$22 - 99 protecting my stack or just too tight?

[rowey]

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t50 (8 handed) Converter Tool from (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

Hero (t1325)
UTG (t1125)
UTG+1 (t1640)
MP1 (t1725)
MP2 (t1235)
CO (t2295)
Button (t2525)
SB (t1630)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9, 9.
2 folds, MP1 raises to t250, 5 folds.

Final Pot: t125

Obviously I'm not getting set value here but looking back I'm disappointed I didn't make the call and see a flop. If you call here what's the line on the flop?

[biondino]

My reaction to this - and tell me if I'm wrong - is just to push. I'm only behind 5 hands, I'm ahead of a lot more, and I have a significant amount of fold equity. Too simplistic/just plain dumb?

[mattiesmat]

I fold here with 9's facin an early raise OOP.
My range is pretty much AK TT+ here, depending on reads/stats.

[rowey]

My reaction to this - and tell me if I'm wrong - is just to push. I'm only behind 5 hands, I'm ahead of a lot more, and I have a significant amount of fold equity. Too simplistic/just plain dumb?

The main thing is in a sng we don't want to risk our stack in a marginal situation. If the same raise came from late position I'd definitely push back though.

[TLR]

Your stack is not deep enough to make the call and fold on the flop, its a push/fold kind of decision and I would push

[bigspenda73]

wow that's nitty

sng's are about marginal situations, they aren't about big edges, your thinking might be flawed there.

[DetroitHusling101]

u cannot flat call preflop , so if your decision was call or fold than u made the right decision IMO. i tend to push over with 9's in this kinda spot
his 5xbb raise is weird too. kind of makes me believe he doesnt have too big of a hand.
i either fold/push based on reads.

[JeffreyGB]

You CAN flat call preflop. And I'll explain why in a moment. If you do, your play postflop is to shove. No matter what comes, you shove. It's called a stop-and-go, and you are in a decent spot to do it. In fact, with 44-77, as well as some Ax hands, this might be my preferred line.

Here's things you need to look at when considering a stop-and-go:
1. Position - You MUST be out of position postflop for this to be an option
2. Stack size - You need enough chips to call a bet and make your opponent fold to a shove on the flop, but not so much that he is likely to fold most hands to a resteal preflop.
3. Strength of your hand - the stronger your hand, the more likely you should be to push over the top. That said, there are a lot of hands which are likely slightly ahead preflop, such as modest pocket pairs and Ax holdings (the latter mostly against late position players). With these hands, you are the likely favorite, but not necessarily enough so that you want to push when you are likely to be called. You are likely to be even more ahead once the flop has come, since your opponent will usually miss the flop (thus coinflips become 65/35).
4. Knowledge of your opponent - does he tend to raise from the position he is in with a lot of the hands that you want to be against in these situations? Specifically, will he either raise any two broadway and/or suited connectors, or even any two cards? That argues for making the play. Also, does he tend to call tightly or lightly when he misses a flop? That will be a big factor as well.

Here, our position is perfect. Our stack is ok - though we do have enough to shove over and get mostly folds. Our hand is ok - strong enough to make the play, certainly, but also strong enough to shove over, as discussed above.

I could go either way on whether to call or to shove. The determining factor is likely to be how active my opponent has been.

Again, if you do call, your play is absolutely to shove ANY flop.

[badgers]

Jeffrey aren't we way to deep to SnG here. I normally look to make a PSB on the flop, here we would be shoving ~2x the pot which if we are shoving any flop is surely not a profitable play...?

[taipan168]

I agree with badgers, we are too deep to stop 'n' go here. The reasons to pull a stop 'n' go are that we believe we have no fold equity preflop but may have some postflop, but if we are deep stacked then we are likely to have some FE preflop. It is ideal when we have about a pot-sized bet on the flop.

If we had a 750 stack then stop 'n' go would make more sense, but it doesn't mean that shoving over still wouldn't be the best option.

Rowey, whether or not to shove over preflop depends on reads. Was opp particularly aggressive or is this the first time he/she has raised this tourney?

[JeffreyGB]

I don't think we are too deep for it to be a consideration. In the end, it's more likely than not that I would take a different line, but the absolute nature that so many of the replies held rubbed me the wrong way, especially since that was so close to the OP's question.

[TLR]

I dont think stio & go is bad here, but I would prefer to push over preflop.
The advantage of stop&go is that hands that will call your push (AK, maybe AQ) maybe would fold when the flop miss and see only 3 of the 5 cards, and with some flops with many overcards you may get higher PP to fold.

The disadvantage is that you let hands like AJ/AT/KQ who may have made the preflop raise but would fold to a push see the flop for free.

[rowey]

I agree with badgers, we are too deep to stop 'n' go here. The reasons to pull a stop 'n' go are that we believe we have no fold equity preflop but may have some postflop, but if we are deep stacked then we are likely to have some FE preflop. It is ideal when we have about a pot-sized bet on the flop.

If we had a 750 stack then stop 'n' go would make more sense, but it doesn't mean that shoving over still wouldn't be the best option.

Rowey, whether or not to shove over preflop depends on reads. Was opp particularly aggressive or is this the first time he/she has raised this tourney?

Yeah I didn't have a read on the guy, so I assume from the discussion above I should shove over more often than not. Thanks for the discussion guys, great stuff