How to Play Top Pair When Short-Stacked in a Tournament

Today I wanted to do something a little different. Instead of reviewing a tournament hand I played, I'm instead going to analyze a hand someone else played — one that is quite educational.

It was early in a small-stakes live tournament, and the player — Chad — already had a relatively shorter stack than others with 1,150 with the blinds 25/50.

The hand began with Chad making a 3x raise to 150 from early position with . As I state in the video below, I'd recommend a smaller opening raise size here (perhaps 2.3-2.5x BB). Two players called — the cutoff and button — and the flop came .

Chad continued with a bet of 200 into the pot of 525, and I talk about how this is a spot where it can make…