AJo on the bubble..

Mooney has been shoving a lot of retarded crap, but I'm somewhat new to SNG's and am not sure if I made the right call.. comments on everything as well as general tips are appreciated.

PokerStars Game #18102269446: Tournament #91879159, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2008/06/13 - 01:41:53 (ET)
Table '91879159 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 2: Lagasch (5155 in chips)
Seat 6: Mooney 06 (2275 in chips)
Seat 7: Hero (2690 in chips)
Seat 8: SilkBC (3380 in chips)
SilkBC: posts small blind 100
Lagasch: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Ad Jc]
Mooney 06: raises 2075 to 2275 and is all-in
Hero: calls 2275
SilkBC: raises 1105 to 3380 and is all-in
Lagasch: folds
Hero...? (400'ish left to call)

Is there ever room to fold? We can obviously assume SilkBC has a monster, but even if we assume he has AA, do we still call?

1. never ever call on the button with AJos with your amount of chips. you have over 10x bb and your m is 9, so no need to do this with AJ which is so easily dominated. you want to be the aggressor with such a hand but never call an ai with it in this situation.
also there are still the two blinds left to act and you don't know if the wake up with a good hand or just go crazy and move ai as well, just as it happend in your case.

2. if you call the ai and there is a rr and you have to put in 400 into a pot of 8230 - this is always a call on your side. this is a call with ATC. also if you fold, what good are the 2xbb you will have left?

3. i don't know your bankroll, but if you are generelly new to sng's on stars, maybe you want to try out the 1.20 or 3.40 (non-turbo) buy-in sng's and get some training there. also watch the video of bjsaust here on ftr. it realy helped me to grasp the concept of good push fold poker and hand selection.

4. i'm no reg, so all my advice is just from my personal experience. if i'm wrong i hope someone will correct my post and help you out with better advice

Easy easy fold the first time around due to the ICM effect unless you have seen opp show down real crap hands like 83 offsuit. Even very aggressive players will understand that they shouldn't be shoving any two cards here.

If you're going to play this hand, just shove all-in the first time to avoid being left with this decision.

As played, this is a really sick spot. I am honestly not sure what I would do, the ICM calculations become very complex. I probably call and kick myself for having not folded this hand in the first place.

Yeah, I realize now it was a terrible call. Although I'm sure I've got an edge on the initial pusher, I shouldn't be risking my entire stack on something thats probably only 60/40 or a coinflip anyway when I'm still on the bubble.

How does the situation change when it becomes AQ/AK? Pairs? What do I need at least to make it a decent call? Although I think AJ is pretty marginal here, I would normally snap call AQ/AK here.. and probably 77+. A leak? Any more input?

i think a call is never a good idea in this spot, better shove.
for me to shove here it would take 99+, AQs+ and this is a rather wide range (at least for me).

Originally Posted by mxiu

How does the situation change when it becomes AQ/AK? Pairs? What do I need at least to make it a decent call? Although I think AJ is pretty marginal here, I would normally snap call AQ/AK here.. and probably 77+. A leak? Any more input?

If you are going to play SNGs regularly then you should download SNG Wiz as it can help you analyse these sorts of situations.

As for what you should call with, it depends on what range you think opp is shoving (these calculations are all from SNG Wiz). If the SB calls with 3% of hands (JJ+, AK) and the BB calls with 5% of hands if both CO and you shove, then it is as follows:

- If opp pushes 6% of hands (88+, AQo+, ATs) then you should shove over with QQ+
- If opp pushes 10% of hands (55+, ATo+, A8s+, KQs) then you should shove over with JJ+
- If opp pushes 25% of hands then you should shove over with TT+, AQs+, AKo
- If opp pushes 50% of hands then you should shove over with 99+, AQo+, AJs+
- If opp pushes 100% of hands then you should shove over with 66+, ATo+, A9s+, KJs+)

I just downloaded the SNG wiz.. installed it and watched the tutorial but am still a little bit unsure what the program does for me. Is this just post-game analysis? Or does it help make some decisions during the game?

Either way, are there any tips about this program you can give me right off the bat? Or even some starting steps? I didn't like the tutorial very much >_>