I know exactly what you mean, you can play solid poker all you like but when your first open push with AK gets called with trash-trash and they catch a pair of trash to knock you out it makes you question whether it's worth the enjoyment of playing.

Question for sng players.. the whole idea behind push-fold poker is that short stacks can't call you lightly and must fold, therefore your pushing range is wider. However, if they will call you with any face card, you must be pushing premium hands. How does this work everyone is under pressure from the blinds but they continue to passively call bets?