Heads Up hand vs. ZeeJustin...200SnG

[Inthacup]

ZeeJustin and I just butted heads in a 200 SnG. Just after 3rd place busted out, this hand came up:

Blinds are 250-500. I'm in the SB with T-2095. I get 4 /images/graemlins/club.gif3 /images/graemlins/club.gif. I decide to push all in.

Am I the only one who goes all in here with just about everything? Playing against someone like Z, if I fold, I'll have T-1300 after the 500 BB and Zee ain't the most passive guy around. I feel like the extra T-750 in blinds are worth risking my stack for here.

Ok, so taking that into consideration, if you were in Justin's shoes, what range of hands do you call with?

This turned out to be a whacky SnG and I'll let Justin post his hand and/or reasoning if he wants to.

Cup

[boedeker]

if i were justin and it were 1.1k more to me i would call you with QT+

[stripsqueez]

i dont think you need to justify what you push with pre-flop when your first to speak, heads up, with less than T2,000 after posting and T750 on the table in blinds - sometimes, if i'm feeling tight, i dont even look at my hand before pushing in that scenario

i think he should call with everything but the complete garbage - 108o certainly gets a run as does any Q

stripsqueez - chickenhawk

[Gramps]

If I thought you were the sort that would push just about any two here (and would keep pushing every SB on the short stack, and might make a semi-loose call on my SB push of crap), I'd call with some crappy hands - probably top 2/3 or so. You're not getting back to 3k/4k without winning a showdown.

If your previous play suggested that you fold too much and don't realize the dire urgency you were in, I might call top half or so, since you'll do a fine job of keeping yourself in your deep whole by folding every other SB or so to me, letting me wait til a better spot to make you win a showdown.

Against even a lot of good players, you have some fold equity on the push, and that will probably disappear with one fold + BB fold if you get crap next hand (since you'll probably be pushed on). If you get called, it's really not a worse spot than going fold, fold (in BB) and push with even a good (not great) hand, since winning a showdown by then in a better spot will still get you back to far short of where winning with 43s would have (4k vs. 2.5k or so, meaning you're still going to have to take additional risks to get to 4k, etc...)

[ChrisV]

You should always push in this situation. The size of the blinds makes running any hand +EV. If he believes you're raising every hand, Zee only requires a hand that wins 37.5% of the time to break even. That's actually every hand EXCEPT: 83o, 42s, 82o, 73o, 53o, 63o, 32s, 43o, 72o, 52o, 62o, 42o, 32o. Every other hand has positive chip equity from calling. Most people don't actually raise every hand, and chip equity isn't the only story here - sometimes a containment strategy of keeping the other guy on a reasonably low stack is better. I'd still call with a lot of stuff - something like 96s and up.

[Daliman]

I totally disagree. When you are giving 2500-1500 pot odds, you should at LEAST have some high card strength with it. If you are called, you're screwed, and you will get called ALOT.

I call here any decent face slighty connected or suited, and any pair.

[ChrisV]

I'm not screwed when I get called. 43s wins 38.64% of the time versus a random hand so my loss compared to folding is slightly over 200 chips. Meanwhile every time you fold to me I win 750 chips. I don't really understand what "any decent face slighty connected or suited" means, but I take it you'll be folding here a whole hell of a lot.

Before you protest that taking 43s's win rate vs a random hand is wrong because your calling hands won't be random, remember that the only folds you can make that hurt me are 32 and 42. Every other hand you fold helps me because it either beats or dominates me. Folds like 84o and 83o for example are spectacularly good for me.

Your concern about offering good pot odds with a bad hand is misplaced. The reason the pot odds are so good is because the blinds are massive. The alternative to offering good pot odds is to abandon those massive blinds entirely.

[Huhmare]

[ QUOTE ]
only folds you can make that hurt me are 32 and 42.

[/ QUOTE ]

Every possible hand would be worth calling here if your opponent knew your cards. You can't expect that your cards to be "live" so you really cannot dominate any hand( not even 42 32). Also the straight and flush possibilities are quite small..

[ChrisV]

Yeah you're absolutely right, I hadn't thought it through properly. BB can't do better than an average win of 200 chips per hand. That's heads up with a short stack for you.