Yes...AND NO!
Basically, there is no single right answer and you should seek to avoid "I always do this" or "I never do that" decisions in poker. Rather, you might think of it as Yes, I might do this up to 70% of the time, given other factors.
Other factors include:
1. Speed of blind increases. If the blinds are going up every 10 mins, then a 10BB stack might last long enough for a better hand to come along. So you might play them or you might not.
2. The size of antes. If there are no antes AND the blinds are advancing slowly, you will have lots of time to get a better hand.
3. That said, my reduction of 55 play advice is for early position. I'd play them a lot of the time from later positions (HJ/CO/BUT/SB/BB)
4. You need to understand your opponent's range. Going all in against someone with a tight range will result in more folds, but also in more beats when you are called. If the player is a call station with a wide range, you will fare better.
5. Pre-flop action. If you're saying you are playing a full ring which folds around to SB, that is very different from saying there are three players left and one folds. Especially if you are playing with a loose table and everyone still folds. In this case, the chances of the BB having a strong hand increases significantly.
6. Remember, it is always about range vs range. T4s beats 98s heads up against each other, but 98s flops WAY BETTER than T4s against a tight range. 55 is similar.
7. I know push/fold charts are pretty fashionable these days, and they will generally recommend you push this hand. But then again, if I KNOW an opponent is playing off a push/fold chart, I can calculate my equity against my opponent's range (if I'm BB and responding to your all in).
8. Blind Defense: Late game, it becomes more important for a player to strongly defend their blinds. They represent a bigger portion of their overall stack. I'd call a min raise for example, from the SB with nearly all my range as the equity realisation is almost guaranteed. But I'd still offset this with whatever other intel I have against my opponent;
I could go on...😉
So it isn't a robotic decision. It is not a question of "Is it right to do this"? Rather more of a question of how often you should do this against a specific opponent. Bottom line, it is not good enough to simply have a chart that says SB action is to push with X when <10BB. Sticking to such a rigid rule 100% of the time with no other information is a recipe for disaster.
Cheers,
ObbleeXY
