Jam versus min-raise decision when BB is short but SB has a stack that can damage us

In practice you want to make the play that most effectively steals the blinds with the least amount of risk. That risk doesn't just include the risk of getting called if you jam. It also includes the chance that if you minraise, the 20 bb stack could rejam and force you to fold.

If you're in the money with pay jumps approaching, jamming could actually be the GTO play here even with the 20 bb stack in there. They will have to call tighter than usual because they don't want to bust before the shorter stacks, since you cover them. So getting called by the 20 BB stack shouldn't happen that often if they are playing correctly. Also you have an ace, which blocks the strongest hands like AA, AK, etc.

A2s is a GTO shove from the button at 20 BB for chip EV. A2o is a worse hand, but not drastically so.

We do tend to go a couple pips wider with suited hands than offsuit ones in such situations.

Stage of tournament matters a lot here, so I can't give you a good answer without knowing that.

This is probably a fine jam most of the time, in any case.

If I didn't jam, I would size up a bit to exert pressure on the BB, like 2.3-2.5x.

Thanks for the comments. I found the hand from a search for spots where I was 3 bet preflop. I figured out from stats I may very well be continuing too much against 3 bets pre, hence the search. I think I reacted to a throw-away comment by Jonathan Little that led me to potentially call too often pre versus a 3 bet.

In any case, I had to dig around a bit to work out the tourney stage for this hand. It turns out it was an $11 mystery tourney. This is going to change things, perhaps incentivizing the jam. Apart from anything else, if SB were to call we have a bounty shot. I believe I was shallow in the money, with bounties available.

Both comments are useful though because I am looking at my overall strategy in different spots. They have made me think more about adapting here to different stages of a tourney.

It is an interesting idea to size up a bit. I hadn't thought of this versus big blind as I felt I would then be committed, so little difference to a jam. However, with the SB lurking it could really make a difference.

I think I like the jam here. Specifically because it is a bounty tournament. SB will rarely make the call and you will likely get folds from A9-A2 and maybe even ATo. Also PP's 22-55 will be folded. Even 66 and 77 sometimes.

As far as BB goes I prefer this because a min raise may get called and then stop n go when you are ahead but missed the flop.

Also when you hit your 2 on the flop if BB called then you are in a tough spot because BB might not Stop n' Go with Top pair or better. And if they do, even if you are ahead they will have draws.

In a non-bounty tournament I might min raise but then I think I will have to call BB's jam getting almost 2:1 pot odds. Still I prefer that because SB will always 3-bet jam with hands that have us crushed (so we can fold) but if we jam first then we could have just 30% chance of winning and if we lose it would be down to < 12 bb's.

Shipping is probably ok, but in a somewhat different spot, say SB had 30BB as well, shipping becomes a disaster.

Instead, use a size that obviously commits us vs the BB but doesn't versus the SB, say 4-5BB

That may well be correct here.