My low-level SNG quiz

[jeffraider]

1. Fold.
2. Call.
3. Fold.
4. Fold.
5. This one is tricky for me, I think it's a close push. I'd give a better answer if I could see all of the stack sizes left in play.
6. Fold.
7. Easiest push ever!
8. Easiest fold ever!
9. Fold. I hate my hand here considering the action especially when I've only got 300 chips left, I'm feeling like my chances of winning are very very slim here. The caller must have an extremely good hand to make this call, and if he's at all solid I think he may fold even AK/TT here, so I'd feel like he had an overpair.
10. Fold.

[luckyplayer]

1. Fold
2. Call
3. Fold. You're most likely ahead, but if you feel you can outplay the field, no need to put your tournament life on the line here.
4. Fold. No reason to get "resteal" fancy at this point
5. Push. A standard raise would be too much of your stack
6. Fold
7. Push. Steal from medium stack while small stack is preserved
8. Fold. Keep small stack alive
9. Fold. Hello money.
10. Fold. Read says you're more than likely losing here.

[pokerlaw]

ok here goes:

1) Fold
2) Mini-raise
3) if he has been pushing more than 3-4 times PF already, I call. very read dependent. no read, i fold angrily.
4) Fold
5) Push
6) Fold
7) Push
8) Fold
9) Fold
10) Fold (b/c of the "overly passive" thing)

[ZebraAss]

I may be completely confused by Poker stars 1500 chips but I'll give it a shot...

1. Fold
2. Limp
3. Fold
4. Fold
5. Push
6. Push
7. Push
8. Fold
9. Call
10. Push

[Al P]

25 Turbos are my bread and butter. Although I probably don't play the same as most players, I can guarantee I have one of the highest ROI's at the $25's on this board.

1) Fold - AQ sucks OOP. Against a solid UTG raise this is auto-muck even in position.

2) Call - I've tripled up off so many flops of AQ6 it's ridiculous. The extra starting chips make playing small pairs in any position during early levels +EV.

3) If I have a note on him being a donk (I have A LOT of those notes) I'll call. Normally donks don't make this play with super premium hands. Against anyone else it's a fold - jacks suck.

4) 10% of my stack preflop when I'm heads up with no guarantee of getting paid off the few times I do hit? Next hand please.

5) This is the hardest question of the quiz. These donks have a big calling range of A2o+, any pair +, K9o+, QJ+. I'd have to look at all other stacks to determine if me going from 1300 to 1600 is really going to make much of a difference. However giving T300 to one of those small stack blinds is criminal so I probably push.

6) Fold although I'm sure you'll say push. You don't have fold equity here because there's 6 other players who are sharing 12,000 chips so someone has enough FA (F uck Around) chips to make a spite call against the short stack. There's a large difference in calling ranges here between party and stars players - something too many posters don't realize. I get called by K8o, J9o, T7s, A3o, 33 all the time just because someone else has so many more chips than me. Hell even if I'm mid-stacked and push I'll get called by crap like A9o by an equally stacked player. And by this level I've often only played 1-3 hands outside the blinds and still get no respect.

7) Easy push, small stack has 650 chips and is going to be BB next hand putting him all in (blind + ante). Although against the $25 donks you'll get called here WAY more than ICM suggests you should.

8) Fold, keep that bubble alive.

9) Fold into the money, sb has us beat and will knock out UTG.

10) Fold. I cream these players HU all day long - but it's not from playing A3 into a raise. When they raise your A3 is no good.

[Meatmaw]

Can those of you who say fold for #6 explain the reasoning? It seems mostly everyone says this, but I am in agreement with ZebraAss here. With calling ranges of (44+,A7s+,A9o+,KJs+), pushing is just -0.2% $EV and considering the blinds hit me next hand, I would take this push. If I had pushed more than twice within the last two orbits, then I might pass on it, but definitely with a tight image, I would push.

[junkmail3]

1. Fold
2. Fold
3. Call - *
4. Fold
5. Push
6. Fold - *
7. Push
8. Push
9. Fold
10. Fold - *


* <font color="white">
3. Knowing my stack size may change my answer. If I'm second in chips and there's a huge gap between me and the rest of the field, I could fold this.

6. I don't like having only 650 after the blinds, but I get a lot more hands to look at with better chances of winning later. And with 7 players, you have a lot of hands to come.

10. Based on a read. If I didn't have that read I would call. (If it was first hand heads up, etc). But you can get that money back with anything later, so you don't need to force it here against a rare raise.

</font>

[e_fermat]

[ QUOTE ]
1. fold
2.limp or fold if UTG raised
3.call and pray.
4.fold
5.push
6.fold
7.push
8.push
9.fold and pray
10.fold.

[/ QUOTE ]

Might call and pray on #9 if I was feeling lucky.

[UMTerp]

Cool, glad to see some responses here. I'll just post my answers. Anyone have a big issue with any of these? I'm Happy to discuss my reason more fully for any of them...

All questions assume a $22 SNG at Stars with typical (less than stellar) players unless otherwise specified. I’m only asking questions which I feel have a clear cut answer.

1. Level One, 10-20 blinds. A known solid player open-raises to 80 UTG. Folded around to you in the SB, and you have AsQh. What’s your play?

Tight is right at the beginning of a SNG. You’ll usually be able to get down to seven players in the first two or three levels just by folding an playing an occasional moster hand. And while AQo isn’t bad, it’s not great either, especially with a solid player coming in for a raise out of position. You’re behind the majority of the time here, and even if you flop top pair, you could easily be dominated. This isn’t a hand that likes to play out of position either, and you can find a better spot for your chips. FOLD.

2. Level One, 10-20 blinds. You’re UTG+1 with 66. Your play?

At the lower-level buy-ins, you have plenty of chips to start with in Stars, unlike at Party. You can afford to take a couple of chances early to try to flop a huge hand and double up. It’s a good idea to limp with small and medium pocket pairs. Oftentimes you can create a limp-fest and five or six players will see the flop for cheap. If you spike a 6 on the flop, you have a great chance to double up early. If you don’t, this is a super-easy hand to get away from on the flop. Another big difference between this hand and the one in #1 is that it’s so much easier to play postflop. Fit or fold. The answer is LIMP. As an ancillary note, if a player in late position raises to 60 or 70, it’s fine to call the raise and still try to flop your set – losing 60 chips isn’t the end of the world. You would fold this preflop to a big raise though (100 or more).

3. Level Three, 25-50 blinds. Nine players left. Two limpers, and the (unknown) chipleader pushes all-in in MP. You have jacks on the button. Call or fold?

This question is probably the closest one in the quiz, but I still thought it was clear-cut enough to include. One thing to note here is that the chip leader is the one making the huge overbet, which leads you to think that he may be a bit maniacal. With aces or kings, a player generally won’t just push all-in, he’ll try to get a little more value out of his hand. His most likely holdings are AK or 66-TT, and you’re a huge favorite over this range. You are giving up way too much EV to fold here; it’s a CALL.

4. Level Three, 25-50 blinds. You have 1425 chips left. Folded around to the SB who raises to 175. You have 7c6c in the BB. Your play?

FOLD. Calling here is just spewing chips. You’ll find better spots later on. There’s no need to get crazy defending your blinds this early in the tournament. Folding hands like this early helps to set up a nice tight imagine later, so when you loosen up as the blinds increase, your raises will get more respect as well.

5. Level Five, 100-200 blinds. Folded to you on the button. You have 1300 chips, which covers both of the blinds. You have KcJs. Action?

PUSH. The blinds are big enough here to be meaningful, and you have an OK (though not great hand). Calling or raising a small amount here is terrible, as a call would let your opponents see the flop for free, and raising to 500 or so is pointless, because you’d be pot-committed to call a push anyway. You’re going to play this hand because you’re a favorite over two random hands, and you need to get the maximum folding equity out of your hand. If you push, there’s a good chance your opponents would fold a hand slightly better than yours too, like a small pair or KQ. It can be argued that you should push any two cards in this spot, and KJ is certainly better than “any two”.

6. Level Five, 100-200 blinds. Seven players left. You’re down to 950 chips, and pick up 8s7s UTG. Your play?

PUSH. This one is tough to do until you grow accustomed to it, but I'm pretty sure it’s right. You’re in the blinds the next two hands, and you’re down to 650 chips after they pass you, which is a bad situation. Once you’re down that low, you would have no folding equity at all left – the blinds would be correct to call with any two at that point. While 87s isn’t a monster by any means, it’s plenty good to push here. You still have enough chips to fold the table around a fair percentage of the time, and even if you get a call, you’re not in terrible shape unless you’re up against at over pair. Even if an opponent will call with any pair or any ace (and that’s probably too loose of a range to expect), you’ll still win 40% of your showdowns and double up. You definitely want to be the one pushing and not calling here too, and this may be your last chance to do that. If you’re shortstacked in a SNG, there’s a lot of luck involved since the blinds escalate so quickly. Sometimes you just have to close your eyes and shove your chips in – this is one of those times.

The next three questions assume you’re on the bubble.

7. Level Eight, 300-600 blinds w/ 50 ante. You have 7000 chips on the button. The small stack folds UTG, and the blinds each have between 2500 and 2800 chips. You get dealt Jd3d. Your play?

I think these next two questions are the most important questions of the whole quiz, and in general, and a lot of new players' intuitions are initially backwards here. Good bubble play has little to do with the cards you’re holding, and that’s a tough concept for a lot of players to understand. Good bubble play is also the time where you make the majority of your money in SNGs, because often times it is very easy to accumulate a lot of chips with minimal risk. I could have substituted J3s with 23o or A7 for these next two questions, and they’d have the same exact answers for the same exact reasons. You have to put yourself in your opponents’ minds in situations like this. The two players behind you are in very good shape to make the money, because the little stack will be all-in in the next two hands. There are 1100 chips in the pot already from the blinds and the antes, which is not insignificant by any means. If you push, what can they call you with? Not much. They’ll fold hands as good as AT and 77 here because of that little stack waiting to bust out, and they’d be correct to do so. You HAVE to push any two cards here. If they’ll fold anything but AJ+ / 88, you’ll win those 1100 chips over 80% of the time, and you can always suck out even if you get called.

8. Level Eight, 300-600 blinds w/ 50 ante. You have 7000 chips on the button. The second largest stack (2800) folds UTG, and the small stack is in the BB with 950 chips left (350 after posting). You get dealt Jd3d. Your play?

As I hinted in the previous question, this is a FOLD. There are two reasons for this, again which are related to your opponents’ position and chip counts. Now the little stack will be forced to call in the big blinds with any two cards. Chip-EV wise, your J3s will do OK against his random hand (SB will fold anything but queens or better if you push), winning slightly less than half the time, but there’s no need to press the issue here. You can let the small blind go to battle here with the little stack. There are a few reasons for this. First of all, it near hurts to fold a hand every once in a while, just for image purposes. You want your raises to have some meaning, even though they’re probably realizing you’re stealing quite a bit by now. Secondly, as I mentioned before, your cards pretty much suck, and you WILL go to showdown here. And thirdly, it might just be to you advantage if the small stack sticks around for a little while. Folding is a bubble preservation play, which shouldn’t be overused, but now is a good time for it. If you fold and the BB happens to win his showdown with the other player, you’re still in bubble mode, which as illustrated by the previous question, is a wonderful time for the big stack to accumulate a ton of chips at minimal risk.

9. Level Seven, 200-400 blinds w/ 35 ante. You have 300 chips remaining after posting your big blind, and the other three stacks are about even with ~4000 chips apiece. UTG pushes, as he has been frequently, and the small blind calls. You have 7s7d. Your play?

This is an easy one. The key to this question was the chipcounts as well. 77 is a pretty good hand four-handed, but you had a dream scenario just occur before you – you’re way short in chips, and you just had two even stacks go all-in right in front of you!! You can fold to 3rd place here!! You’re more than likely up against at least three overcards, and possibly a higher pair, so your sevens will win well less that 50% of the time. And also, what’s winning really going to do for you? You’ll still be shortstack if you call and win! This is a must fold, as the players before you just handed you a chance at some free money.

10. Heads up, 300-600 blinds. Your opponent is overly passive, and you have been stealing from him at will. You’re about even in chips, and he open-raises to 2400. You have Ad3d. Action?

One phrase in this question made all the difference in the answer. The key was that your opponent is “overly passive”. That is the cardinal sin in heads-up play when the blinds get big. I guess given his passivity, a stop and go could be argued to be the right answer, since he’ll probably lay down if he’s on overcards and he missed the flop, but that’s not what I was going for when I made up this question. I’ll give partial credit for that… The standard play would be to FOLD here though. Even though A5s is a very good hand heads up, you have every reason to think that your opponent could be holding a monster here. Given that he isn’t playing optimally, you should be able to steal blinds at will if you just give this one up preflop and continue your aggressive play on later hands.

[luckyplayer]

I don't like the idea of pushing mid suited connectors into 6 opponents. I think this number of opponents makes it too likely someone will wake up with a playable hand.

According to Eastbay's tool, pushing 87s utg into 7 people, assuming 1) 77+, A9+ calling range and 2) All 7050 chips are divided evenly among the remaining 6 players, produces a difference in -0.1% $EV. I