Played this hand probably wrong, kinda haunted me a bit:
5$ SNG 9 player regular, blind 50/100, 5 players left.
UTG (3500) bet 500. UTG: loose preflop, slow down once flop comes out.
Hijack (1900) called. Hijack: calling station.
SB fold.
Hero on BB (4200) with 10 10.
I was debating a shove or call here. I ended up calling, flop came
A 3 Q rainbow.
UTG bet 600 and I had to fold.
Was preflop play ok? I really wanted to shove but did not want to flip with a big stack. Don't think its a good play in the long run though.
Thanks.

I think if UTG was loose then it would be a jam all day, of course he could have over cards and be flipping but oh well that's what has to happen at least once in most of the games, there's also a strong chance he would call with 66-99 which you would be easily dominating, of course he could also fold but I think with him being so loose the most profitable decision would be too jam. You also said he shuts down after the flop which meant if you hit a 10 or he didn't hit his card you could maybe not get any value from him which just makes a shove seem more profitable to me.

I think calling is wrong but don't know how folding rates vs shoving. He is simply setting too big of a price to call. You will be OOP in a 3-way pot with possible overcards on the board and a bloated pot (~18bb?). I think you can't call here. You have to decide between jamming and folding.

The calling station putting his money in definitely speaks in favor of taking advantage of the squeeze and jamming (5bb in dead money). Even then the station is probably calling (already committed 1/4+ of his stack).

It probably comes down to what you think of the original raiser (he is more dangerous because his raise represents more strength than the station's weak call plus his stack size would cripple you). Is he more likely to raise/call or raise/fold? What is his VPIP (you mentioned he is loose preflop - how loose?). I'd suggest consulting with your HUD. That's the best way to try and find out which play you like best.

Any read on villain's raise sizes would also help a lot. Five blinds is quite the raise and villain is probably aware of that too. Is he really likely to do this with a premium hand that wants to encourage action?

What's the SB's stack by the way?

This really hinges on your assessment of UTG.
Is he aware ? Is he a regular ? Is he a donk ?
At the low blind levels loose pre / tight post can be a winning strategy so you can't read too much into that.

Looking at the hand the main questions are
Does he seem aware that HJ is a station ?
If so, is he raising 5bb UTG with a monster knowing HJ will call regardless of the raise size ?



I doubt pushing TT into 2 unknowns with 35bb effective is a long term winning play.
Plus, you're getting 3:1 on the initial call with the possibility of stacking 2 players, so readless I probably call here and set mine. With that in mind, check/folding the flop is ok

Obviously with more history on UTG, I'd review that line.

BTW - Several tourney books recommend raising big with premiums in the early/mid blind levels. The theory is to discourage set miners while the donks will still call with their pretty cards.

Thanks guys. my read is if i shove, i will get call by at least one.
SB was around 1000.
now i think about it, probably calling and play the flop isn't so bad. shoving more than 30BB into a big stack with 5 people in the SNG is probably not a good idea.
that UTG donk overplay everything. if it was a normal player, i guess i shud 3 bet him.
now some of you even talk about folding pre at this spot. is this necessary?

I just like to point out the things where I'm not really sure. I always like to repeat that because I'm an inexperienced player. To me calling seemed the play I like the least because of my inexperience. After the flop I'm squeezed between 2 players, I'm often in a tough spot with no idea what to do and have to fold, which I find bad. Also, the opponents I play with are often so bad he could be raising preflop with a number of hands I crush and many I'm flipping against. And at the stakes I play at ($1) the big preflop raise signifies a weaker hand more often than not (this could be different at higher stakes as expat pointed out). They would often limp/minraise AA/KK.

Because of this I prefer to simplify my choice to either folding or shoving.

I would probably shove then post a topic on these forums when villain turns over QJs and I lose the flip to see what you guys think.

What are villain's VPIP/PFR? You said he was loose. How loose? If he's like 40/20, I'm shoving! Not saying it's the best play ... But if I win the flip (TT is about 60% against the top 20% of hands) I'm bullying the table mercilessly and going for the win.

I can see the argument for folding as you're OOP and not yet under pressure to chip up.


Also, holding TT there is a 63% chance of an overcard coming on the flop.
This doesn't mean that you're losing, but it's not that comfortable a position to be in when you're OOP against 2 players.

Folding is definitely the conservative choice and saves 4bb over calling and folding the flop when you miss.

Folding shouldn't even be cited as a viable option. There's arguments for flatting, 3betting and shoving. This deep I would flat and play poker.
Villain is opening 5x utg. Even a loose opponent is going to be strong here a lot of the time. If you shove the best case sceanario is the bottom of utg villains opening range [maybe KQ+]. Flipping as a marginal favourite with 42 bbs is totally unnecessary and not the approach you should be adopting to sngs.

when you made the decision to flat the preflop bet did you have a plan for what you would do if overcards came on the flop? were you telling yourself no set no bet? were you just winging it? SB is around 1,000, what was the other stack (is this a 1500 starting chip tourney and he has 2,900?) how many hands until the blinds increase? i'm not familiar with the current SnG formats but is the next level 100/200?

UTG (3500) bets 500.
UTG+1 (2,900?) folds
Hijack (1900) calls 500
SB (1,000) folds...950 remaining
Hero on BB (4200) with 10 10.

i can see a solid argument for folding here (depending on when the next level comes) and saving your chips to act like a big stack should act when a few other players have <10 BB and the blinds are 100/200.

to phrase things a different way, a better question for you to ask would have been "this was my turn & river plan before i called TT preflop from the BB, was it correct?"