Push decision: 4 hands

[Raoni_Poker]

Hi all,

This hand is from a 1,20 SG at CD POker. This game had limited action (more raises and limps) and the blinds increased when we were down to 5 players. I'm posting the hands consecutively.

HAND 1: Is QJ a hand good enough for a shove from the CO here? I was concerned about the big stack in my left...that sucks. Would you shove this one? Do you still try to steal with marginal hands when you have a big stack on your left? I dont think their calling ranges would be that wide...nobody was calling shoves.

No-Limit Hold'em, $200.00 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($2720)
MP ($2600)
Hero (CO) ($2010)
Button ($4480)
SB ($1200)
BB ($1990)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q, J
2 folds, Hero??

Total pot: $400

HAND 2: Another from the CO. Would you shove this one? I got tempted to do that. However, I got really intimidated by the big stack on my left. In retrospect, I dont think his calling range would be wide here.

No-Limit Hold'em, $200.00 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($2900)
Hero (MP) ($2210)
Button ($6700)
SB ($1500)
BB ($1690)

Preflop: Hero is MP with 4, A
1 fold Hero?

Total pot: $400

HAND 3: This one was tricky for me. The big stack was bigger than ever, and the shortstack was slightly shorter than me. His calling range here would be wide. The question is: is better to shove 8Ks here and risk being elimined or wait for the bubble? Would you shove here?

No-Limit Hold'em, $300.00 BB (4 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($2450)
Hero (SB) ($1010)
BB ($10800)
UTG ($740)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 8, K
2 folds Hero?

Total pot: $300

HAND 4: This one means almost calling an all in bet. Would you shove here with A8o? Villain was raising 5%. I folded because I dont think A5 is good enough to call here.

No-Limit Hold'em, $400.00 BB (4 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($2000)
Hero (Button) ($810)
SB ($10850)
BB ($1340)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, 5
UTG bets $800, Hero?

[Wolle]

I tried playing around with a few ranges in SngWiz.

Hand 1: QJo sucks in a showdown against sane calling ranges, so you'll need your opponents to be calling tight here. With ranges of 7+ for the button, 11+ for the SB, and 14+ for the BB, you'll have a slight +EV.

Hand 2: Wiz says fold unless button is very tight.

Hand 3: At first, I agreed that you would be called too often, and SngWiz seemed to agree, too. Then I noticed that I had set blind levels to 100/200. With blind levels at 150/300 it's a push unless the big stack calls more than half the time. I'd say: push this. You'll be a microstack if you don't.

Hand 4: SngWiz says fold, fold, FOLD regardless of opponents range. OTOH, I distrust ICM when it comes to microstacks. OTTH, there's bound to be an awful lot of better aces and pp's in UTG's range. I dunno, I guess the wiz is right: Fold and shove one of the two next hands.

[taipan168]

Without looking at SNG Wiz, this is what I would do in game.

1. Fold. From the CO, the worst hands I'd look to be shoving here is like 55+, A8s+, ATo+, KQ+

2. This one's a definite fold for me. 66/77+, AJ+ in this spot.

3. Ugly spot with the short stack eating the blinds next hand. I'm not sure if this is right but I'd shove it and hope for the best (ie. that the BB folds when he shouldn't). One of the limitations of the ICM model is that it doesn't take into account the fact the shorty eats the blinds for almost half his stack the next hand, and it also tends to over-value microstacks.

4. EZ fold, particularly with your read.

[GatorJH]

I shove hands 2 and 3 for the following reason. I haven't run the numbers, but would guess that ICM wise they are pretty close and therefore would shove because of the following:

Hand 2 - Both the SB and the BB have mid stacks so neither is going to risk a call here unless they have a big hand or you have been shoving pretty frequently.

Hand 4 - BECAUSE the shorty is about to hit the blinds I don't see the BB calling unless he has a pretty big hand.

Hands 1 and 4 are easy folds for me