SNG Strategy I

[de-coder]

Great post! (couldn't +rep you this time though... sorry) This seems to very much be the strategy used on poker after dark. I always found it very hard to believe how tight these pros were - even guys like Gus and DN.

I've really tightened up my own tournament play as a result of that - overall I think it seems to work, but I don't really have it down yet. It's really hard to fold some of those hands and not try to autosteal the blinds when on the button.

[hc422709]

I could

Just for Clarification, We are supposed to be really tight preflop ...
how bout the flop/turn? ie. if we have middle pair or Top pair weak kicker.

[de-coder]

This doesn't make a lot of sense - if you play this tight you won't have anything as weak as middle pair with a weak kicker, in fact you'd never have a weak kicker at all.

[hc422709]

OK, bad example... how bout ur holding KK and an Ace comes up on the flop? or the board pairs up, 4 suited cards at the turn?

Now that I think about it, would it make sense to just try to put all your money in the middle as soon as possible? regardless of scare cards.

[Invigilator]

I like this question. The A is especially difficult for me here. I would imagine that preflop play with KK would be to gear more towards minimizing postflop decisions. However, if you are the initial raiser, get one call and the A hits, is pushing the flop still positive value?

[Kurn]

In the early stages, if you raise KK and get a caller and the flop comes A-high no draw, unless your gut tells you differently, a bet is in order, but re-evaluate on the turn if called.

In the middle stages, unless you are one of the big stacks at the table, your decision will be either shut it down or get your stack in the middle.

FWIW, playing as weak tight as the SNG wonks suggest is not easy for an old limit cash game player like me. My poker instincts say keep betting and make them tell me I'm beat. SNG's, however, are not like any other form of poker.

[Kurn]

The problem with blind stealing in the early and middle stages of a SNG is that you're laying between 5:3 and 3:1 and the stacks are still big enough for the blinds to defend with a wide range and exploit your cb when they think you miss. That's less a concern in a MTT because the money is way off in the distance and you need to make chip accumulation plays on later streets. While in both cases (STT vs MTT) $EV + CEV in the early stages, the theoretical downside of a lower chip count is magnified in the STT.

Now, once you hit that 15 bb or less stack, blind stealing becomes more important, but then there's no raise-fold option. You assess the blinds' calling ranges and push or fold.