SNG Mid-stack quiz

In this SNG quiz we’re looking at situations in which you’ve reached a sit&go bubble with a medium stack. The good news is that you are in fairly good shape in this spot, with a good chance to win the tourney and take home the lion’s share of the prizepool. As ever, you should be playing to win, not just make the money.

The proper strategy with a medium stack depends largely on the styles your opponents are using. However, your default approach should be to play aggressively and use your stack to your advantage by bullying short-stacks and fellow medium-stacks. Exercise care against the big-stack, but don’t play in fear of busting out or you may just prevent yourself from winning.

QUESTION 1 PUSHING THE SHORT-STACK AROUND

The blinds are 100/200 with an ante of 25. You are in the small blind with 3,100 chips and the short-stack is in the big blind with 1,300 chips. The short-stack has pushed in several times on the small blind, but has not been called. The other players, who each have over 4,000 chips, fold and the action is to you. You have Q?-9?. Now what should you do?

A) PUSH
B) FOLD

ANALYSIS

An offsuit Q-9 is plenty good enough to put short-stacks to a decision for all their chips. While the short-stack has been pushing in and thus showing some aggression, he has not shown a willingness to call off his chips. You should be pressuring short-stacks with a very wide range of hands. It takes an Ace or better for most short-stacks to call off their chips. Even should he have a hand like A-K you are not much of an underdog, with around a 35% chance of winning.

If you answered A) Push, give yourself two points.

QUESTION 2 TACKLING A CONSERVATIVE BIG-STACK

While you should always exercise caution when deciding whether or not to tangle with a big-stack, you can often bully the more conservative players. In this scenario the blinds are again 100/200 with an ante of 25. You are in the big blind with 3,000 chips and the big-stack is on the button with a little over 6,000 chips. The other two players have around 2,000 chips each. The first player folds and the big-stack raises to 600. The small blind folds and you have a decision with K?-Q?. The big-stack has amassed the bulk of his chips with big hands and through other players bluffing off their chips. He has, however, raised two of the last three hands, and is now raising a third time in position. Keeping in mind that we’re on the payout bubble, what’s your play?

A) PUSH OVER THE TOP
B) CALL
C) FOLD

ANALYSIS

Many players smell a bluff when the big-stack raises several times in quick succession. It may very well be that the big-stack is switching gears and raising with a wider range. If this is the case, coming over the top could be correct. Simply calling the raise out of position is generally a weak play, though calling and planning to push any flop with a promising texture is defensible (a stop-and-go play). In this case, however, the evidence is insufficient to conclude that the big-stack has definitely shifted gears. His play thus far has been conservative, and against such a player K-Q is likely behind or even dominated. With a few more hands and a better read on a possible change in strategy, playing back at him might be correct, but right now the obvious play is the correct one.

If you said C) Fold, give yourself two points.

QUESTION 3 TACKLING AN AGGRESSIVE BIG-STACK

Aggressive players often raise loosely, but some will also call loosely. In this hand, the big-stack has shown a willingness to call pushes from smaller stacks. The game itself has been rather fast and loose from the outset. Once again the blinds are 100/200/a25 and you are put to a decision while on the big blind. This time the big-stack with 6,500 chips has raised to 600 on the button. You have 3,200 chips and hold K?-10?. What should you do?

A) PUSH OVER THE TOP
B) CALL
C) FOLD

ANALYSIS

Calling is not a good play since you are out of position and facing an aggressive player. You probably have the best hand, but you also have very good prizepool equity at the moment. Add to this the fact that you have only King-high and will likely be called by any Ace and the two bigger King-high hands. Given that the big stack likes to call pushes, you have too little fold equity to make a big play at the pot. None of the hands that beat you will fold. Some of the hands you’re beating might call, but far more will fold. The expected result is negative, as the chances are high that you will lose and losing means you are finished.

If you said C) Fold, give yourself two points.

QUESTION 4 RESPONDING TO A FELLOW MEDIUM-STACK

Medium-stacks, as a general rule, tend to be conservative. They know they have a good chance to win, and this thought causes them to dread losing this chance by busting out or throwing away a chunk of their stacks. This is only a general rule, however. Always adjust your play to the opponent.

In this case the blinds are 100/200 and you and the other medium-stack have 3,100 and 3,200 chips respectively. The big-stack has 5,800 chips and the short-stack 1,400. The big-stack folds and you raise to 600 with 9-9 on the button. The other medium-stack thinks for a bit and pushes in on the small blind. The short-stack folds and the decision is back to you. The medium- stack has played a pretty vanilla game thus far but is not a rock. Should you:

A) CALL
B) FOLD

ANALYSIS

This is a fairly difficult decision. You have a good hand, particularly four-handed, but the medium-stack has pushed in. Given his style, he has a decent hand himself. Let’s unravel this problem by considering the range of hands he might push in with. I would assign him any pair along with A-K and A-Q. You are ahead of that range. Only five hands (the higher pairs) have you beaten, whereas you have seven hands (the smaller pairs) crushed and are a slight favourite to the big Aces. Also consider that if you win the hand, you are almost certainly assured of making the money (he will only have 100 chips left!), and you will have a very good chance to win the sit&go.

It’s a close decision, but if you said A) Call, give yourself two points.

QUESTION 5 DEFENDING YOUR BLIND AGAINST A FELLOW MEDIUM-STACK

Let’s take the same set-up from the previous hand in terms of the blinds and stacks. This time, however, you are in the big blind and it’s folded to the other medium-stack in the small blind, who raises to 600. You have 6-6. What now?

A) PUSH OVER THE TOP
B) CALL
C) FOLD

ANALYSIS

Again, the proper play in this spot depends on the type of strategy you believe your opponent to be employing. In this case, a vanilla player is probably raising a wide range of Aces, Broadway hands and any pair. I definitely would not fold in this spot. Pocket sixes is a good hand. You might be tempted to push over the top, but you are surely getting called by a lot of hands that have you beaten or that you are only a slight favourite to. There are eight bigger pairs that have you crushed and only four smaller pairs. The times that you win by forcing a fold only slightly improve your equity in the prizepool. In this case I would call the raise. Not only am I in position, but a vanilla player is often easy to read. If he bets the flop weakly, come over the top. If he bets strongly, it’s time to fold, having only cost yourself 400 chips.

If you said B) Call, give yourself two points.