Right or wrong decision

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Nesehorn156

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This hand came up late in a low-stakes MTT with about 30 players left. Blinds were 1,500/3,000 with a 300 ante. I had around 32,000 chips (just over 10 BBs) and was in the cutoff holding AQs . It folded to me and I decided to shove, thinking it was a good spot to apply pressure with a strong hand. The button folded, but the small blind called with pocket 9, and the big blind folded. Unfortunately, I didn’t improve and was eliminated.


Looking back, I’m wondering if shoving was the best play here or if folding and waiting for a slightly better spot would’ve been smarter. With my stack size, I felt like raise-folding wasn’t really an option. How would you play AQs in this situation, and do you think the shove was correct given the stack sizes and stage of the tournament?
 
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I would shove. You were just unlucky and ran into a pocket pair. With only 10bb left you don't have time to sit around and wait for a better hand.

I only have one question because others will ask anyways. How many get paid? You didn't say but others will ask because some players play to min cash. Me unless right on the bubble I'm all-in putting on pressure, trying steal blinds so I can run deep and really get paid. A min cash isn't my target till I'm right on the bubble when I'm short stacked. Making your target a min cash is losing poker long-term in my opinion and 20+ years experience.

Cheers!!!
 
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With ~10–11 BBs in the cutoff, AQ suited is absolutely strong enough to be a shove. Raise/folding at that stack depth isn’t great, and waiting too long risks bleeding away fold equity. So from a structural point of view, the shove makes a lot of sense.

The fact that you got called by 99 is just standard tournament variance. You’re not crushed — you still have decent equity — and you’re often picking up the blinds uncontested or getting called by worse hands. Folding and waiting for a “better” spot can easily leave you with even fewer big blinds and less leverage.

Results aside, I think the decision is fine. In these spots, focus on whether the shove is +EV given your stack and position, not on the outcome of a single hand.
 
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...some questions that lacked answers include:
1-What was the ICM range?
2-What were the stack sizes at the table in question?
3-What was the profile of the players?
4-In case of ICM, was there a pay jump in the prize pool?
5-Were you the short stack at the table?
6-What was the profile and stack size of the BTN, SB, and BB players?
 
i think you did right, all in for 10bbs with AQs not a mistake, it is default push. But In the rare situation when for example few people to the prize have left and you have qualified stack so it is fold, cause after you 3 people and some of them can have stronger hand or just someone who wants go flip. idk which situation you had, but if is ITM you did right!
 
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In poker you always have to make the right decisions, although most of the time I make the wrong ones. But there's a saying: you learn from mistakes.
 
In my opinion, going all-in with AQs from the cutoff with around 10 BBs is completely standard and correct in this situation. With blinds at 1,500/3,000 plus ante, your effective stack is already in push-or-fold territory, so there’s really no point in thinking about raise/fold. AQs is far too strong a hand to fold. You played it well; the right card just didn’t come this time. That’s poker.
 
With 10 big blinds in a tournament and AQs in the cutoff, shoving is the right play because it capitalizes on the hand's value, generates fold equity, and avoids being locked into a raise-fold. Although you were called with 99 that time and eliminated, the decision itself was sound and profitable in the long run.
 
Nesehorn156 said:
This hand came up late in a low-stakes MTT with about 30 players left. Blinds were 1,500/3,000 with a 300 ante. I had around 32,000 chips (just over 10 BBs) and was in the cutoff holding AQs . It folded to me and I decided to shove, thinking it was a good spot to apply pressure with a strong hand. The button folded, but the small blind called with pocket 9, and the big blind folded. Unfortunately, I didn’t improve and was eliminated.


Looking back, I’m wondering if shoving was the best play here or if folding and waiting for a slightly better spot would’ve been smarter. With my stack size, I felt like raise-folding wasn’t really an option. How would you play AQs in this situation, and do you think the shove was correct given the stack sizes and stage of the tournament?
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I think I would do the same during the game, but after carefully analyzing the tournament, the hand, and the position, I would say the right decision would be to play 3-4BB pre-flop.

Raise/fold if you don't hit the flop and the small blind re-raises.
 
With a little over 10BB on the CO you are supposed to open shove almost any AX hand. From time to time you can pass on the worst offsuit ones like A2-A4 and A6, but AQ is a monster, so its not even a decision. You are just focusing on the outcome, which will take care of itself in the long run.
 
If you were right on the bubble, (3-5 people left before the money in a 300 man tourney), I would undoubtedly have shoved and regretted it too 😀.
I think in a bubble position a fold can be a really good play, If you want to run deep though, this could definitely cripple you. Taking the opportunity with a good hand, when you hit, gives you life to play for a bigger win.
 
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