Re: Unusual PF play.
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The problem with this play is that your hand becomes very transparent.
If somebody limps from a position when it is almost impossible that they are trapping with a big pair, and then pushes when the pot gets sweeter from a few weak raises and calls behind... what do they have?
So, you give all the other players the option of racing you when they know that your range is very narrow. This makes it difficult for your opponents to make a big mistake, and because a SNG involves only a few hands, you really want to create situations where you are giving your opponents a chance to make really, really big mistakes.
By seeing a flop here, you will have opportunities where your opponents can make big mistakes for their whole stack. You will lose a few chips often, and gain a bunch sometimes. By pushing preflop, you will win a few chips often, and lose a bunch sometimes. You will rarely win a bunch, and if you do, it will not be because you forced your opponents into a horrible play. (The exception to this would be if your opponents were particularly likely to call with smaller pairs, and fold with overcards. But this isn't typical at the levels you play.)
Irieguy
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This is exactly the thought process that should be involved in whether or not to push here. You state one side of the argument quite well. The reasons why looking at the example I gave is a push in my mind though are these:
- Although your hand is made transparent by pushing it is extremly likely to be the best hand, and it will be very difficult for anyone to justify calling looking for a race because you could have two big-ish cards (AQo, AJs, KQ) OR a medium pair (JJ-77), so they can't sit there with thier KQ and call 'knowing' they will be a race. Also you will be all-in so you won't be hurt be giving away your hand as much as in deepstack because there are no implied odds offered to your opponents on post flop decisions.
Also this doesn't (as was a point of yours) force them into big mistakes when you push but the key to this hand is the stack sizes. You are pushing to win about 235 chips, more (about a 25% stack increase). By calling the 30 chips you have a chance to win about 800 more by stacking someone which you will almost certaintly need to flop a set to do. Now take the times you flop a set (1 in 8) and the times you are actually able to win a signifigant amount of chips in this multi way pot where nobody has a strong hand and you can figure out what you stand to gain by "giving up" the opportunity to take down this 25% stack increase immediatly.
My point being that forcing one opponent into a very bad decision is of decreasing importance when you can gain from SEVERAL opponents making marginally bad decisions.
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