agree 100% with lobsta

Um, for the record, beanmo is up over 200k on FTP in 35k sngs with average buy in of $103. And 99 is a limit in early position, early on. I usually do raise it in the highjack and later if folded to me. The OP's hand is a fold in that case, but I probably would have shoved, not having bothered looking up villain's stats.

 

Originally Posted by Jennifear

Question 1:

Shove unless he's good. This guy, mleone, is reraising you with QQ+, AK, so the correct answer is fold. With no reads, it's a shove in a $16, especially at night when the bad players are on and you might be staring at KQ or AJ.

Question 2:

Raising 88+ is good strategy in a winner-take-all SNG. In a 50/30/20 SNG, the chips you risk are worth more than the chips you stand to gain, so you need to play a tad tighter. In addition, at the low limits, you have the extra benefit of stacking someone off more frequently when you play it as a set mining hand and they triple barrel bluff you with cheese or call their whole stack off on top pair, bad kicker. Therefore, it's a hand I usually limp UTG at the $16s. For the record, it is not horrible to raise this.

Hope that helps!

Can it be profitable to raise this in EP? And how loose/tight do your opponents hav to be to change this range?

 

Originally Posted by ibluffheaps

 

Originally Posted by Jennifear

Question 1:

Shove unless he's good. This guy, mleone, is reraising you with QQ+, AK, so the correct answer is fold. With no reads, it's a shove in a $16, especially at night when the bad players are on and you might be staring at KQ or AJ.

Question 2:

Raising 88+ is good strategy in a winner-take-all SNG. In a 50/30/20 SNG, the chips you risk are worth more than the chips you stand to gain, so you need to play a tad tighter. In addition, at the low limits, you have the extra benefit of stacking someone off more frequently when you play it as a set mining hand and they triple barrel bluff you with cheese or call their whole stack off on top pair, bad kicker. Therefore, it's a hand I usually limp UTG at the $16s. For the record, it is not horrible to raise this.

Hope that helps!

Can it be profitable to raise this in EP? And how loose/tight do your opponents hav to be to change this range?

Profitable, yes. Optimal? no. Set mining 99 at the lower levels is more profitable then raising. Limping>raising>folding.

 

Originally Posted by L0bstaM0bsta

He must have deleted his post...I told him I was kidding about beanmo (obv i am not retarded and know who beanmo is)

somehow my post disappeared, I didnt delete it. I dont think limping is bad, and I dont think raising is bad, I guess it just depends on ur postflop skills and how your opponents are playing.

 

Originally Posted by swd805

 

Originally Posted by L0bstaM0bsta

He must have deleted his post...I told him I was kidding about beanmo (obv i am not retarded and know who beanmo is)

somehow my post disappeared, I didnt delete it. I dont think limping is bad, and I dont think raising is bad, I guess it just depends on ur postflop skills and how your opponents are playing.

For the record:

The post with Beanmo's good FTP's stats was deleted early this morning because it broke the thread. There was nothing wrong/inappropriate with the post.

 

Originally Posted by swd805

My posts are so dangerous they break threads!

Thats how I roll!!!

SWD, Lobsta isn't messing with you. He is right. Limping 99 in early levels of a sng is optimal.

Edit: I have no f'n clue why I used that quote to say that. I fail at stuff. BTW, not questioning your ability. I know you got game.

Here is my two cents.. In general, I think both limps and raises should be employed with 99 in this situation...with a definite skew towards limps..anotherwords, maybe a 75 / 25 limp vs raise...but something that randomizes your range.

Problem is, this changes based on your opponent. Among the high limit sng players at least, you begin to see the same guys everyday...and you know who all the regulars are. At the end of the day, after countless games with each other, you begin to get a good idea of what their range is from each position during the early, middle stages and what they will push vs fold in the later stages. Knowing this information is more important than anything longterm, and people neglect to mention the importance of this in telling someone how to play a hand in a turbo sng...if you become an expert in this regard, you will play your hands different depending on who you are facing and what their range is based on what has happened so far.

anotherwords, i am going to play 99 vs beanmo during level one of a sng different than i am playing 99 against a random player who appears to want to see flops.

With that said, I think most players are not super successful long term in sng's because they play the same hands the same ways...if you always limp 22-99 from early position in the early or mid levels, a player like myself is going to know that about you and exploit you if I so choose. I can steal pots from you after the flop depending on what falls, I can take the pot down preflop by representing a hand that 22-99 wont fare so well against, etc..and so forth.

The current optimal way of playing sng's that is shoved down everyone's throats is just to play super tight early and super loose / aggressive late...well..all this does it get a bunch of regulars with similar stacks down to 4 or 5 players with blinds at insane levels...I have always been in the camp that says their is some value in playing some hands / opps early where you have an edge and can possibly double up early, giving you a lot more options as you get down to 4 and 5 players. However, my opinion is that randomizing your range is the best way to accomplish that.

Too sum up...limping is better overall, but raising those same hands a portion of the time is necessary to make your play more unpredictable..anyone who tells you that you should always raise or always limp in those spots maybe playing optimal in that speicfic instance, but probably not optimal longterm as they continue to narrow their range down to astute players like me...I'll get off my soapbox now..

JD