All In pre-flop !?

[afatsar]

Hi everybody,

Is it stupid to Raise All In at pre-flop ?

Sure, it's very dangerous but If we are dealer, there are no raise, and we have, a stupid hand, like 9-5.

Maybe we can take the blinds, and If a player call, we can raise a lot !!

It's a very good operation a think !?

[frob23]

What stack sizes do we have and do the other people at the table have?
What are the blinds?
Has anyone else shown interest in this hand (by limping or raising)?
What is our position?
How many people are left to act?
How loose/tight are the people left to act and what have they called with before?
Do the blinds defend their blinds or fold to a raise?
What is our hand and how does it play hot/cold (all-in against another hand)?
What is our image?
Is this a tournament or a cash game?
If it's a tournament, are the blinds going up soon?



When we have good answers to those questions, we can have a real opinion on if it is stupid or not.

From what I read, you're talking about a hand like 9-5 on the button when it folds to you. This hand plays terribly hot/cold even if you're called by any two cards (43:57) and you'll probably be called by a better range than that. If I put in a better range, where you are getting called with about 32% of the hands a player might call a shove with, it is (33:67).

So about 46% of the time, you'll pick up the blinds. And over half the time, you'll be a 2:1 dog to win a bigger pot (which will happen less than 18% of the time). And about 36% of the time, you go broke shoving that hand. Granted, stack sizes will play a role here both in the range people will call you with and the potential gain if you win.

But, in general, it's a bad idea. That is unless there are really special circumstances. Which we could know if all the above questions were answered.

[DeadBabySoup]

depends on the situation. here are a few where it's a good idea:

you have AA. the pot has been raised and re-raised in front of you. depending on stack sizes, it maybe better to simply raise three times the previous raise. but you don't want multiple players in the hand. so going all in is a good move. in this situation, we're happy to take the pot now with no risk. or get one caller.

another situation is when you're a short stack and you need to make something happen. say you have less than 10 big blinds left and you get AK. three or four players limp in front of you. at this point, there's probably enough chips in the pot to nearly double up if everyone folds. so we shove all in. we'd rather everyone fold. but we'll take a call. the worst likely situation is a coin flip. there's a strong chance we could get called by AQ, AJ or AT. we'd love that call.

another situation is when you're the big stack at the table an you have a lot of small stacks on the bubble trying to make the money. if you have a bunch of limpers in the pot and you're last to act, you can shove all in with any 2 cards. i like to do this from the big blind when no one in the pot has more than 10% of my chip stack. i prefer to do it with a reasonable hand like a pocket pair or at least KQ. but everyone should fold anyway, so you can do it with any hand.

another situation where i'll shove is the first hand of a tournament. if i have AA or KK, sometimes i'll shove all in. you'll get called by a wide range of hands. people will think you're a donk and call with a small pair or AK, AQ, AJ, AT, KQ, etc. it's a bit unorthodox, but can be very effective.

there are many situations where you don't want to go all in pre-flop. you don't want to go all in early in a tournament when you think you're in a coin flip. if someone is all in in front of you and you have AK or a small pair, you can fold. the reason being, you're likely in a coin flip. if you were to play every coin flip situation all in pre-flop, your chances of making the money are slim. you have a 50% chance of winning one coin flip. 25% of winning 2. 12% chance of winning 3. 6% of winning 4. and 3% of winning 5. so it's better to see a flop in these situations and outplay your opponents after the flop. or fold if they move all in first.

the absolute worst time to push all in is on a bluff. whether it's pre-flop or after the flop. if you do bluff (and i recommend you rarely do) you're better of betting something like 3 times the big blind. in most situations, people are just as likely to fold. but if your all in bluff gets called, you're going to be crushed.

the situation you posted is a very bad all in. you have 2 players to act behind you. either could have a strong hand. and someone in front of you could have been slow playing a big hand. if you are going to bluff there, simply bet 3 times big blind. but really, you're better off folding. you'll do better playing your hand than getting cute and making bad bluffs.