$20 live tournament. Brutal 15 min blind levels very fast paced 1/2k 2/4k 3/6k 5/10k 7/14k etc
Final 2 tables 8 handed, field size was about 55 players top 5 paid.

Blinds are 5/10k, action folds to be in the c/o with 130k I have A4. Player on the button is an old nit and needs about JJ+ AQ+ to call a shove. The blinds have only been at the table for 2 hands, so no reads.
Not sure how far away the blind change is to be honest.

c/o hero 130k A4
D Old nit 100k
sb 220k
bb 110k

I shoved my A4s, I know that with 10bbs or less this is a clear shove. My logic was that I cant raise/fold so jamming seems best to maximise my fold equity. But I am thinking that 13bbs may be getting to be a little too much to risk on a steal attempt especially considering that in this structure my stack is about avg at this point. So perhaps a fold here is an option too?

Any input would be appreciated, I feel like close spots like this are the difference between long term success and loss.

Cheers.

I like a shove here.
1) Button is a nit, so very unlikely to call, makes your position in the CO even better
2) i don't think that there is a huge difference between a 10bb and a 13bb stack if we look at our position and the tourney structure
3) where antes in play? if yes, this is even more a shove imo
4) blinds also don't have monster stacks so they are playing for their tournament life to (sb has 220k but 130k is a big chunk of his stack) and most guys won't call u light here.
5) 18 players still in and we are nowhere near the bubble
6) we got A4s and some equity even if we get called.

yeah i agree with the above comment.This is a good spot to jam , usually if called u still have just over 30% equity against their range that they may call with and with 13bb (including the reads u have given) you have a fair amount of folding equity for this play to be profitable.

unlucky!

Thanks for the input guys!

Not a huge difference between 13bbs at 10bbs, sure but what if we had something more in the 17-20bb region? What is the play then? Min raise/fold? The problem is that these players will rarely fold thier blinds to a min raise. Not the most positionally aware bunch.

Yes, indeed lol. This was the end of the tournament for me. sb tank called with QQ... Yeah..

I guess the real bedrock of my question is what adjustments should I be making for such a brutal blind structure such as this one? I mean my 13 bb stack was avg if not better than the avg size at the time.

I am very comfortable with this shove in any online tourney that I play. But this is kindof a super turbo. Equivelent to the blinds doubling every 5 mins online if not every 3 or 4.

And no Bilo no antes, none in the tourneys at all.

What I mean is, what adjustments should I be making once it reaches this stage of the tourney. i.e avg stack is about 15 bbs tops. I have been playing them like I would in any other short stack situation. But perhaps this is not correct if EVERYONE is a shortstack?

It seems that i consistently get knocked out of these kinds of live tourneys at around this point. Should I put this down to the high variance nature of this stage of the tournament? Or am I doing something wrong?

well, concerning adjustments to these live turbos i think you should pick your spots carefully. Can't give you general advice but it's important to go for it if you see an opportunity, like the hand you posted. Generally ICM is important here. So don't make an A high call or something BvB just because you are shortstacked, like 10BB. Look at the other stack sizes, if there are a bunch of 5-8BB stacks, your calling range should be tighten up mostly. And try to pick up dead money (limpers): Obv you need reads, but picking up a limped pot is huge when tournament avg. is like 15bb