The other side of the GAP

[NegativeEV]

General concensus on this board is that proper use of the GAP theory from TPFAP is a critical component of late SnG play (i.e. the GAP increases folding equity and makes late aggression profitable). Although I feel I'm adequately increasing my aggression to maximize folding equity and utilize the GAP theory when stealing blinds, I'm much less confident when on the other side of the steal attempt. Maybe my GAP is too large (high, big, terminology?), but I find myself laying down AQ, AJ, KQs, etc. when I'm on the bubble in the blind and UTG or CO raise to a level that puts my stack in peril (i.e. raise has me covered or forces me to go all in if I'm going to play).

I was watching one of Strasser's games on replayer and I notice that he called the CO's all-in raise of ~ T1000 from the big blind with AQo when his stack was ~ T1700 (blinds 100/200) and there were 4 (or 5) players left. The CO had A7 and the call put Stasser in a commanding position.... this is not a call I make. I'm not sure whether he had a read from previous games that influenced this call, but I'm curious what hands we should generally be calling with at this stage in the game when we have a healthy stack and calling puts the vast majority of our stack in the middle. I suspect that I'm being too tight in this situation.

[Crispyk]

SNG's are all situational, You can't really just play the cards. Now if the guy who pushed in a 1000 chips... with 5 players left... he had exactly 5 bets left... not very many considering it takes 1 1/2 bets every time the puck passes ya. There are a wide range of hands that this guy would push in with. Pocket Pairs.. Ax's AQ looks good in this situation.... very few hands really dominate it.

[NegativeEV]

Thanks for the reply. I agree, making a call for your stack is always situational and dependent upon more factors than can fit in this post. Because of this it may be dangerous to discuss generalities, but I think that is all we have space/patience for here. In general, are you calling with AQ, AJ.... in this or a similar situation? Where is the line in hands that you'll call with in a similar scenario, KQ, AT? Why?

thanks,
-EV

[durron597]

He was calling a bet of 800 (since he posted 200) to win a pot of 1200, so he was getting 3:2 on the call. That means he easily has odds to call any two cards except AA, KK, QQ, AK. Since the shortstack was so short he could have a much wider range of hands than those four. I would only not make that call if the CO was playing unusually tight (and thus a wider gap).

[adanthar]

I'm calling with anything AT+ and 99+, although I'll fold KQ since it's much more likely to be a dog. Most people won't push AA-QQ or AK (I'll sometimes exploit this and push AK), but they will push smaller aces, medium pairs and big kings. I'm *much* more likely to be way ahead or a coin flip with AQ than behind, so, yeah, I make this call.

Conversely, KQ is a 3:2 dog to A3o, so it gets tossed.