The lesser of two evils

When you're short-stacked in a tournament, your options are limited. You can't fold every hand, or else you'll be blinded off. However, if you pay to see the flop, and whiff, you only have two realistic options, and neither one is very palatable.

Option 1: go all in.

Option 2: fold. 

Downside of option 1: you put your tournament life at risk.

Upside of option 1: if you win the hand, you double up.

Downside of option 2: your stack shrinks, putting your future tournament life at risk.

Upside of option 2: you live to play at least one more hand.

You must choose which is the lesser of two evils. Which option you choose will be influenced by factors like the precise size of your stack and how near the money bubble is to bursting. Last night, on my final hand of the tournament, I chose option 1.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      66   18    31        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $41,653,268
2021 balance: $15,831,500
blue distance: $508,000
balance: $93,496,953