2/10, big stacks, 3-bet push

I would advice to open shove small pockets here. It's going to show profit with bit over 20bb stack and we don't want to see flop with hand like this. Only good flops for us are 4xx and some paired ones like 55T. Even in paired board like that we end up easily in nasty spots.

In HU counting your necessary equity is easy, because there is no ICM to worry about. It's pure cEV (expected value in chips) calculation. So first question is how much equity we need? We have 7334 to call for pot of 16668 so equity needed is 7334/16668*100 = 42%

If he shoves 22+, Ax, any suited broadway and lets say KJo+ then we have around 49% equity versus his range. Meaning we have clear call. He has to be shoving only like 66+, A8+ to fold this from cEV view. But small pockets are not nice for raise-call plan as they play badly postflop and we don't mind to create more fold equity by shove and make hands fold that we are basically flipping against.

I doubt if there is any such charts, because when villain 3bet shove then our calling range depends on his range and stack depth.

In general with this stack depth we want to use minraise that allow us to play more hands from position and use our possible postflop edge. But that does not mean we cant shove certain hands like small pockets.

I'm sorry, I must be dumb. But I cannot go past the very beginning: why the pot is 16668, when it seems to me that it's 9534?

EDIT: Because it's our call included, right? I think I got it. We do not include the call into pot odds: pot odds would be 9534:7334 = 1.3:1...which seems like we need to win in 43% cases....got it just another way round!

Yeah its just the way I have tend to calculate it

Wow, the cEV is an awesome tip! Thanks a lot!

So...does it mean that push/fold charts are useless HU, because they are based on ICM, not cEV? I used this ranges all the time... The charts actually include open push from SB, which is basically HU. Or this particular column is calculated using cEV, while the rest (with 2+ players) using ICM? That would make sense.

And am I right thinking that you suggest me to minraise in position with cards that are easier to play postflop? My guess would be: Ax, K2s+, K5o+, Q2s+, Q6o+, J2s+, J7o+, suited connectors, mid-connectors offsuit, and probably 99+ . Lower pocket pairs we would just push simplicity for.

Please let me know what you think about the ranges as well, it's a crucial part for beginner's ability to play anything

Well charts you are using does count on ICM even if you read it from SB in unopened pot. Simply because there are more than 2 players left ---> Meaning chips lost are worth more than chips won.

So using those charts would not be good for HU where we are interested in cEV. If you want to look for HU chart I would suggest nash equilibrium HU charts. It might be good idea to print those on "old school" paper

I would not advice using caller chart on start and pusher chart could be good for less than 10-12bb stack. Many solid HU players might use nash push chart as default only with less than 8bb, but using it with bit bigger stacks as beginner player would be totally fine.

You might want to shove some weak Ax hands. Not necessarily with 20bb deep, but with like 15bb deep as those play quite badly postflop as well. From pockets I would tend to add few more in normal raise range. Otherwise it seems fine.

HU is all about your villain. Versus some tight passive player you might be able to minraise with practically any2 if he defends too tight. Versus some it might be good to be bit tighter and mix with some limp plays. Playing experience is the most important thing for HU as well. Keep it simple for start.

It's really an awesome clarification, and I wouldn't want to bother you any more...but I cannot get a quite important point.

I would not advice using caller chart on start and pusher chart could be good for less than 10-12bb stack.

I need to do something on BB apart from folding, don't I? But if I don't use caller chart, so what do I do?

Also, I cannot understand pusher chart either. The numbers in the table are maximum effective stacks in big blinds, right? So how do I change them to fit your 10-12bb advice?

Yeah numbers point out maximum effective stack that will be unexploitable to shove. So e.g. 10bb deep you could shove hands like Q7o, J8o or 54s and villain cannot take advantage of those shoves as long as you are shoving most of better ones as well. For most premium hands versus weak villains you might want to raise small to induce action.

I just meant that using caller chart villain has to shove at least hands that are in pusher chart. This is often not the case so being tighter than caller chart would suggest is often best. If you think villain is aggro enough then you can start to use it as guideline.

So you have to think what sort of range villain is shoving. How he is playing overall to think of calling, or 3betting ranges. There is no chart that says you that, but it comes from experience and your estimation of the opponent.

You can use such cEV calculations in future to check your needed equity and use tool like equilator to check how your hand does versus his shoving range. Profitability of 3bet shoves is bit more complicated to do manually. You need to define villain opening range and range he is calling your shove and check how often he is raise-folding and raise-calling. Plus also check how your hand stands versus his calling range.

Sweet. Thanks a lot. Now I'll work on SAGE article as well and hopefully I'll be pretty much ready to everything in $1 SNGs I used to win most of the time even before I learned such a huge chunk of information.

Instead of using equilator during the game, I find ICM trainer pretty useful. If you spend enough time playing with it, you'll have an idea what cards are in 44% range, and that something like J7o is on the border (well, I said J7o, then checked equilator and it turned out that J8o is in the range, but J7o is not yet. Exactly on the border. I expect more experienced players can do it even better, if not know all the ranges by heart).