EP with all those short stacks in play is not the best move. You have to know that it is pretty likely that somebody will come over the top. So before bringing it in, ask yourself: do I want to play for stacks with this hand?

I don’t mind the open, but despite a slight +ev I’m folding.

These straight equity calculations never take into account the cost of stack utility.

We lose here 2:1 and drop to 11bb then go through the blinds in a couple of hands to be likely left with less than 10bb

Yes we have odds to call but stack utility doesn’t change significantly between 18-30bb. Hero will still have significant leverage on a 3bet shove or flop multi check/jam. However we all know that FE largely vanishes at 10bb.

It’s hard to assign a value to stack utility, so we don’t. The true value likely varies from player to player also. But the value is real and substantial.nonetheless.

In short, we don’t gain as much by getting to 30bb as we lose by dropping to 10bb.

I mind the open and would never fold pre

like jj said you should know who you are r/f to and who you are r/c. When bb has <10bb you would never open planning to fold when he has KQ, KJs, 22-77 in his range.

I would fold this pre, the exact reason being that I don't want to call off these shorties when they shove and we need to as we have the required equity.

Also what others said before opening try and figure out what you will do if jammed or raised etcc

This is correct sir!