Poker near the bubble ???

Question

blinds are 5k n 10k and only 8 more people to bust before you get to the money, I only have 41k and less than 5m, Im next to bb and look down at A 9 off suits should I shove it in or wait for a better hand? I shove it in and get called by under d gun with pocket 99s n lost d race, did I play this wrong or are there any better way, please help and thank you for your advice. cheers and have a good one!

Answer 1

First, A9 vs 99 isn't a race.  A race is a pair against 2 over cards, like 10-10 vs AK.

Second, you have less than 3M, probably less than 2, if M is the number of orbits you have left.  Each orbit will cost you 15K in blinds, plus there is usually an ante at that point, I'm guessing at least 500, probably 1000.  That means that each orbit costs you 20-25k with antes.  That give you 2 orbits.  Without antes, you can see 3 BBs and 2 SBs, and then you'll only have 1k of the 5k SB on your final hand.

Third, if you're down that far, you have no real hope of outlasting 8 people.  It's the small stacks like yours that people wait out.  In that situation, a shoe with A9 isn't really a bad play.  You might not get anything better until it's too late anyway, and when you have 4 BBs, pushing with any marginal hand is a decent play.  Of course, it would have been better if you had caught a big A or a decent pair, but you have to go with what you get.

Answer 2

a/9 vs 9/9 aint a race, and you are no where near an m of 5 either.  With that being said, while you have such a low m, you are in way to early a position (utg) to push with having that hand (imo).  I personally would wait for a much later position to push with an a/rag.  Your odds of getting called by someone in a later position are just too high.  

If you have any hand, you are in push mode, however, I personally would want to know what the other stacks are at the table and how they are playing to answer this question better.  With the info available I would fold.

Answer 3

OK first of all i would say that calling is not an option here at all, you either fold the hand or push all in and hope to win the blinds. Were you short handed at the table, were you up front or in late position when you went all in?  Most pros when they go all in with a short stack would rather have a hand like 8-9 suited, then the A-9 here. Since most hands that will call you will have your hand crushed with a hand like A-J, or a pair like 9-9's.  But you can't wait for aces or kings in a spot like this, sometimes you just make an all in and you end up getting called by the better hand. Now in a spot where you had 3 limper's in the pot and you  choose to go all in, would not have been a great move since you don't have enough chips to price anyone out of the pot, but even with a single ace you were still only a 70-30 dog, so better luck next time.