A few days ago (might be far longer, I watch the dailies on youtube usually where they don't appear for sometimes weeks after they air) day9 mentioned deliberate practice as a way to get better. Deliberate Practice, in short, is picking one of the many things you could improve on, and focus on just that one aspect instead of trying to improve everything at once.

So since I'm still trying to make money with SnGs (not just for me, also for sngMentors since they're staking me) I have decided that after way ove 50k sngs played and thousands of hours spent on both studying and playing I probably should change my approach. So I will be picking different aspects of my play and try to focus on specific leaks instead of trying to improve at everything at once. So today the focus is on shoving ranges. I will be going over hands that I shoved (with 10-15bb, since i think that's probably where my biggest leak is).

For this I will set my filters on pokertracker to Raise All-In preflop and Stack Size 10-15bb (which means I will only look at hands that i did shove, but I think that I have enough hands that I shoved when I didn't that it's not just an exercise of looking at hands that I shoved correctly, which in itself is also helpful). Now I will be looking at the hands from the bottom up (worst hands first), since obviously it's a mistake to shove AA with 15bb, but it's obviously less of a mistake than folding it. (I apparently like the word obviously)

The first hand is already a winner: PokerStars Game #62663749872: Tournament #398975012, $6.45+$0.55 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2011/05/28 12:45:21 ET
Table '398975012 2' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: zgembo (2880 in chips)
Seat 2: romell70 (3935 in chips)
Seat 3: liodel123 (1790 in chips)
Seat 5: xyious (1890 in chips)
Seat 6: NTL89 (3545 in chips)
Seat 9: jay83666 (1400 in chips)
xyious: posts small blind 75
NTL89: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to xyious [3s 2d]
jay83666: folds
zgembo: folds
romell70: folds
liodel123: folds
xyious: raises 1740 to 1890 and is all-in

NTL is a reg and should be calling me with a decent range. If he calls me with A2/KTo+ I should fold this even at 0 edge. Antes do change that, though:

PokerStars Game #67856442765: Tournament #444577536, $3.19+$0.31 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2011/09/21 17:52:57 ET
Table '444577536 5' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: xyious (2230 in chips)
Seat 2: jb_26 (2490 in chips)
Seat 3: BETO1901 (1320 in chips)
Seat 5: Chriakri (2225 in chips)
Seat 6: tom_guns1 (4535 in chips)
Seat 7: winne1952 (10745 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 8: lollipop1983 (2700 in chips)
xyious: posts the ante 25
jb_26: posts the ante 25
BETO1901: posts the ante 25
Chriakri: posts the ante 25
tom_guns1: posts the ante 25
winne1952: posts the ante 25
lollipop1983: posts the ante 25
xyious: posts small blind 100
jb_26: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to xyious [3s 4d]
BETO1901: folds
Chriakri: folds
tom_guns1: folds
winne1952: folds
lollipop1983: folds
xyious: raises 2005 to 2205 and is all-in

Now he needs to call me with K4o before this will be a bad shove. Which in reality fairly few people will do, although some regs will. So with 11 bb without ante we need to fold this every time, with ante we cen shove into unknowns that aren't overly loose.

PokerStars Game #65805575397: Tournament #425637175, $6.45+$0.55 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2011/08/10 9:42:03 ET
Table '425637175 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 2: Drifter84 (2840 in chips)
Seat 4: Weissgold (1125 in chips)
Seat 5: arianikus (1490 in chips)
Seat 6: Zykos (3820 in chips)
Seat 7: xyious (1605 in chips)
Seat 8: ulalaa (905 in chips)
Seat 9: Robert_277 (1715 in chips)
ulalaa: posts small blind 75
Robert_277: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to xyious [9s 7h]
Drifter84: folds
Weissgold: folds
arianikus: folds
Zykos: folds
xyious: raises 1455 to 1605 and is all-in

Interestingly enough this is still a fold vs fairly standard ranges, although it's in the top50% of hands.

PokerStars Game #65808432183: Tournament #425662965, $6.45+$0.55 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2011/08/10 10:55:26 ET
Table '425662965 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: xyious (2025 in chips)
Seat 2: hazelasty (1170 in chips)
Seat 4: polonavas (3045 in chips)
Seat 5: manollo1900 (1130 in chips)
Seat 6: johnsalo (2200 in chips)
Seat 7: Kaczmarol (2485 in chips)
Seat 9: satkar (1445 in chips)
manollo1900: posts small blind 100
johnsalo: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to xyious [Jh Th]
Kaczmarol: folds
satkar: folds
xyious: raises 1825 to 2025 and is all-in

This just seems like an especially bad shove. The bb looks like a regular and even with the fairly tight ranges that wiz gives to the other people I shouldn't be shoving this.

PokerStars Game #65346128343: Tournament #421475513, $6.42+$0.58 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (150/300) - 2011/07/31 17:32:01 ET
Table '421475513 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: xyious (3030 in chips)
Seat 2: madwin1 (6040 in chips)
Seat 5: mephistoo111 (5257 in chips)
Seat 6: jtocaous (2570 in chips)
Seat 7: DJOOTBRU (3425 in chips)
Seat 9: Doc32 (3600 in chips)
xyious: posts the ante 25
madwin1: posts the ante 25
mephistoo111: posts the ante 25
jtocaous: posts the ante 25
DJOOTBRU: posts the ante 25
Doc32: posts the ante 25
DJOOTBRU: posts small blind 150
Doc32: posts big blind 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to xyious [Jd Td]
xyious: raises 2705 to 3005 and is all-in

apparently this is an ICM hand. In cEV mode i should be shoving this and probably wider vs the ranges that people will have near the bubble. In $EV mode it's a clear fold even vs fairly tight ranges. Considering the cEV difference of over +100 chips (while being -1% $EV) I think this might not be a horrible shove but it should be near the edge either way.