Please review, PokerStars $1.20 SNG

[Tukka]

This is one of my first times playing for money.

Be brutal, but in a gentle way.

The HH can be found at:

www
dot
flopturnriver.com
Online-Poker-Tournament-6049
dot
html

Hopefully circumventing the linking restriction like this isn't a big offense, it seems like less hassle than spamming a tournament. If I notice someone link to the proper URL in a reply I'll delete the stuff above, if a mod doesn't get to it first.

Thanks in advance to anyone who helps.

[BrassLacquer]

Welcome to the forums!

Take my review with a grain of salt, I'm a bit new to this.
Hand 1: Fold preflop
Hand 2: I think I would check this one down, but not too bad, I think.
Hand 5: Raise preflop; as played, folding the flop is good.
Hand 7: Why not bet the river? Opponent check/calling seems a bit weak. Could have also bet a bit more on the turn to push out flush draws.
Hand 8: Fold preflop
Hand 10: I'd raise preflop rather than complete, then bet the flop.
Hand 11: I think the raise is fine, given your position, but easy fold to the reraise
Hand 12: Fine, I think.
13-16 good playing here, though shoving 44 is a bit questionable
Hand 17: fold preflop
Hand 19: re-shove preflop or shove the flop; you have a monster hand

[Duffryn]

1: I wouldn't complete the SB with 64o, even for 10 chips.
5: Raise AQs to avoid what happened here - both blinds seeing the flop. As played, fold the flop. You are not getting odds to draw to an A or Q, so calling his bet means that you are hoping he is bluffing and you can get to showdown without investing any more money in the pot, which is optimistic.
7: Bet the river, particularly since an A fell. He could have just made 2 pair.
10: Fold JTo in that position. Don't open limp at this or higher levels unless you are hoping to get raised.
11: I would fold A3o from the CO in this spot and definitely don't call the BTN's 3bet. Playing a big pot OOP with A3o is never going to be profitable.
12: Fold A5o to a raise. You will OOP for the hand. And what are you hoping for on the flop? If an A hits, you could lose a big pot if he also has an A and outkicks you.
17: You are getting 2.1 - 1 to call his shove, so in a cash game, you could call. But this is not a big enough edge in a SNG, because the 400 chips you lose are worth more than the chips you gain. It is quite close though. With a bit better hand or bit better odds you could call.
19&20: Tough beats.

[Tukka]

Thanks guys.

BrassLacquer 7: Bet the river, particularly since an A fell. He could have just made 2 pair.

Duffryn Hand 7: Why not bet the river? Opponent check/calling seems a bit weak. Could have also bet a bit more on the turn to push out flush draws.

Yeah, I was feeling a bit paranoid, fearing a float on a made flush with something like suited connectors. Throughout the game I was acting a bit too hastily ... newbie jitters maybe ... and if I had truly "seen" the ace on the river, it would've added significantly to the number of hands he could plausibly call with and not have me beat. I suppose betting out with any non-heart would be the right move though.

This was the first big hand I'd ever played that I figured I had the lead in, so I think psychologically I was a bit afraid of turning it into another [near] bust-out hand, so I was happy just to scoop a good-sized pot for the first time. Not a good mindset to get into, I know.

BrassLacquer 10: Fold JTo in that position. Don't open limp at this or higher levels unless you are hoping to get raised.

Duffryn Hand 10: I'd raise preflop rather than complete, then bet the flop.

I don't think raising this one even crossed my mind, but the more I think about it, the more I believe I like the idea. The limp from late position looks really weak, and even if I get called, I've got a reasonable hand to play with.

Duffryn 11: I would fold A3o from the CO in this spot and definitely don't call the BTN's 3bet. Playing a big pot OOP with A3o is never going to be profitable.

This is the hand where I was most unhappy with my play. I think I was too eager to get in an aggressive frame of mind. In my previous games I was card-dead and I started to wonder if I should've been making moves with hands in spots like this -- I began to fear I was playing too scared, so I gave it a shot. I didn't like calling his raise, but his reraise didn't even double my raise, which seemed a bit weak to me, and made the odds somewhat tempting. But I know, my preflop play here was bad. I'll try to show more discipline in the future.

However, as played, would it have been a terrible idea to bet out on this flop? It's pretty ragged so I think there's a fair chance I pick it up right here, and I do have the gutshot draw. If he calls, the aces may be outs also. But then again, I have to discount the diamonds somewhat.

Duffryn 12: Fold A5o to a raise. You will OOP for the hand. And what are you hoping for on the flop? If an A hits, you could lose a big pot if he also has an A and outkicks you.

Yeah, another bad play. Maybe I was tilting a bit from the last hand, but you'd think that after getting burned by the weak ace on the last hand I'd play, I'd lay this one down. I just wasn't sure how to react to the minbet in the BB with a decent hand. As you point out though, it's a terrible one to have to play postflop.

Duffryn 17: You are getting 2.1 - 1 to call his shove, so in a cash game, you could call. But this is not a big enough edge in a SNG, because the 400 chips you lose are worth more than the chips you gain. It is quite close though. With a bit better hand or bit better odds you could call.

I think the mistake I made here, and it is an embarrassing one to admit, is that I thought we were on the bubble. Obviously I need to be more observant (I spend a lot of time looking at HHs to try to develop reads, but sometimes one misses the forest for the trees), but hopefully I'll stop making mistakes like this as I accumulate some experience.

At least, I think this play makes sense on the bubble ...

I think if I can calm my nerves and play a little more thoughtfully, I'll be in pretty good shape. You both have been helpful. Thanks again for taking the time to lend me a hand.

[edgear]

in hand 9 you coud raise x 2.5 to 250 preeflop. it will be as efective and your saving 50 chips. you need to start doing this from 50/100 level

[Duffryn]

Re A3o.

In my experience of low stakes SNGs, 3 Bets are relatively rare and usually mean they have the goods. Usually, the smaller the 3Bet the better the hand. You can see the thinking: I have KK, I know I should build the pot but I don't want to scare the raiser off, so I will make my 3Bet small. Please note that I said usually. I have seen small 3 Bets made with AJo and 88, so I know there are exceptions to every rule. There are also a couple of people who obviously read somewhere that 3 Bet bluffing is good and so do this with 86s. But you can usually spot these, because they 3 Bet much more than most.

Having said that, A3o is way behind even a wide 3 Bettor's range. It's crushed versus the AJo and 88, I mentioned. It's even only just the better side of a coin flip against 86s. I don't want to make out that raising A3o in late postion is terrible. It's good, if the blinds are tight and passive. What is terrible is playing A3o and then getting drawn further into the hand by calling a 3bet or playing a big pot when an A hits the flop.

Speaking of getting drawn in, I would not bet out on that flop. I think the villain's most likely holding is QQ+ and if that's right, he's going to be ecstatic if you bet. Even if he has AK or even 88, the pot is big and the flop is pretty dry, so if you bet he might well disbelieve you hit a J and call your bet. After that, you are both committed and so neither of you can really fold and I think the chances are very high that A3o will turn out to be the worst hand.

64s

If you though that you were on the bubble, then calling his shove is a worse play. As I said, calling would be correct in a cash game, but is not here because its a SNG and you need to pay the "ICM tax". ie the closer to the money, the bigger the edge you need in a hand. On the bubble, the ICM tax is going to be bigger, so you would need an even bigger hand/odds to call there. If you think you should have called to eliminate him, then that is wrong. Its not your job to eliminate players, it's to make profitable plays. One thing that tilts me is when a short stacked villain who has played one hand throughout the SNG shoves and gets called by a couple of players obviously calling to eliminate him. His queens crush their hands and he triples up. A couple of hands later I shove, he calls with kings and I'm busto. There's no justice.
I have put this hand into SNG Wiz, which is a program which analyses when it is profitable to shove or call in SNGs. If you are planning to play a lot of SNGs, then you should think about getting it. It has a 45(?) day free trial. Anyway, if the short stack is pushing 50% of his hands, it was actually profitable to call with 64s, but only slightly, so Wiz recommended a fold. If the short stack was pushing any two cards then calling with 64s is profitable.

This is where you need reads to be able to guess at villains ranges. In low stakes, villains tend to shove too tight, so in the absence of any other info, I would guess that the villain is probably pushing any pair, Ace, broadway or decent suited connector in this spot. That's about 30%, so Wiz recommends a folding 64s, though again it is very slightly +EV to call. So as I said originally, its close.

[Tukka]

Thanks for the additional insight. I can see your point about getting drawn in on the A3o hand. I'll definitely be more conservative about playing hands like that in the future, and be more wary of those suspiciously small reraises.

Regarding SNG Wiz, I don't know how often I'll be playing this month, and right now price of the software would be a significant fraction of my bankroll ... or more correct to say, my bankroll is a significant fraction of the price of SNG Wiz. I wish they offered a microstakes version. From the sounds of it, it's a tool I'd love to have in my arsenal. I'm sure I'll check out out eventually.

On the 64s hand, I guess I erred doubly (misreading the table situation, then and calling the bet), even if the call was a near thing. In his SNG book, Moshman seems to advise calling in situations like this unless you have a good reason not to, although I can see how at low stakes in particular, your point about the tight shoving ranges of the opposition might undermine the strategy somewhat.