I have seen lots of questions lately about people playing sngs and how to play on the bubble.

Here is an example of how not to play sng's when you are three handed and there is another guy with 70 chips.

pokerstars Game #10289988968: Tournament #52140077, $15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (300/600) - 2007/06/05 - 19:21:29 (ET)
Table '52140077 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 6: wavegoodbye (10740 in chips)
Seat 8: Big_tee19 (2690 in chips)
Seat 9: dsargent (70 in chips)
wavegoodbye: posts the ante 50
Big_tee19: posts the ante 50
dsargent: posts the ante 50
dsargent: posts small blind 20 and is all-in
wavegoodbye: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wavegoodbye [2d 6c]
Big_tee19: calls 600
wavegoodbye: raises 10090 to 10690 and is all-in
Big_tee19: calls 2040 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [3c 5c 7h]
*** TURN *** [3c 5c 7h] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [3c 5c 7h Ts] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
wavegoodbye: shows [2d 6c] (a pair of Sixes)
Big_tee19: shows [Ah Qs] (high card Ace)
wavegoodbye collected 5240 from side pot
dsargent: shows [5d 5s] (three of a kind, Fives)
wavegoodbye said, "lol"
dsargent collected 210 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5450 Main pot 210. Side pot 5240. | Rake 0
Board [3c 5c 7h Ts 6h]
Seat 6: wavegoodbye (big blind) showed [2d 6c] and won (5240) with a pair of Sixes
Seat 8: Big_tee19 (button) showed [Ah Qs] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 9: dsargent (small blind) showed [5d 5s] and won (210) with three of a kind, Fives

i'm interested as to why the re raise all in? surely on the bubble it's best to see the flop 3 handed to maximise the chance that the short stack will go out, especially as you had an awful hand. You got lucky. I'm not a great player so possibly reading this play all wrong. Just my thoughts.

skali it is free chips for the big stack since the middle stack cant call profitable without a huge hand. Big stack doesnt care who wins the pot, in fact, he'd prefer to keep the shorite in for another hand of abuse or two.

Judging by skalistairs response I think that would be a good idea....He reraises all-in because the guy who raised can't call with anything....He's virtually guaranteed second place. He should be folding nearly everything(including QQ KK etc), and waiting till outher guy gets blinded out...Bubble play is about playing the structure of the sitngo not your cards...It's irrelevant that hero has 26 off...it's the correct play to push Wow...4th in...that was quick

I kinda like the play with AQ.

The only way for him to get 3rd is if the shortstack wins against both the others AND he loses the side pot to you. Given his hand I don't really mind taking that chance.

He got very unfortunate to bust out here, but by playing it this way he at least gave himself a good chance at getting about even in chips.

Obv just folding is safer, whatever, but when ITM I dont mind gambling for 1st. 2-3-5 payout structure dictates the same.

Just open-pushing is probably better tho. At least then u need some kind of hand to get involved.

I think this is actually a pretty interesting hand. If it were the bubble, the AQ should be an obvious instafold. The OP called this the bubble but if I'm reading it correctly, we are in fact in the money. That changes the hand drastically. There is a lot bigger difference between first and second than second and third. I certainly would shove the 26 if the guy limped in the pot like that and I thought I had fold equity, but I think if I was the guy with AQ I would be shoving preflop. Not sure since the other guy is soooo short, it still may be a fold, but I think it's pretty close. The only way you go out 3rd is if the big stack calls your shove AND the shorty beats both your hand and the big stack's hand so I think it's pretty close to a shove with AQ. Maybe shove TT-AA and AK, AQ? I'd like to see what some people think if they realize this is not the bubble... or maybe I'm just wiggin and reading it wrong.

this techinically isn't the bubble, but it is the bubble between 2nd and 3rd, which is almost as important, especially in this situation.

Calling is such an atrocious play here because you basically inviting me to get involved, which you don't want. Shoving is still bad but not as bad. There is a 13 dollar difference between 2nd and 3rd, you should be folding here, and only shoving if you are positive, very positive, I will not be calling with a wide range, calling is so bad it is not even funny. I fold here 99.9percent of the time if i am in the othere guys shoes.

when the short stack is that short, the best play is usually not to get involved, if he had more chips, it would be a different story

I have to agree with dpottz here, I hate limp calling it id prefer the shove obv but when 3 handed id be ready to gamble it up and as said the short short shorty has to win the 3 way all in and then big_tee has to lose vs the OP to take 3rd, and even if he does as mentioned by dpottz its a 10% payout difference. If he dubs he gets some chips to go heads up with.

I think open shoving the AQ would be pretty standard. Limp calling isnt great by any means but I think I'd call if I were him after limping.

I sound like a broken record but ICM is useless. He should be shoving the AQ. He has some fold equity and even if you call him he's very unlikely to finish third. Besides, under the worst case scenario even if somehow both hands manage to beat him the second to third place bubble is only half as severe. I really hope the ICM clowns tell me he should open-fold the AQ on the button here. That's absurdly weak and absurdly wrong. Last I checked, first place pays a good deal more than second. Now, I certainly don't recommend him limp-trapping with the AQ here but it's a better play than just folding it! You'd have to be absolutely out of your mind to fold AQ in this spot.

As a sidenote, wavegoodbye is a decent player. I have played a few sets of SNG's with him. However, I have noticed a trend in the posts on here where players call other players idiots or noobs for the bubble decisions they make when in fact it's the original posters who have much to learn. I'd say at least 50% of the posters that criticize other people's play are completely wrong in their judgment. It's alarming really, but I guess it makes for soft games and good profits. Everybody thinks they know what they're doing at the tables but only a few really have any clue. End rant.

-Alba

i think you would have more folding equity by calling and autobetting any flop than shoving preflop here since he can't call unless he hits. AQ is a strong hand and 3 handed is definately different than bubble since if he calls its still very unlikely that he will finish 3rd.

Hmmm, I'd love to see a complex ICM for this. If this was the money bubble, it would be different. But, if you figure you can win at most 5 units in the SNG (and you pay 1.1 units to buy in, with fee). You have 2 locked up. If you fold here, you are guaranteed another unit (to a total of 3).

But, against any 2 here, you have a 46% chance to win the hand outright. If you do this, you are going to be just under the chip leader, and have a chance to win this thing. If you lose the hand, another 23% of the time, you still get 2nd.

So, folding here you will likely get 3 units, but I can't imagine that you have much of a chance at first.

If you call here, you have a 23% chance at guaranteed 2nd, 23% as a third place, and then the other percentage is split between first and second.

I think the differene here is that he should push. Pushing indicates a decent hand. Does wave really want to call any 2 here? I would think he'd want a little something. Though, maybe he takes a shot anyway. But, I'd take my chances pushing.

On a side note, I love when people say they play to win SNG's, not to money. Always good for a smile.

I agree to shove with the AQ. I really can't see the merit of folding here, as it's been stated, his AQ has to lose against both players for him to finish third. I think this is definately his best chance to have any shot at winning this thing, as if he folds this, he has less than 5 blinds and a HUGE chip disadvantage going into heads up.

I'm not even sure wave's shove is very good here unless he has a read that the limper is a VERY VERY weak player who actually could limp fold in this situation.

But wave's stats really speak for themselves, so I guess I can't argue much against this.

Interesting post!

I would be kinda surprised if an ICM-calculation didn't show both limp-calling and pushing with AQ here to be profitable. I don't think the (almost guaranteed) 10% increase�is enough to pass up a chance to more than double up and be able to fight for first here.�

If we were heads up here and I thought the big stack would shove with ATC if I limped, I would limp every time. With the pay increase from 3d to 2nd being fairly modest and the chances of two random hands both beating my AQ being fairly small, I might even favour the limp-call three handed also.

I don't think i've ever flat called preflop when i've been around the bubble. It's just not a good idea....A good rule of thumb would be never do it...even with Aces and stuff. A player just shoving and folding will do better than a player who flat calls and minraises in low M bubBLE scenarios...

Edit: In my first post I didn't realise it was three handed and the main bubble was over. I think the right play <span>is</span> to shove AQ there....The big stack will fold a huge % of the time and when called you will win the majority of the time...and if you lose..alot of the time the big stacks hand will hold up...you and the microstack will both be pushed out and you will finish 2 because you had the bigger stack(that's how it works on stars anyway)....It's far to strong to fold...

It would be much tougher if it was 4 handed and you were pushing AQ into the big stack and micro was in the small blind...I think it's a fold then...