>...< - is getting annoying

I've been seeing more and more all-in tables lately and it's getting frustrating. I play mostly SNG's b/n $3 - $16, and it happens on all of them. And it seems like a virus, once one person starts pushing when they want to play, it's almost like that's all anyone will do from then on. I'm not talking about late stages either. we can be at 10/20 - 50/100 with comperable chip stacks and people just push. If you don't know how to play your cards better than a push every time, just quit now because you're probably not going to win.

Anyone else see a lot of this?

Sometimes. And it's a very, very good thing when other people do this if you want to win.

As long as you're catching STRONG cards, but I like to see KJ/K10/AJ/A10/smallPP flops, I just don't like to risk my tourney life on a "chance" at the board. I'll see raises, so I can keep PLAYING and decide weather I want to keep betting or fold. But PF everything is a coin flip really and if you've seen my Vent Thread (http://www.cardschat.com/f46/outkicked-sucked-out-over-handed-105154/), you know I' haven't done so well at coin flips.

You can't win their chips if they don't put them in the pot. Why would that be frustrating?

Poker's about the long run and playing the way that suits the conditions, not the way you want to or the result of a few hands.

And you are no less lucky than anyone else. If you think you are it will affect your game.

Then we might as well just be playing battle and just turn over 1 card. There's 4 rounds of betting for a reason. And I can see short stack going all in now and then, but I'm talking about the begining stages of a tourney with average stacks.

You win when your opponents make mistakes. You need to learn how to exploit them is all.

So we should stop playing and just go all in every hand and "hope" they made the mistake by calling with a lower hand? Obviously you're not going to have AA PF every hand, so if you're calling AI's PF, how do you know if they're making a mistake when there's not even a flop to see? I'm not sure where I'm wrong on this one. Isn't there supposed to be 4 betting rounds in hold em'?

One mistake in the OP, I'm talking about PF AI's. After the flop, go crazy, but to have people going AI preflop every other hand is rather frustrating.

There is no supposed. You have to get a sense of their range and make sure yours is better.

There's no "correct" way to win other than to get a small edge on your opponents and exploit it over time.

If you want to play all streets then SnGs are not for you as they are all about pushing edges preflop.

Play deepstack tournies if that's what you are after.

Nobody plays like that at the $100 SnGs. Maybe because you are playing at such low stakes people don't care if they win or lose, thus they just go for the trill of the gambling win. Games like that are called "Coin Flip Fever" and not poker.

That's what I figure (low stakes), it's just frustrating.

Irexes - I don't want/need to play all streets, it's just gets old see >..< PF all the time. Like I said, I would prefer people PLAY their cards rather than push and pray.

Let them eat each other up and be there after the dust cloud has settled. Just because people are going like mad early doesn't mean you won't be able to get those chips a round or two later. A fool with a big stack is still a fool and you should be able to out play them later.

So, if I understand you want to play No Limit like its a Limit game. Correct?

The rules state that any player can put all of his chips in when he likes, not when you like.

I never said they can't or shouldn't, I simply said it frustrates me. None of you have looked down at a decent hand and thought, I'd like to see this flop for 1 maybe 2X BB, but then someone goes AI and you think "punk"? It's going to happen in every game, people going AI, I'm just talking about when it's every-other hand @ lower blinds.

Good to know I'm the only one who gets frustrated. I'll just sit in this corner by myself, hum a song and sway back and forth until I calm down.

You beat me to it, DJ. I was gonna say "They aren't breaking any rules by shoving pre-flop, are they?" And I would add that it is a good poker player's task to try to play well against this kind of player.

Sorry to be blunt, KKF: But if you can't handle this kind of player, you better find a new hobby. They do this for this exact reason. It frustrates you. They also do it because they lack confidence in their own skill. It is your job to find a way to beat them. And it CAN be done. Trust me. Have you ever seen a long-term successful chronic shovemaster? No, because they almost always get beat.

Again, you were probably posting while I replied, I never said they can't or shouldn't, just that it frustrates me. How exactly do you "beat" and/or "handle" a pusher? You pick a hand and push and pray with them? Where's the skill in that? And I understand someone will beat them, but how do you know it's going to be your AQ/A10... that does it? Even if they push w/ 2-7o and you have AQs, they could catch a 2 and if you never catch up...

You are upset about something you have no control over. If everyone played the same way then this game would get a whole lot easier, but that isn't the case. Sure I have seen great hands I would love to have played but rather than complain/get upset that the table isn't going the way that I want. I try to formulate a strategy against the way the table is playing. I personally love it when 4-5 even 6 people get elliminated in the first 5 hands. Less trash I have to deal with and now I have a target (the big stack) who very likely isn't that good if they are immediately going all in with questionable hands.

OK, so what about when 4-5 AREN'T eliminated because no one is calling the AI's? What's your plan then? Push and pray?

Why are you allowing them to dictate to you what to play. no one makes you put chips in the middle. Let everyone else tilt off and be elliminated with questionable hands. if you pick up AA's you call and they get cracked, well thems the breaks it happens, or exercise some patience lay down the bulltes and wait until the rush is over. I am saying that just because there is a huge rush at the beginning so what, lay low and let them beat each other up.

While I agree it can be frustrating, it also is an opportunity. I will fold all day long while they do this until I get AA or KK then take them out. Or another player will take them down. So what. Wait until there are only 4-5 players left and hopefully the all-ins have stopped, if not, wait some more.
Patience, Patience, Patience.
I just finished a sat. to the Sunday Hundred Grand (70 fpp). I didn't play a hand until it got to four handed. Blinds were 50/100 and I used my tight table image to my advantage and caught up in no time, stealing blinds.
You have to adapt to the playing conditions, YOU DON"T HAVE TO LIKE IT but you do have to adapt or perish.

Which site are you finding these fools at, KKF ? I`d like to get some of that free money.

PS $3 & $6 SNG's all day long.

This thread is ridiculous - you're complaining about exactly what makes poker so profitable.

I'll get your approval next time.

And how do you make $$ when everyone is about =, no one is calling, so no one is being eliminated? Trust me, if they were knocking each other out, I'd sit back, sip my drink, watch and laugh. I'm talking about AI's w/ no callers @ low blinds with about = stacks. Again, how do you make $$, push and pray?

umm wait for a good hand and call, I don't see the issue here

If they're putting 50bb+ stacks AIPF liberally then that's all you can possibly ask for

What's your minimum definition of a "good hand" with = stacks & low blinds, but people push every other and or so? Position really makes no difference here as AI is AI.

LOL . . . as a wise man once said (somewhere in this forum, in some other thread I can't recall): "Welcome to poker, we hope you enjoy your stay. . . ."

Except, it doesn't sound like you're enjoying your stay much, do you? Admittedly, I have found that some players will play much more aggressively early on in SnGs (especially one-table or short-handed), which is usually exactly the wrong thing to do . . . and usually also why they don't last and I end up cashing about 60-70% of the time in those kind of tourneys; gotta love the donks!

I'm really not sure what to tell you . . . either don't play those SnGs anymore, or play higher limits (actually, not sure that's a good recommendation for you), or don't play NLHE at all. Go play LHE instead if you don't like the big PF raises and the AIPFs in NLHE; however, don't come back complaining later about how no-one folds to your raises and everyone keeps sucking out, chasing flushes and straights to the river, etc. . . .

If a specific player is literally pushing every other hand, that means he's got %50 PFR which equates to a range of {33+,A2s+,K2s+,Q2s+,J4s+,T6s+,96s+,86s+,76s,65s,A2 o+,K5o+,Q7o+,J7o+,T8o+,98o}

Which means we really don't need much to call. I wouldn't be calling with any hand that beats that range, but probably a good chunk of the better aces, kings, and pairs.

Not 1 player, it's usually 1 player, then another, then another... like a virus, it goes around the table. And yes, I usually do cash, it's just frustrating in the process. I like to play for the play. The $$ is obviously nice as well. I guess I could go to play $$ tables since you see almost every hand down to the river, but then I would make $$.

Note to self: don't express frustrations here again

huh? Is that a bad thing?

I was just going to say - it seems like you're more interested in playing hands through rather than the profitability. Tournaments are nuts by nature - go and play cash games if you want postflop play.

I didn't mean to come off as rude, but it's just funny to me how people complain about peoples' play.

edit: wouldn't*

You never complain other people's play?

That was supposed to read 'complain about bad players', but no I don't complain much. What's purpose does complaining serve?

So, if you're sitting there and get a bad beat by a bad call on a big hand you just think "gollee jee, that sure was good luck for them".

And, I never said the other players were bad. For all I know they're catching premium hands. I just found it frustrating when there were a lot of all-in's in a row.