Like so many things in poker, it all depends on the specific situation. Examples are whether you are in a tournament or playing cash and what type of players you are up against. Same for “bold” play vs “slow” play. It all depends on the specific situation.
For my play it’s going to highly depend on what the situation is for any hand I play, where I’m at in the tournament, how many big blinds I have, how many big blinds my opponent has, am I heads up or multi way, what my table image is, what my opponent’s table image is. Shoving 100+ big blinds just because you has AK is pretty wreckless in general. But at 15 or less in general I’m looking to shove that hand.
Interesting topic! I wouldn’t call myself an “all-in player,” but I think there are moments where it’s absolutely the right move, especially in tournaments where stack pressure and ICM play a big role. With hands like AK, it really depends on stack depth and position. Sometimes jamming preflop is the most +EV decision, other times it’s just burning equity when you could have played postflop.
I try to avoid being predictable, though. If people think you’re always shoving with premiums, they’ll start folding too much and if they think you’re wild, you’ll get called light. Finding that balance is what makes poker so fun (and tricky).
I try to avoid being predictable, though. If people think you’re always shoving with premiums, they’ll start folding too much and if they think you’re wild, you’ll get called light. Finding that balance is what makes poker so fun (and tricky).
