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Hi DC'ers

Ive just took out a 60 day trial with SNG wizard, because simply put over 200 odd games at $7 Ive took such a pasting despite playing what I would class as pretty solid STT poker, probably not always 100% but enough to scratch my head at the sheer volume of people catching me with their dominated aces and j10s against my far stronger holdings. What Im saying is I wanted to see if I was playing these hands incorrectly, if I was making bad decisions with my AK/AQ 1010 etc when the time arose for me to either ship it or fold as I am aware that there isnt alot you can do when you ship any two on the small blind when your opponent wakes up with a monster. Last night came a moment where I simply could not believe I had played the hand incorrectly, my opponent did something monumentally stupid at a completely inappropriate time but won the hand and knocked me out on the bubble. The telling thing however was that when reviewing the session today SNG wizard says that I played the hand wrong. My ego and common sense say this isnt the case, but my bankroll is telling those two to shut the hell up and take its advice on board! Here is how it played out:

Poker Stars $6.45+$0.55 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t100/t200 Blinds + t25 - 4 players - View hand 1855969
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): t3105 M = 7.76
CO: t3520 M = 8.80
BTN: t5004 M = 12.51
SB: t1871 M = 4.68

Pre Flop: (t400) Hero is BB with A Q
1 fold, BTN calls t200, 1 fold, Hero raises to t3080 all in, BTN calls t2880

Flop: (t6360) 8 T 9 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Turn: (t6360) 2 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: (t6360) J (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: t6360
Hero shows A Q (a straight, Eight to Queen)
BTN shows 3 4 (a flush, Jack high)
BTN wins t6360

This was the first time I had played against the villain but he had been reasonably loose/passive to this point (VP$IP was about 26%) but even after adjusting his opening range SNG wizard suggests that I should CHECK. Please tell me that sounds insane to the rest of you? If not have I got some basic STT fundamental horribly skewed in my approach?

Cheers guys

first of all btns call is crazy so dont worry about it.

sngwiz suggests this cause of bubble icm with the big stack but its a very std shove maybe u have very much edge put in the sngwiz calc

I think Wiz is giving you pretty good advice here. To make this a break even icm-wise push you would need the Btn to be opening 40% and call about 7% (88+,AJ,ATs+). You don't really need to allow any edge here so if you can put the V wider you are good to go.. If the V. had a 50% limping range it becomes a good shove if the calling range stays tight.
I am really suprised at the 34s call or for that matter the 34s limp! it seems out of character for your VP~IP 26% range.

Now in hindsight we know the limping range is very wide, lets say 75%, and a super wide calling range 50%+. With these two facts it is a clear icm fold/check. Play about with the Btn ranges, if you get these right I think the advice is good.

Well worth a note that this player can limp call very wide on the bubble!

In this type position, a comfortable 3rd with a lowish 4th, you want to avoid tangling with the big stack
STTs have a very flat structure and getting 20% of the prizepool for third is a good result.

Im trying to filter his open limp/call raise actions on PT3 but my grasp of that software is brutal and not improving. Is HEM alot easier to understand that PT3? Is there any good videos or blogs that give any good tutorials on it? Time to go hardcore here, Im sick losing to these Pokerstars lunatics with their crazy plays!

And yeah Basemetal, there is about 4 lines of profanity laced notes currently saved through the Pokerstars note facility lol

sngwiz cannot take customized ranges (haven't played with it much) but btn limping here u can exclude many of the 99+ hands and this can shift the check to a push due to our massive equity with our hand imo

sngwiz cannot take customized ranges (haven't played with it much) but btn limping here u can exclude many of the 99+ hands and this can shift the check to a push due to our massive equity with our hand imo

Yes, you are right, I forgot about excluding some of the top ranges so it does start leaning toward a push.
In wiz you can exclude the tops of ranges and if you exclude the 10+, AK hands the push is good nearly all the time.

Honestly I think this is completely fine. Maybe there's an argument to be made for making a smaller raise but I can't see it being that bad.