Facing a short stack all in

checkoutalternate · Facing a short stack all in

When playing in tournament poker there will frequently be a situation when a short stack goes all-in and sees two or more callers. A standard practice here is for the players who called the all-in to check the hand down in order to increase their chances of eliminating the all-in player. However, checking the hand down may not always be the smart move. The strategy of checking the hand down has one huge weakness: it depends on the cooperation of the other player. If the other player does not cooperate, you can find yourself folding your hand to a strong bet, only to see the all-in player win the pot with a hand you could’ve beaten had you stayed in.
How do you react to a bet in that situation. Assuming your chip stack and the bettors chip stack is equivelant and he is a TAG

PoolDemon

if he's a TAG player, he most likely won't bet unless he's hit or holding a strong hand, one that usually beats the SS AI player & you. Any experianced tourny player will not bet in this situation unless they hit or already had a good hand.

That being said, if your folding to that bet, you haven't hit yet, or holding a marginal hand, say 10-10, with overcards, your not likely to win unless the turn & river give lots of help, same for AK, if you miss the flop, he has QQ, well, maybe the river hits for an ace & SS had ace rag, it happens...

Knowing what kind of player you are up against in that situation is obviously very important, and as your example mentions TAG, how often do you see a TAG player betting in this situation with only air, it's a good fold, imo...

Know-nuffin

In a tournament it makes sense to check it down in most cases, because knocking out the all-in player is the prime objective.

Betting in a dead pot can be okay if the main pot is negligible, so in that case the gloves are off.

However, if bluffing in a dead pot... don't get me started

DangerMouse

I`m generally in favour of checking down. That always applies when we`re into the money or at the final table. It`s far less important early on in a tournament.

People who bluff at dry side pots do my head in. Imo they should be strapped to a post and have Chris Fergusen throw cards at them in a pokeresque style death of a thousand cuts.

If there`s any kind of side pot then obviously it may at times be worth the risk of betting with a relatively weak holding, it really depends how many chips are up for grabs and how big your stack is at that time.