How to play marginal hands when blinds are high?

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HSmith

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I play 9 man sng to try to emulate a final table and im not sure how to playy hands when the blinds are high and we have about 7 - 15 blinds each.
For premium, 1 pair or better i raise about half the pot, more if its a wet bored.
Marginals i have no idea how to play, do i check call? And to how big of a bet do i fold? Do i try to steal the pot, do i shove?
Draws, i generally raise 1/3 pot
Junk, if i feel i can make the villain fold ill try it and shut down immediately if they call on the flop.
I know premium is a bit loose but its lates stages of sng so thats why i have a wide range, ill even sometimes check call comfortably with top pair low kicker.
Let me know how would you play these hands, marginal is obviously the one that needs to be discussed.
If you are shoving with a certain range to avoid these situations then feel free to share. :)
 
NWPatriot

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You didn't mention how many players are left when the blinds have gotten to this spot. As the qty of players decrease, you can afford to open up your range. While any individual hand can be a monster, it is less likely with 3 opponents than with 8 opponents.

If everyone is playing to survive the money bubble at 3, the tendency is to tighten up. Depending on the table dynamics, you might be able to take advantage of this and win a couple extra pots if you don't tighten up too much.
 
proud2Bwhack

proud2Bwhack

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I would divide the range of BBs you have left into 7-10 area and 11-15 area. The more you have behind you to play with after the flop, the more loose you can be with your calls. once you are in the 7-10 BB zone its time to shove if you feel you have FOLD equity, shoving into an obvious call situation with a marginal hand is probably not wise even with 7BB left.
 
fa1920

fa1920

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Look, marginal hands are only played in 2 ways in these instances. 1- All in 2- Fold The 2 is recommended, the 1 applies in hands type 8-4s in situation of 7bb in CO for example, is a very good hand to steal blinds, but a 7-2 or something like that I do not see it highly recommended, but If you are sure that your rivals will fold, you have my permission
 
grumblbrumbl

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Usually in such short stacks accepted only play all-ins. But you can do small raises and limpit. Put one blind. Everything depends on the situation. In poker means a lot depends on the situation. And cards.
 
0546474

0546474

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it all depends on the aggressiveness of your opponents, but in most cases, if I have less than 12 bb, then I’m trying not to look at the stake, mostly it's all-in or fold !!!
 
pancho_1954

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I have played them all in or fold, it is very difficult to simply call with them, I do it only when it is my blind and no one bet more, or if I have some kind of feeling about those cards, but always trying to be very careful
 
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I play 9 man sng to try to emulate a final table and im not sure how to playy hands when the blinds are high and we have about 7 - 15 blinds each.
For premium, 1 pair or better i raise about half the pot, more if its a wet bored.
Marginals i have no idea how to play, do i check call? And to how big of a bet do i fold? Do i try to steal the pot, do i shove?
Draws, i generally raise 1/3 pot
Junk, if i feel i can make the villain fold ill try it and shut down immediately if they call on the flop.
I know premium is a bit loose but its lates stages of sng so thats why i have a wide range, ill even sometimes check call comfortably with top pair low kicker.
Let me know how would you play these hands, marginal is obviously the one that needs to be discussed.
If you are shoving with a certain range to avoid these situations then feel free to share. :)


There are a lot of things to think everytime you are considering playing a marginal hand, like if you are all so shallow on blinds it is almost suicidal to play in three streets with marginal hands and especially in the early positions. If you are in position it's another story. But i feel Turbo sit'n'go when at some point all the players are between 7-15 blinds it's almost a lottery.
 
kowrip

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I play 9 man sng to try to emulate a final table and im not sure how to playy hands when the blinds are high and we have about 7 - 15 blinds each.
For premium, 1 pair or better i raise about half the pot, more if its a wet bored.
Marginals i have no idea how to play, do i check call? And to how big of a bet do i fold? Do i try to steal the pot, do i shove?
Draws, i generally raise 1/3 pot
Junk, if i feel i can make the villain fold ill try it and shut down immediately if they call on the flop.


With 15BB or less, I am generally in push or fold mode to try to double up. Granted, if most other stacks are in the same range, I supposed you could try a small preflop raise of 2BB - 2.5BB, but I find that this generally won't work if you have lots of small stacks around you because another short stack will inevitably shove behind you. Even if you do make it to the flop, you generally don't have enough of a stack to do much without getting yourself pot committed. So, it's best to just pick a wider than normal range and shove all-in first. I also pick different types of hands to push with in different positions. For example, if I'm in EP then I'm more likely to push with a hand like TJs than A9 since players like to call shoves with an A so I'm more likely to be dominated with the A9 if I'm called. However, in LP I'd prefer the A9 to the TJs.
 
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I assume by marginal you mean the low end of your revised range that you have already expanded as you reach the late stages with fewer players and higher blinds. With that kind of hand and comparable stack sizes I would think position would be paramount...if there are several players behind you yet to act then why take a chance here....fold. If you have position and 1-2 players have limped in or called a small raise then you can decide to make your move. But....you need to know what you intend to do after you bet. If you decide to shove no worries but if you raise with part of your stack then you need to know ahead of time what your strategy will be and then commit to it. Are you folding if someone shoves? Are you shoving on the next street if they call?

If you find you can't decide on your follow up strategy then don't make a play...fold and wait.
 
ayahuasca

ayahuasca

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Fold and wait for killer hand, then go all-in. If you feel your opponents play carefully you can risk or bluff to steal blinds (depends on many nuances).
 
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