u/--Galaxy--

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some feedback on a spot I faced recently. I think I played it too passively, and I’m trying to verify if my "survival" mindset cost me a massive chunk of tournament equity.

The Situation:

Tournament: €300 buy-in.

Context: 30 players left, 13 paid.

Action: 8-handed table. UTG shoves 13BB. It folds to me in the CO with 23BB.

Hand: TT

Average Stack: 28BB.

I ended up folding here. In the moment, I justified it by wanting to preserve my 23BB stack for a better spot, but looking back, it feels like I gave up way too much equity by not calling or iso-shoving a 13BB jam with TT. I did not have a solid read on UTG's image, but he looked quite confident with his shove.

My questions for the sub:

1. Against a 13BB open-shove from UTG, what should be the bottom of my calling range here? Am I folding too much by letting go of TT?
2. Strategically, should I be splitting my range? For example: calling with QQ+/AK to trap, and iso-shoving with the rest (JJ-88, AQ)? Or is "flat-calling" a shove always a mistake in this spot?
3. How much does the "13 paid" payout structure (with 30 left) influence this? Does it justify a tighter-than-normal calling range, or is this still a pure "Chip EV" spot?