Second-guessing myself
 

There's nothing like a good 20BI drop to make you review your play. I'm gonna post a few hands that I'm unsure of to see if I'm that far off... (these are all from $11s, 9-tabling, so no reads).

1.
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (5 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

BB (t1225)
UTG (t3130)
MP (t1370)
Hero (t1005)
SB (t1270)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
<font color="#CC3333">UTG raises to t400</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t1005 (All-In)</font>.

2.
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (9 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

MP2 (t830)
MP3 (t540)
CO (t560)
Button (t1280)
SB (t1170)
Hero (t625)
UTG (t510)
UTG+1 (t905)
MP1 (t1580)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">4 folds</font>, MP3 calls t100, <font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t625 (All-In)</font>.


3.
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t50 (9 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

MP1 (t480)
MP2 (t1040)
MP3 (t710)
CO (t610)
Button (t835)
SB (t665)
BB (t2345)
Hero (t770)
UTG+1 (t545)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
Hero calls t50, UTG+1 calls t50, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, MP3 calls t50, <font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, BB checks.

Flop: (t225) 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(4 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">BB bets t50</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t250</font>, <font color="#CC3333">UTG+1 raises to t495 (All-In)</font>, <font color="#CC3333">MP3 raises to t660 (All-In)</font>, BB folds, Hero calls t410.

4.
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (7 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

UTG (t155)
MP1 (t1165)
MP2 (t1680)
CO (t1100)
Button (t1550)
Hero (t805)
BB (t1545)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, CO calls t100, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t805 (All-In)</font>.


5.
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (5 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

MP (t1810)
Button (t1915)
Hero (t725)
BB (t3120)
UTG (t430)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, MP calls t150, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t725 (All-In)</font>.

6.
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (10 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

SB (t1310)
BB (t785)
UTG (t740)
UTG+1 (t645)
UTG+2 (t475)
MP1 (t800)
MP2 (t785)
Hero (t790)
CO (t775)
Button (t895)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, UTG+1 calls t15, <font color="#CC3333">UTG+2 raises to t30</font>, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t100</font>, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">SB raises to t170</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, UTG+1 folds, <font color="#CC3333">UTG+2 raises to t475 (All-In)</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t790 (All-In)</font>.



(I guess this is my little hall of shame)

Re: Second-guessing myself
 

1. Standard. A stop and go could be argued, but you may even have more fold equity preflop. You're certainly playing the hand.

2. Good unless the limper is a known good/tricky player.

3. I like limping JJ preflop early, but I think you have to raise it when the blinds are this size. Flop play is fine - if you had a healthier stack, a fold could be argued. This is actually an interesting hand all the way through - probably worthy of it's own thread.

4. Good.

5. Same as #4. Note these pushes are only good because of your stack size. Any bigger stack and you could complete or fold, and any smaller and you lose all fold equity (though a push may be fine anyway in that case).

6. The SB min-re-raise is troublesome here, and if you are ever going to find a fold preflop in a $10 it might be in this type of case, but if you start looking for reasons to fold QQ at a full table at the lower limits, you'll get yourself into some trouble.

At best, your play is very solid, at worst, it's fine. If you're playing subomptimally, it's not because of the hands you posted. Most likely just a bad run.

Re: Second-guessing myself
 

I concur with UMTerp.

Re: Second-guessing myself
 

1) Standard

2) The 5h sucks here, you are probably behind or coin flip with most hands MP3 limps with and he is very likely to call your push. I can check.

3) That's how I play it, but I am seeing a bunch of posters raising pre-flop here - playing QQ and JJ the same way.

4) Standard

5) Standard

6) At the $11s you could be facing ANYTHING here. I roll off a "bring it!" when I push this.

Re: Second-guessing myself
 

[ QUOTE ]
9-tabling, so no reads...

Big Blind is t200 (5 handed)...
Big Blind is t100 (9 handed)...
Big Blind is t50 (9 handed)...
Big Blind is t100 (7 handed)...
Big Blind is t150 (5 handed)...

[/ QUOTE ]

Multi-tabling does not implicitly mean that you can't have reads. In fact, getting to this stage in a SNG and having no idea at all how your opponents play will make it difficult to beat even the $11's at any significant rate.

You are certainly playing too many tables.

Irieguy

Re: Second-guessing myself
 

[ QUOTE ]
getting to this stage in a SNG and having no idea at all how your opponents play will make it difficult to beat even the $11's at any significant rate.

[/ QUOTE ]

I disagree with that statement, because your average $11 player is ridiculously bad. It is certainly possible to beat them at a significant rate absent reads of any kind as long as your bubble skills are solid.

However, I will agree that 9-tabling $11's shouldn't be high on any aspiring player's to do list. Get your skill set up to a higher level, then add in tables if you can.

The only ways I can see 9-tabling $11's as a good exercise is if your "normal" game is higher and you are simply working on multitabling skills, or if you are in the midst of some type of bankroll recovery exercise.

Re: Second-guessing myself
 

It is interesting to see what is the range for the limpers. if 2 cards worth limping at this level, they should be raised, especially in the late positions. QJ+/44+?

[ QUOTE ]

4. Good.

5. Same as #4. Note these pushes are only good because of your stack size. Any bigger stack and you could complete or fold, and any smaller and you lose all fold equity (though a push may be fine anyway in that case).

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Second-guessing myself
 

[ QUOTE ]
It is interesting to see what is the range for the limpers... QJ+/44+?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think you need to put an upper limit on typical limpers' ranges too.

And since hands like A5 and A7 may only be slighly better (or even worse) than 50-50 against typical limpers' ranges, most of your edge from pushing these hands comes from the times the limpers fold.

Re: Second-guessing myself
 

I'll echo what Irie and Terp said. If the 11s are your regular game, there's no way in hell you should be 9 tabling them. That is the surest way to stunt your development as a player. You should be focusing on improving your own game and having some understanding of how your opponents play.

Re: Second-guessing myself
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
getting to this stage in a SNG and having no idea at all how your opponents play will make it difficult to beat even the $11's at any significant rate.

[/ QUOTE ]

I disagree with that statement, because your average $11 player is ridiculously bad. It is certainly possible to beat them at a significant rate absent reads of any kind as long as your bubble skills are solid.

However, I will agree that 9-tabling $11's shouldn't be high on any aspiring player's to do list. Get your skill set up to a higher level, then add in tables if you can.

The only ways I can see 9-tabling $11's as a good exercise is if your "normal" game is higher and you are simply working on multitabling skills, or if you are in the midst of some type of bankroll recovery exercise.

[/ QUOTE ]

Perhaps we just have a different number in mind when using the term "significant rate."

But there's no way you can have a 20% ROI without considering your opponents and their tendancies to any degree at all.

In fact, I would say that you see the widest range in terms of player tendancies at the lower limits. You will have some "pros," some rocks, many donks, and even some people who are just drunk and open pushing whenever they feel like it. You really need to know who you are up against.

Irieguy