I'm going to assume that the guy that went all-in posted the Small Blind, otherwise he would be risking his chips against greater chip stacks than yours with whatever cards he has. I'm also going to assume, just for these purposes, that he doesn't have a stellar hand.
The first thing that we have to realize is that he made the correct play given that he posted the Small Blind. He's protecting his blind and he realizes that you are either going to Fold (and hope to backdoor your way into the cash) or call with whatever pile of crap you happen to have because a win will enable you to survive at least three more big blinds before you are all-in, by default.
In short, we're going to use this information to understand that the play he made is almost always the correct play, (something like 7-2, off might be an exception) so he doesn't have a dominating hand or anything...even though it could just so happen that he does.
Interestingly, heads-up (and you're basically playing heads-up at this point given that your opponent's decision was not based on the actions of previous players...they all folded) Queen-Garbage, Off-Suit is almost exactly a 50%er. In fact, I believe it is either Q-5, off or Q-4, off where you first fall below 50%.
Because this hand has about a 50/50 chance of winning against x-x, I'm going to go ahead and call it.
The reason for my decision is because I could find myself in a much worse situation when the big blind comes around to me again. For example, imagine I were to get dealt Q-4, off again, but this time three or four players call the big blind (or raise/call) and stick around to see the flop. With three players (including myself) still in for the pot my Q-4, off against X-X and X-X is only about a 25-30% hand. If three of my opponents stay in for that, then I am about 20% to win against x-x, x-x and x-x.
In other words, you're not even getting even pot-odds at that point. With the Q-4, off against x-x your payout was 2:1 and you were about 50% to win, so at least the pot odds were there.
The highest card often survives as a kicker in a heads-up situation, which is the reason why Q-4, off is probably a better hand than you expected it to be.
The other problem is that if Q-4, off is a 50%er, then the probability of you getting a better hand for your All-In in the Dark is just as high as the probability of drawing a worse hand. Once again, the difference is that youmight be up against more hands in the latter instance, so technically you're hoping and praying for a MUCH better hand than your 50%er.
Finally, virtually everyone in the tournament starts playing a bit more conservatively when it comes near cash-time, except for your biggest stacks. It's worse to be the first guy out of the cash than it is to be the first guy out of the tournament, because the first guy out of the tournament did not invest hours into grinding his way through.
In other words, it's pretty unlikely (and becomes less likely with the fewer people that will cash) that four players are going to drop out before the big blind comes around to you again, if that's what you were hoping for. Further, you will also risk going all-in in the dark with a hand that is less than 50%, particularly if you are up against more than one opponent.
If you call and win, however, then there may be a decent shot of you sticking around to cash before the big blinds eat you up. It might become necessary to make another move, though, but at least you have a couple of hands to wait for a more favorable situation.
Yeah, I'm definitely going to call that. I'm 50% to win the hand heads-up against x-x. I don't know if I am going to even get anyone alone again, so this could very well be the best chance I have at keeping myself in until cash time.
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