Playing $5 DoN SNG and I came across this hand:

Starting stack sizes: 1500, BB is currently at 50
UTG limps in, Hero has pocket 7's on BTN. Raises to 150. UTG calls. Stack sizes are almost identical.

Flop is 7, 4c, 2c. UTG leads out for 200
Lets say theoretically, I know he's on a flush draw. If I raise very small, say to like 400-500, I know he'll call. If I make a big raise, or even shove, I know he's going to fold. I'm not very used to SNG, as I usually play cash games so my question is, what would have been the better play? Extract more value out of him, with the risk of him hitting his draw, or just shove and make him fold right here? (This is very early on in the game, no dominant chip lead, everyone has roughly the same stack sizes).

Raise atleast 3/4 of pot to charge them for any (flush)draws

The best scenario in these situations is that you dont give him the odds to draw, but he continues anyway. If you play this hand a million times you will profit in the long run, which should be your aim.

Yes this is the case in cash games, but OP is playing DoN. So for example shipping 55%, 45% chances in your favor, especially early on, you will find yourself losing alot of money in DoN. This game is all about picking your fights.

I would clearly aim for him to fold, so I would probably bet the pot, and then ship the turn if he calls and no c is turned

Theoretically, you're wasting your time playing poker. You should be using your ESP to buy Powerball tickets.



I am not trolling - Discounting the rest of his range is a big mistake. Though as the previous poster said, taking coin flips in DoNs with a healthy stack is a pretty big mistake. If you're going to continue playing DoNs I strongly suggest you head over to the STT Strategy Forum because DoN strategy is quite specialized and may not be intuitive. In particular, the old mega-threads are filled with gold:

Official DoN Strategy Thread 1
Official DoN Strategy Thread 2

Thanks for the feedback everyone! Didn't even realize DoN was considered part of STT strategy forum. Will do some extensive reading on this.

Also, you should be aware that Double or Nothing SNGs are very open to abuse, collusion and cheating, and a team of competent sharks can work together to destroy your expectation in the game, and you might not even realise they're doing it.

In the aftermath of a multi-million dollar cheating scandal involving a group of Chinese players, Pokerstars eventually stopped offering this format approximately three years ago, deciding that it wasn't possible to police the game effectively.

Not all sites are as vigilant against such cheating rings, so, unless you're going to play these for entertainment only, you might do better to learn another format.

As for this hand in particular


If you're gonna bet the pot OTF then you might as well shove, because you don't want to give yourself a decision or opportunity to fold on turn or river and leave yourself with only 7½ bb


pf pot = 150+150+50+25 = 375, and if villain donks 200 (pot 575) you have to make it 975 to pot it, leaving yourself with only 375 to work with.



Fold equity is all important in DoN, so make the most of it and just ship it all in on the flop. If villain folds, taking 350 chips off him (150 pre plus his 200 donk bet) plus the 75 chips from SB and BB, well that adds up to growing your stack by almost 30%, and that's still a pretty nice result