Just wondering if I played these two hands too tight:

First hand comes from a double up turbo tournament game where the top 3 places get payed. Stack sizes are as follows and blinds are 25-50. Have been getting away with stealing from the button and I'm currently on the button with AQ

SB 1270
BB 2335
MP 1770
CO 2150
Button(hero) 1400

Folds to hero who raises to 175. SB folds. BB hasn't really defended blinds yet from my raises. BB shoves all in. Hero folds (reasoning: didn't want to risk tourny this early with AQ).



Hand two

This hand also comes from a double up turbo. Blinds are 10-20 and stack sizes are as follows: Hero has A8

SB 1020
BB (hero) 1630
UTG 1465
MP 2290
CO 1095
But 1470

Mp limps, CO limps, SB raises 180, Hero folds, Mp folds, CO calls. Is this a 3bet situation? Call? Too conservative to fold?

ONE:

175 seems way too big. No way the raise should be more than a minraise. If both blinds are so bad that they will actually call you so much that it costs in ICM, then shove is probably better than 175.


TWO:

Good fold. Very good fold. SB just raised to 8 big blinds from OOP in the sb after a couple limpers. You're in the big blind with 80 big blinds in your stack. Absolutely no reason for you to be involved in this pot with a hand like A8s.

It seems like you post hands from these kinds of tournaments sometimes.


I would suggest this forum that specializes in one table tournaments:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/36/stt-strategy/

You definitely need to start learning ICM. You should be playing these tournaments very tight early on and then play a push/fold game later based on ICM.

Agree with Lego that 1 needs to be a smaller raise pre (my standard at that level was 125), in a standard STT I'd probably snap off the shove but in a collude or nothing it's a fold. Also agree that 2 is a standard fold

I'm echoing the others, but that open size with AQ is horrendous. I would be minraising from hand #1 of the tournament, but especially against a nitty BB, you should be using small sizes with your entire range, so you can steal cheaply, and lose the minimum when he plays back at you. Definitely fold to the jam. In DoNs, you can shove wide, but generally have to call very tight, due to the ICM factor.

Hand 2 is a trivial fold. Don't "speculate" with short stacks, especially if you can't close the action and the price isn't cheap. (A 9bb iso - if that's real - is not cheap!) Let someone else spew off with a marginal hand.

I appreciate that, i'll definitely peep into that forum a bit more from now on. Don's and Ton's are what I primarily play as I have found them profitable for the past few years. I took a little break, bovada turned into ignition, and now i'm back trying to get my game together again. I always play very tight early on and then push/fold when blinds and ante's get up there. When theres still plenty of chips and action to be had (blinds 25-50, stack 1630) I feel like I still have plenty of room to raise and play poker. When the blinds and antes get up there and a few players get knocked out, I typically open up broad and start shoving "good" hands.

As for raise size, I usually go for 2.5 or 3x the bb. I admit that 175 size is probably a bit too much. Thanks everyone for posting and responding. I do read and try to absorb whatever advice is given.