So: this is a knockout tournament so we are expected to call and get it in more lightly and of course also expect other players to do the same. But that doesn't necessarily mean we should invest +10% of our stack early in an unpredictable spot that often will involve a number of players with a hand that doesn't play well in pots with multiple players. On the other hand it feels quite nitty or even weak in some way to lay it down here. Especially since we cover most players, including the squeezer and could knock out on or more players if we hit a TEN. I find this type of situations very difficult to play when deep.

PokerStars - 30/60 Ante 9 NL (8 max) - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 47.33 BB
BTN: 68.27 BB
SB: 112.9 BB
BB: 81.87 BB
Hero (UTG): 102.57 BB
UTG+1: 31.25 BB
MP: 147.85 BB
MP+1: 131.5 BB

8 players post ante of 0.15 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.7 BB) Hero has T T

Hero raises to 2 BB, fold, MP calls 2 BB, fold, CO calls 2 BB, BTN calls 2 BB, fold, BB raises to 13.7 BB, Hero ???

Loose low stakes play. Tricky situation. Probably, you should flat call. Fold seems bad.

Do not fold. Call, click or rejam. But don't fold. I like rejam, you will still get called by worse in LP (not in theory but irl).

In a PKO I'd 4-bet jam before I'd fold. You might be behind, but you might be flipping (or even ahead) considering how much people gamble early in these things to win bounties and build a stack that can win more bounties.

I feel, you are a bit to deep to 4-bet jam, and BB should be on a very tight range, when he 3-bet an UTG open with 3 flat calls. If you just call, that will likely result in a cascade of callers behind you, and then you are kind of stuck in the middle in a huge pot with no clear idea of, where you are, unless you flop a set. So all in all while this fold is a bit of the nitty side, I think, its ok given the whole set-up. Without the field callers the 3-bet would come in smaller, and then its a standard call.

Don't really agree with the reasoning here. This is a good spot for BB to put in a massive squeeze to try to win the pot, with so much dead money in the middle, even with a standard UTG opening range. (I mean, if UTG is folding TT here then it's a fantastic spot to squeeze anything decent, considering how capped everyone else is.)

And, as I've said, in PKOs there's incentive to gamble more because the bounties provide such significant immediate equity, as well as how building a stack gives you increased opportunities to win future bounties. It's kind of the opposite effects of ICM in that regard.

Like I said, I'd 4-bet shove this before I folded it. The fact that you cover everyone else in the hand is pretty significant, too.

That possibility really didn't came to mind. So say we make it something like 30bb? And That still leaves us with a decision to fold with 70bb left if one or two players shove on us.

What range would you call a shove from BB with? Personally I would be more inclined to do it with JJ. TT seems a little bit to loose, even considering it's a PKO. At least when we have no reads on BB. Plus a shove would narrow his range, compared to the squeeze, right?

I don't know how many times I have to emphasize "I'd rather shove than fold" and "It's a PKO and people are going to play much wider and more aggressively preflop than in a standard tournament," but let's try again.

I don't like 4-bet/folding TT here because so much of the 5-bet shoving value range is going to be AK. And I doubt anyone is flatting JJ+ behind you, so if you're considering folding to a back-shove I think that's also a mistake. Hence why I would rather shove than fold. If I 4-bet this less than all-in I'm just calling a shove. We have everyone covered, too, so I'm not worried about multiple people getting all-in; as I just said, I don't think anyone behind you has a better hand than you, and the more people who get their money in just means there are more bounties for you to win.

And I emphasize "value range" because it's a PKO. People are going to be playing significantly wider than usual, or should be, because the bounties are such a substantial part of your equity in a tournament like this. (I mean, just look at the hands the other players are calling preflop and calling again after the 3-bet.) And an opponent playing aggressively enough is going to be getting it in with suited connector type hands here, even. You want to fold TT to someone who will 5-bet shove 98s?

Yeah, I would rather have JJ than TT too because it's a better hand. But TT is still a high enough pair to have a significant edge against overcards (TT has almost a 2% edge on AKo compared to 99 vs. AKo).

Are you talking just a cold 3-bet shove? I guess in theory it should tighten villain's range, but it's also a PKO which means, again, you might just see a shove with a lot of hands that should have robust equity against your calling range, which means suited broadways and the like-- especially if you are properly expanding your calling range to account for the expanded shoving range. And in terms of pure value, a 3-bet shove is more likely to be AK than JJ+.

I think trying to play safely early in a PKO is a mistake. When you get good hands and a chance to get them in, get them in and hope it works out.

From what I've seen online, there are a ton of players who just love to squeeze in spots like this, even without a good hand and where it makes little sense strategically. So I'm never folding this. I actually kind of like calling to get some fish money in behind us and hope to hit a ten or three undercards. But no doubt shoving is fine too in a PKO.

Thanks to both LifeNitFL and Nath. Sometimes you need to digest concepts a bit. After going through your responses again I agree that shoving here seems reasonable, and definately better than 4b/f. I too believe that if any of the initial callers call our shove we will mostly be in good shape; ahead or at worst flipping against like AJ/AQ/KQ. Plus the chance he might fold some of this hands even though it's a PKO.

Big blind is a little bit trickier. But it seems reasonable absent from any reads to believe his range is wider than say JJ+/AK. And since we cover him we'll actually be happy to flip against all his AQ/AK-combos even from an ICM perspective. Because as you pointed out we cover him (and button too) and can win their bounties.

I'm not sure though that the play will be very profitable in terms of won BB:s on avg. But might be wrong here too :-)

I mean it's $7.50, do the big jam a few times and if they are always showing up with aces through queens, then stop doing it. But I think you'll find they'll show up with a lot of garbage.