First Post, and a hand question

[J.D.]

Hi All, I have been merely a lurker for a while now and decided it was time to post, and hopefully improve my game. Recently I have been playing Party SNG's (11's), bought SNGPT, been reading this forum, etc to get better. Thanks to all of you for helping with that.

I know I have huge problems with my bubble play (hence SNGPT)and this is one situation I have issues with, no hand history but here goes:

Party Speed $11, Blinds 200/400

JD is on the BTN with 5k
SB 3500
BB 3500
CO 8000 (he has been aggressive with the chip lead, making constant raises without showing anything down.

JD is dealt JJ, CO raises to 1200, JD does what? and why?

Thanks again for all your advice, I look forward to participating more as I get better at this game.

JD

[alvaroaze]

I would go all in. CO is the chip leader as is being agressive, so his range is very wide. SB and BB would need a monster to call, so its an easy push, imho.

[adrockuk]

Yeah i agree with Alva, another point to note is that because the other two shorter stacks are really not that short there's not as much value in waiting for them to bust. All in all a good resteal opportunity.

[ger664]

I would tend to agree with other posters however If he is going to spitcall you with top 30% hand it is -$EV ~.5%.

How bad a play is flat call given if you can/have to let go you still have ~7 BB ?

[Wolfram]

You almost certainly have the best hand here. Folding is obviously out, so your options are:

1. Call and see a flop
2. Raise

You can't make a meaningful raise preflop without being pot commited so for (2) you push.

If you call you allow your opponent an opportunity to catch an overcard to your pair and therefore you lose value for your hand. Also if the flop comes with no overs, it's hard to imagine that you'll get more money from him.

So to close: You have the best hand (probably), there's tons of money in the pot, and you have Fold Equity so push.

[Austiger]

I hate flat calling here. Aggro chipleader will surely bet another 2k on the flop and you'll probably be looking at overcards. I would push.

[alvaroaze]

Yes, flat calling is the worst. He will bet most of the flops and you will have a much tougher decision. Just push preflop.

[Jintster]

You have to push here. It’s obviously chip +EV as I’m sure you’ve learnt from SNGPT.

I don’t yet have that tool, but from all I’ve heard it’s very useful in improving your late game play. But from my experience as a low level donk, the psychology of pushing is just as important. Ideally he’ll call your push with a lesser hand and you’ll be a favourite to double up. But it’s almost as good if he folds. You’ll have shown him and the table that you can play aggressively too. You’ll be second in chips and be in a position to bust the sb and the bb and cripple him. People will be wary of raising you when you’re in the blinds and wary of your raises.

What I’m trying to say is that SNGPT will refine your game but first you have to EMBRACE the concept of fold equity. That’s not all that easy because it’s quite counter-intuitive - only twenty minutes ago you were folding KTo now you’re putting you’re tournament life on the line for it! The numbers are crucial here, of course, but there’s a lot of feel here too. Position, egos of the other players, stack sizes, when blinds are going up, your recent table image. For example, if I’ve pushed two hands in a row and taken the blinds, I’ll need a much better hand for the hat-trick.

I’ve been playing online at the $5 and $6 levels for about six months. I’ve known all this in theory for several months but only in the last couple of weeks have I really put it not practice. My game has been transformed - I’ve gone from a break-even player at best to having a 100% ROI (admittedly after only 60 games, but even so) and that’s on the basis of a very limited grasp of this concept. And it’s a virtous circle - when you know you’ve got that edge against most players at this level when the blinds get big, it’s much easier to play tight in the early rounds. Being tight in the early rounds gives you extra fold equity later on.

I hope you won’t mind me giving you some unsolicited advice about buy-in either. If I were you, I’d move down to the $5 level until you’re comfortable enough with these concepts to crush that game. I wouldn’t do that at Party because of the rake. Stars players at this level are no better that Party ones (although avoid Full Tilt where the quality is quite a bit better).

Hope this helps. Hope even more that the vast majority of people on this site who are way better players than me will say if I’m wrong about any of this.

[Dr_Jeckyl_00]

All-in, your hand is too good, there are no short stacks. If anyone calls you're in good shape. Calling is very very BAD!

[Jay Riall]

I went into the call feature on SNGPT and push his range at 22+,A2s+,A2o+,K7s+,K9o+,Q8s+,QTo+,JTs, JTo which I think is a pretty reasonable range for his raise here. Calling with JJ if he had pushed here is slightly -EV, but very +cEV. However, you have tonnes of fold equity in this spot if you push, which will make this a very +EV move. I disagree with Jinster saying 'he’ll call your push with a lesser hand and you’ll be a favourite to double up.' The only hand I want to be called with here is an underpair really. I'm not particularly keen to get in a 7:3 showdown with him when I can takedown 1800 chips without having to put my tournament on the line. I also don't want to be called by AK, AQ or KQ and be in a coinflip for all of my chips.