Daily Hand Quiz

I dont know what the DHQ Staff is waiting for.
You got the 3rd best starting Hand and a villian with a wide range.
I push AI here, if he got me beat so be i.I dont play to get into the the Money I play to win and if i fold QQ in this situation I might as well sit out.

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Easy, easy shove. That pot is mine, and I’m taking it. I’m not afraid of the bubble, shoving here is hugely +EV. If I bust here, say, one in 4 times (and I think that’s being rather generous), and double up the other 3 to take a dominating chip lead, I’ll sure as hell take that all day.

Though I have to say I’m pretty boggled by the size of the raise. Blinds are 100/200, and he raises UTG 15x to 3000, 75% of his stack? Very odd indeed. In any case, he’s almost certainly calling our shove with 3/4 of his stack in there. It’s an extremely odd play he’s making. Ask yourself if he’d make a play like this with KK or AA.

Nah.

I’m not one to sit back idly and wait for others to bust when I have a great opportunity to double up.

This is a trivially easy shove for a player with even a halfway decent pair of balls. I think if we were holding JJ the spot would be a little tougher and more interesting. I’d probably still shove.

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Of course assuming one had an adequate bankroll for the $100+9 SnG’s, it would be an easy shove here. Say for some reason the $100 was your last bit of money left then maybe a fold is possible (extreme case of course)

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i must admit i have been in this exact situaion with queens in a sit n go. I ended up folding in this game and finished 2nd so it may have been the right decision(1st time i had ever folded queens). In this situation though i would definately call

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DHQ staff have this so wrong. Who plays for 3rd place? Are you going to wait for AA?

If you double up (probaly 2/3 of the time vs. his range) you have 7500 chips vs about 3000 remaining. If you are a good player you can turn that into a 1st place finish most of the time.

Folding would only be correct if he had not been raising frequently

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I am all in, but it is close call.

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Fold?!?!? I don’t think so! Given the opponent’s history is all the MORE reason to push back. Now, if he had a history of playing a solid, tight game, I would consider a fold here. With emphasis on “would”. As others have already said – what else are you waiting for?? And ditto for the bankroll situation. Personally, I couldn’t do a $100 SnG. But isn’t the whole point of this DHQ to say “This is the situation you’re in. How do you play it?” So, I have to assume that “I” can afford to play.

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I don’t disagree w/ these posts, but I still voted fold.

I like building my stats “in the money” as well as “tourneys won” (not to mention my bankroll). I’m also confident I can play pretty well heads up once I money, so there will be time later to smash this aggressive guy.

What fun it would be to have him show K3 against my QQ in this spot and beat me on the river to bubble me. Player B would owe me a beer!

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PAGES 251 through 270 in Harrington Volume III. Same question. Supposed to fold, due to this actually being a -EV play. That depends on his range, of course, but Harrington spells out a reasonable range, and then does the calculation, I think we can use that same range here. It is not at all intuitive, and heavy on math, but KK can call here and QQ cannot.

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After thinking it through, I voted to fold. I’m only calling off my tournament here with AA/KK.

I agree that his range is huge and that it’s a good chance to double up, but I don’t think that overall it’s a profitable play. For all of you saying that you don’t care if you bubble, think about it.

This isn’t a MTT where your ROI is almost nil for just making the money and massive for a win. This is a STT where you really should play for 3rd, while still keeping yourself in the running for 1st or 2nd.

In a standard STT, the payout structure is 50/30/20, meaning that you win 20% of the prize pool for 3rd, only 10% for 2nd, and then another 20% for the win.

With one player so short, there’s absolutely no reason to gamble here. We can basically fold our way for a guaranteed 3rd place. Or, we could call here and risk getting 0 even though we have a very healthy stack.

Let’s say our villain has AK (obviously, his range is huge here.)

That means that 50% of the time we get $0. If we fold, we’re almost assured of getting 3rd place money of $180.

So, that means for this to be a good investment, we’d have to win at least $360 to be profitable. And, that amount is greater than 2nd place money ($270). So, if it is in fact a coin flip, we have to win 1st place every time that we win this flip to make up for the fact that we get paid nothing when we lose. And, I don’t care how good you are, there’s absolutely no guarantee that you will win 1st place 100% of the time when you get these extra chips.

Obvioiusly, player A’s range is huge, but I don’t think that we need to gamble here for our tournament.

If blinds were bigger, this would be an instant shove since even though we had a healthy stack, our own tournament life was in jeapordy if we just fold to the money. But, that’s not the case here. We can easily release this hand; easily coast into the money, and still have a healthy stack to be able to play some solid poker to try and take this down.

I know that the no-brainer response to this is to insta-shove, but I think the correct financial decision here is to fold.

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I agree with the staff on the fold. He’s got to have a pp, A-something, or King something. You are playing in a sit & go not a cash game or a tournament. No reason to shove queens. They are only queens…. they can be beat by any K, any A. Fold. Let the short stack blind out. Then gamble.

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You have the 3rd best starting hand in poker in a 4 handed game with less than a 2% chance of not having the best pre-flop hand. If you look at this as a risk of missing the money instead of a chance to double through into a commanding lead you are either playing too high or playing the wrong game all together because over time this decision will yield positive results. Remember, it’s about making good decisions and not focusing on the results, especially in 1 SNG.

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‘the beast within me’ says ramJam!
It’s such a hard decision – you’re basically saying to yourself “I’m either taking 4th place now or 1st place in a little while” Because winning this if he calls will virtually guarantee you first place.
Some vital information they don’t tell you is exactly what his raises have been the past few hands. If he’s been raising 800-1k the past few hands and is now basically pushing with 3k then I’d fold. However if he’s been betting 3k the whole time I’d push and hope for the road to 1st place.
Thinking about it – he either has A with 7 or higher, 9-9 or higher, or K-Q suited.
you can beat most of those hands, and a bunch more of them with a bit of luck, so depending on his previous raises in comparison with this situation you might push. With the given information, and assuming his past bets have all been around the same amount, I’ll push here and try to ‘catch’ him – I’m putting him on A-K with the thought that he wants to take it now, but is worried about not pairing up and wants to keep 1k reserve just in case he’s called or beaten. It’s a race, but one that I’m willing to make to secure 1st place.

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uhh, not a close call at all. I’d call with JJ and maybe 10 10 in this spot. AK too. Taking 3rd is not good enough, you need to put yourself in a position to win. Win this pot and you’re very likely to take 1st. I’ve played over 1000 SnGs and this is an insta-call.

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I think Ally’s comments are spot on. Due to the payoff structure of SNG’s, the prime directive for long term profits is to make it into the money. Our opponents range is largely irrelevant here. A standard fold, in my opinion.

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If I’m player B I’m going “Please God, make him call.” Can’t say how many times I’ve been almost hopelessly shortstacked on the sng bubble and slid right into the money when the two big stacks started throwing chips at each other. I love to sit there and watch it from the other side of the table but I just think it’s a sucker’s play when you’re in such a great position. There’s plenty of time to take advantage of A’s reckless play and take him out once you’re in the money. Sure if you just care about winning you want to go for it, but the bottom line in sng’s should be rate of return So I fold.

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I was curious about this and did the math – let me know if the math is incorrect, but it looks correct from what I can see.

Here’s what I got (I would post the calculations, but it’s all very long):

EQUITIES:
1) Fold: $32.71
2a) Call/Win: $44.06
2b) Call/Lose: $0
2c) Call/Split: $33.24

The range I gave is 22+, A2+, KJ+, QJ, JT (a debatable range for sure). Given that range, we’re about 71% to win with QQ. The fold equity, of course, is $32.71. The total call equity is the sum of each equity * its given probability. So for this one we’ll get:

((44.06 * .71) + (0 * .28) + (33.24 * .01)) = $31.61

Which is $31.61, or $1.10 less than folding. So mathematically, it’s very close, with the fold seemingly edging out the call. I didn’t do the same with KK and AA, but I’d imagine KK would be pretty close as well. Calling with QQ is definitely a +cEV call, but it’s not necessarily +$EV.

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I wonder who is going to be rewarded here, the math teacher or the poker player? A good way to protect you $109 here, if it’s really that close for you, is to play a $5 SNG!

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I am starting to regret my all in vote, though the big chance of being major chipleader is tempting.

Some people state that they as they have the 3. best startinghand they cant fold. It is irrelevant how small the chances are that you are behind preflop, the important thing is that the chances of being badbeat are huge against any A or K.
Some guy said he would call JJ and 10 10 too. That makes me think, because on one point he is rigth: The hands are allmost equally good in this spot, he probably only has one overcard. So if I call with QQ, I would have to do it with JJ too, and I see how much I was mesmerized by the look of those gorgeous ladies. It is the best hand, but not by much.
I am changing my mind and folding. Two factors changed my mind: the guy who (with the opposite conclusion) compaired QQ with JJ and 10 10, and the guy who did the math.
Being mostly a SnG player I still think it is a close decision, but I must say that those who INSTANTcall are really really lacking understanding of importance of making the money in a SnG.

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This is a goofy bet. Massive overbet that clearly pot commits you, but doesn’t actually put you all in.

My inclination is to call, but in reality, I don’t really have enough information to know A’s range. To me, it sounds like he’s trying to steal everything that’s not nailed down. I think the odds of being behind here are just about zero. In more normal circumstance, the massive overbet suggests big slick. I don’t know if you’re facing AK here, but I doubt it’s aces and kings… why discourage a call there?

Like I said, I don’t really have enough to come up with a range here, but I’m guessing you’re about 2/3rds to win the hand. And if you win the hand you’ll have 70% of the chips, 2 completely crippled opponents and 1 that’s just about done. Good times.

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i wish the staff could tell us what actually happened

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I’m folding. The bubble seems likely to burst shortly, and I’ll be only a few chips behind the maniac and have a good lead over 3rd place. I think if you asked the guys who play S&G for a living they would be folding. Remember that 3rd place doubles your money, and 2nd place triples it. Use this trategy in 10 of these tourneys a day and your bankroll will bulk up at a nice steady pace. We sit on our hands for a another orbit or so, and we can loosen up with a guaranteed payout. When you weigh up a possible bust against a (minimum) guaranteed double up I think it pays to dump it.

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I push and expect worst case to be him turning over one overcard to be quite honest. More likely IMO is a smaller pocket pair that he really doesn’t want to play postflop. This is based on his image and fact that the bet looks like a clear steal attempt. I hate taking the risk of racing with AK with a clear walk into the money, but you’re playing to win so I just can’t see folding queens. The chances he has AK or a higher PP are very slim IMO.

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This is a nice example of chip EV $ EV. Insta call in a cash game, but on the bubble of a SNG with one player about to be blinded out you need to win 80% of the time to call. Only AA gives you that edge.

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I agree with ‘Rallenkov’. what more are you waiting for!?? if you make the call and loose thats hard luck, but the chances are with four people left you have the best hand. if you do win you are EASILY chip leader and should win the 1st place. its a tournament decision, one i don’t think i would let go!! i’m all in

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Hell.. would you fold AA at this spot if it gave you $1 better EV? Because, as we all know too well, AA is not indestructible either, people can hit all kinds of terrible stuff against it and poof, you’re out of the tourney.

I agree, if you’re not pushing this hand you might as well sit out and go for a beer. What WOULD you play then? Hope that people limp into your BB and you flop quads?

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This isn’t an MTT lads.

Lay the ladies down and cruise into third and probably second, then nail the LAG to the wall.

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