Early level SNG decisions. Fold or Call?

[shoeman]

Here are some early round SNG decisions I've come across lately. What are everybody's thoughts on calling/folding these hands?? Is it too early to make these calls? No real reads on any of the players yet?


Party Poker $10+1 NL tournament.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (10 handed) converter

CO (t730)
Button (t730)
SB (t855)
BB (t1010)
UTG (t805)
UTG+1 (t760)
Hero (t775)
MP1 (t730)
MP2 (t755)
MP3 (t850)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+2 with Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t100</font>, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, <font color="#CC3333">MP3 raises to t850. MP3 is all-in. </font>, CO folds, Button folds, SB folds, BB folds. Hero ??



Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (10 handed) converter

CO (t730)
Button (t730)
SB (t855)
BB (t1010)
UTG (t805)
UTG+1 (t760)
Hero (t775)
MP1 (t730)
MP2 (t755)
MP3 (t850)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+2 with A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#CC3333">UTG call t30</font>, UTG+1 folds, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t125.</font>, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, CO folds, Button folds, SB folds, <font color="#CC3333">BB calls t125.</font> <font color="#CC3333"> UTG calls t95. </font>

Flop: (t180) 6[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 2[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(3 players)</font>
UTG checks. <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t200.</font>, <font color="#CC3333">BB raises to t985. BB is all-in.</font>, UTG folds. Hero ??

[El Maximo]

At the 10s, Im getting my money in with QQ and TPTK. You will see the Villians show down worse hands a majority of the time.

[shoeman]

What percentage of the time do you think I'm ahead here? Does this justify a call considering a)it is early and b)if I lose, I am knocked out. If I double, I'm still not guaranteed to finish in the money.

[El Maximo]

The main reason you get your chips in here is that at the 10s you will be ahead most of the time. They will go all-in with TP and crap kicker. And they will push preflop with a wide range of hands.

In Hand #1
If he shows you AA or KK just say nice hand and start another one.

In Hand #2
If he hit his set than good for him and start another one.

[gorgeous]

Raise more preflop. 200 is fine, 300 if you want to be safe.

Hand #1 is an easy call here. With your raise and with no read, he probably thinks you have a weak ace and wants to take it down with a small/medium pair (fools at 10's love overvaluing those medium pairs). The only hands you really have to worry about are AA/KK/AK, which have a minimum/medium-sized raise associated with them.

Hand 2 is a not-so-easy call since you might be up against K6 or K2. Personally I would lay it down here since it's so early in the tournament and outplay them later.

[El Maximo]

You are going to see AK, KQ, KJ, and KT most of the time. I would never lay this down at the 10s. I would be more concerned if an A hit the flop instead of a K. A2 and A6 are more likely holdings. You are behind a set but most will slowplay sets. I think you are ahead on this one and need to play it aggressively.

[morgan180]

hand 1 - call you're ahead so often at the 10s it's not even funny. you may see this move from any AK-AJ through smaller pockets down to 77.

hand 2 - call - people slow play sets, even 2 pair at this level. you're probably looking at KQ/KJ/KT here.

at the 10s i think these calls are definitely +ev

[BLin]

Not that this means a whole lot, but I've had hand 2 exactly a number of times and i have yet to lose. Most of the time the other guy has KQ-KT. I think it is a definite call.