Fun spot (edited title: multiple spots lol)

[kvnb1814@aim.com]

So this is a small buy-in tournament. Play at the table has been pretty passive with a lot of folding pre-flop, and no one really getting out of line. We're about ten spots from the money (484 entrants, 99 paid)
The action (just so it's clear) is:
-me raising 2.5x UTG
-LJ shoving for roughly 9BB
-Button cold-calling his jam
-SB tanks . . . he could be just stalling a little before the bubble but he could also have a tough decision (he tanks for maybe a minute total).
So as the SB tanks, what are you thinking? Is this a mandatory shove? I was slightly concerned button would trap with aces or kings, putting me on a strong range and expecting me to re-shove, but not concerned enough because I see players flat here with hands like 88.

[kvnb1814@aim.com]

I'm adding a bonus hand that just occurred. I limped from the button here (which normally I never do) because player 425 was basically in punt mode. He folded and showed K9 offsuit that he bet on an 875 flop three hands earlier, then shoved the next hand, and the hand right before this opened to 5x UTG. My plan was to limp and call his shove, but now this happened and I'm unsure what to do.

[kvnb1814@aim.com]

And finally, one more and I'll be done. Now, about ten hands later, player 425 has shoved once and showed up with 99. Then he folds the next five or six hands preflop...so maybe he isn't in full punt mode now for some reason? So with that information, what do you do in this spot?

[kvnb1814@aim.com]

I'd like to say that the quizzes here are great, but there seems to not be a whole lot of content on spots like this where we have to decide for big portions of our stack, and also not very many where we face decisions with shorter stacks. Much of them are deep-stacked hands. If anyone has found content or quizzes with these types of situations please let me know, thanks. The preflop charts are great but I don't think they give us guidelines for calling all-ins?

[LondonImp]

The reason the majority of the quizzes are deep-stacked is simply because there's more decision points.

[RealJPB]

So I’ll address spot 1. The bubble should play a factor in your thought process here but this tournament is apparently paying out more than 20% so the min cash has to be sooo tiny.

I would always reshove a hand this strong. Yes sometimes you’ll run into aces or kings but mostly that guy will either fold or call off way behind.

[kvnb1814@aim.com]

I hate the payout structures. It paid 99 places for 484 entrants. It’s overkill and imo just takes away from the top spots where it really matters. I always liked ten percent plus the nearest rounded number..meaning for 484, you would round up to 54 (since 9 players per table, that’s the final 6 tables make the money). Even 63 wouldn’t be too bad but 99 is way too many.

[LondonImp]

Pokerstar's 180 man sng's used to be good and profitable because they adhered to the 10% rule and paid out the top 18 places. They then increased this by 50% to pay out the top 27 places which ruined them because it meant a decrease on all the big prizes.

It's always to cater for the fish. If they come 27th then they're pleased because they cashed. Less chance of them making the top 18 and so less chance of them depositing again if they don't feel they ever win anything.