Prudent decision-making is key to taking down sit and go tournaments. When you are in the big blind and have a short-stack all-in in front of you, playing tight aggressive poker is not going to help you. Either you call or you fold, as the all-in move has taken the “play” away. How do you decide which path to follow? How do you know whether to call or fold? By assessing your poker.net odds based on the quality of your hand against your opposition’s hand range, you can determine with some accuracy how your hand ranks against the all-in over the long haul.

Quality of Your Hand

If you have a great starting hand, the decision to call or fold is quite simple. If, however, your holdings are average, you must look at the odds. Many players fail to consider odds when deciding whether to call a short-stack all-in. They think, “He is all-in and must have a hand. My ten – nine is surely no good here.” While your 10-9 may be behind now, you also may be getting sufficient odds to make the call. Poker is a game of incomplete information. As a result, there is no way to determine your exact odds, however by examining your hand against a range of hands, you can determine whether to call or fold.

Opposition Hand Ranges

Late in the tournament, short stacked players will move in with a wide range of hands. They will move with premium hands, as well as suited aces, connectors, small pocket pairs, and even their favorite hands – (i.e. – 7-2).

Let us look at how some random hands fair against your 10-9 offsuit:

· A-K vs. 10-9 10-9 prevails 37% of the time

· 6-6 vs. 10-9 10-9 will go on to win 48% of the time

· As-6s vs. 10-9 10-9 will go on to win 42% of the time

· Any pair, any suited, any two high cards vs. 10-9 – 10-9 will go on to win 44% of the time

· A-9 vs. 10-9 10-9 wins only 33% of the time

You can conclude that the only time you are way behind on this absolute poker download is when you are in a domination situation – such as A-9 vs. 10-9. Otherwise, you are at or around coin toss territory. As a result, you are incorrect to a huge degree by folding when you are getting around 2 to 1 to call.

By thinking through your odds when calling short stack all-ins, you will dominate the sit and go scene. Use your favorite poker calculator to run scenarios. Learn what hands hold up against other hands. Refine your game so you may know optimally when to call all-in bets from short stacks.