The charts suggest opening to 2x with this stack size for some part of our range but but when playing live I tend to just purely shove or fold. Is this okay? Is it more like open to 2x in EP and in LP play a pure shove or fold? I can get away with opening 2x with AA-KK in LP but shoving the rest.

My problem with opening 2x with hands like 88-JJ and AK, AQ is I never quite know if an over card comes or if I whiff the flop and the stack size doesn't allow for much maneuverability.

How would the strategy differ if we are 4-5 players away from the money?

This is VERY easy to spot and exploit.


I'm curious about what others will say.
I'd have my own questions too about how to play 15-20BB stacks, but I'll save them for later, don't want to hack your post

Under 15 bb's I shove from anywhere pre-flop

Between 15 and 20 bb's it varies for me. I lean towards shoving hands like AJ+ and 88-JJ in EP and MP. Similarly I will always shove in the SB unless the BB is very aggro and will likely raise so I can then jam (but it has to be a hand I don't mind playing all in).

But it depends on the table. As an OMC if people are folding to my raises for the most part then I will raise light (2.1x) from anywhere. But if they are on to me I will either fold a hand like AJ in EP or jam.

It also depends on the tournament and whether there is a Day 2 (or Day 3) and if we are late in the day. Some people like to make it to the next day so they will fold to a jam. If I have a smallish stack I will want to double up or play in a different tournament the next day so I have no problem jamming in spots like these.

In a WSOP senior tournament about 5 years ago we were just in the money very late Day 1 and I had JJ. A very tight woman raised UTG and I had like 18 blinds and jammed UTG+1 with JJ. She flipped over QQ and folded saying that getting to Day 2 meant a lot to her even though she had like 50 bb's and was always getting to Day 2.

I still have more regular opens than shoves at 17-18BB. Shoving is more situation-dependent for me in those spots, and I rarely like open shoving from EP at that depth.

If I'm shoving, it's going to be from late position when I have a hand where

• Opening and getting shoved on sucks
• I don't really want a call, but I should have decent equity if I shove and get called and/or I have blockers to calling hands

So hands like small pairs, suited Ax, suited Broadway. Maybe KQo or KJo, maybe some offsuit aces just below the range I'd raise/call. The exact range might be different in live tournaments than online ones, depending on the stakes you play-- most live tournament players tend to be more passive and tighter about shoving than online players, so adjust your range accordingly.

If you want a more shove-heavy strategy, you should mix in a few hands you're comfortable raise/folding that are just below your shoving range so it's not incredibly obvious what you're doing when you make a standard raise instead of shoving. (For example, if you're opening AA-KK, and A8o and KTo are the bottom of your open-shoving range for offsuit aces and kings, A7o / K9o should be in your raise/fold range.)

Nath, your strategy is very similar to a chart I found online for 15-20BB deep.
They say you should be balanced between open-fold and open-call, and shove the hands in the middle.
For Axo for example, it would go :
- Raise-call ATo+
- Shove A8o and A9o
- Raise fold A2o - A7o

This is only for CO and BTN.

I haven't implemented yet, cause I felt it was a little bit face-up to have only medium-strength hand in the shoving range.
But maybe it's not a big deal, as the range that can profitably call a shove is pretty strong anyway, villains on our left can't call too wide, even though they understood that you never have a premium hand.
I don't know.

Yeah, the biggest reason is that with a hand like A8o, where we don't feel comfortable calling off to a reshove, is that there are profitable reshoving hands against us that can't call off against us-- QJs, KTs, 33, etc.