He’s likely to do this re-reaise with AA-JJ, AK-AQ

By shoving it’s likely you’ll get everything except AA and maybe KK to fold

And if you get a call you’re still in ok shape.

And if you get 2 callers well you only need to win a 1/3 of the time to break even.

Going all in is the only way to get the small pocket pair out of the hand.

#1 – The raiser is a bit loose.

#2 – You hold AK, suited.

#3 – Raiser being loose + you with AK means raise by button MOST likely does not hold AA or KK.

#4 – EP is probably a donk calling out of position with a medium pocket pair.

#5 – both players are medium stacked, and therefore do not pose a deep-stack threat against you.

RESULT = automatic ALL-IN

donk will call, EP will fold and you will have donk dominated, EP with PP will fold, and posed the only real threat

thanks for your comment. This is certainly a weak spot in my game and coming from limit-HE those bigger bets and also bigger swings are something I have trouble getting used to. I guess what you are trying to tell me is that the tougher the games the smaller edges I must accept to take and the higher the volatility will get, right?

Maybe you can help me on this line of thinking: If I have a limited amount of money (no money for a rebuy) should that change my play? Would it be wrong to pass up on a hand with a SMALL +EV and wait for a bigger +EV (I am talking about all-in situations!)? If this wasn’t about poker but about investing in stocks etc. I’d say that waiting would be better. Same in poker?

Aside from a strict financial point of view there might also be a psychological aspect: having a mindset of waiting for “better opportunities” might lead to an easy to read playing style that the other players could exploit. That’s certainly a difference to the anonymus stock market where nobody knows the other actors.

Or am I totally off track here?

You are only a big dog to AA or KK.

So, I would Reraise allin to attempt to take down the nice pot.

If called, you are mostly in a coin flip.

If the players are tight, then its a fold.

I think it’s very difficult to play tough no-limit if you are concerned about the implications of losing your stack. Medium-sized bluffs play a large role in a winning strategy, and if you aren’t pulling the trigger on them because you’re constantly “looking for a better spot,” ultimately I think you’re just not going to perform very well.

These stacks we’re talking about here are only ~60BB, small enough that you can count on getting all-in for that at least a few times every session. If you’re strongly concerned about losing 60BB, I frankly think you’re playing too big.

The 70% number is only relevant to EP if he has AA. I’m only saying that EP has plenty of incentive to let AKs or whatever into the pot. He has the opportunity to have 70% equity in a ginormous pot. I wouldn’t be so quick to rule that out. Not everyone just wants to cash in the dead $90 that is out there. There is $550 more to be had.