just a thought because I don't like your all-in play.
what's the point in going all in with the big stack and AJ ? You only expect a call from a better hand against a normal opponent..
usually when I'm in ur situation I like raising 3/4 BB at every hand no matter what I have and against the vast majority of opponents either he raises all in in which case I call if I think my hand is good or I immediatly release if it is pure garbage OR i steal the blinds.
And against most opponent, with a big stack on ur side, the 3/4 BB you lose when the opponent go all-in and you fold are largely compensated by the blinds you steal from him.
Put the most pressure u can, that way you keep growing your stack at low risk, but definitly do not play all in on your big hands because you'll often win small pots and from time to time lose big ones when called by a better hand.

euri10 --

I think that you need to reconsider your logic. If I'm in an SNG, down to my last 2000 with only two players left and high blinds, I'm going to call an all in with a ton of hands worse than AJ, including many but not all Ax, Kx, and Qx hands, and so will the vast majority of players.

you're absolutly right.
but what's the point in going all in with a good hand (AJ) against a short stack when BB are big ?
imho it's far more efficient to raise 3/4 BB even with those big hands, no need to go all in.

because raising not all in can give more information that you want a call than if you just go all in which could look like you just want him to fold. With blinds that big, you can get him to commit all his chips with a much lesser hand because he doesn't have time to wait and has to get lucky a couple times.

At this stage of the game, it takes a stronger hand to go all in over the top of a raise, or call a raise than it would be to call an all in, as strange as it seems.

you had a 4 to 1 lead on him, the tourney was far from over.....i've come back with 100 chips heads up in a sng....you took your shots when you had cards, and he won the coinflips


$hit happens

Ok, I'm with Euri on this. I rarely get 2nd, so I know my strategy is effective, at least at the lower limits. When I get to the money, esp when I get head's up, I'm the favorite in my mind, because I most often win. "Second place is the first loser." Dale Earnhardt, Sr.

If I have the chip lead, I keep up relentless pressure. I'll raise on the button, raise from the BB if called, fold often, then come back with a big raise for half their chips. I'm playing the player more than the cards. It's either that or depend on luck, as almost all head's up hands are coin flips. I'd rather depend on outplaying.

All in rarely ever works for me. If I'm way ahead on my opponent and he's going all in all the time, I'll just fold, patiently, and wait for the hand that's going to kill him. It will come, in time. Whenever I go all in, I usually end up doubling them up. It's far better to roll them one hand at a time. They most often will fold up under the pressure and decide second place is ok. Between the pressure of the blinds and my firing at them, never knowing if I'll fold or reraise, check-raising, folding again, then hitting them for half their chips, it's tough for most as there aren't a lot who get into this position all that often.

All in is overrated, imho, esp at the lower limits. People go all in with the nuts, or with a bluff. I want to play the pots in between the hands in between like second pair. Those they don't know how to play. There seems to be a LOT more pressure for half their chips than for all of them. It works for me. (I also have a very strong table image by this time, so I have the edge in this way, which may make my play more effective as well.)

Not bragging, guys, as today proves I probably suck a lot more than I think. Really bad, today. Played right, just lost every chance I gave. Except one, which was a first place, played exactly this way. 4 to 1 lead, down below 1 to 1 (after I put her all in and she hit), then back over the top. Simply too much pressure and she cracked.

Cactus Jack,

So if you have AJ you'd raise to T1000 (assuming opponent has T2000, you have T8000, blinds at 200/400)? But then you'd have to call an allin reraise, right? And many opponents with only T2000 will go allin with many hands here since they just want to either double up or get it over with. And I figure that with AJ I'm better than a coinflip.

I completely agree that outplaying your opponent is much better than taking coinflips all the time. But with high blinds you cannot wait for a monster, right? If you raise one hand and fold to a reraise and then fold one or two more crap hands, your opponent is back in the game.

Pieter

I'm in the camp where you just throw in a 3xBB raise every time you're in the small blind and keep the pressure on while waiting for the moment it seems right to either call or raise all-in.

Just wear him down while you're waiting for the right time, force the opponent to make a mistake.