Sit n Go Strategy

[CardWarfare]

Strategy discussions for Sit-n-Go tournaments go here.

[onlyme386]

New here to TRR, but I would definitely say SNG are my strength right now.

When I was on Full Tilt I found the $5 6 max to be VERY juicy, and the 45 man tourneys are very beatable. Haven't experienced the 90 man but from what I hear they're soft. Lots of money to be made out there.

On Stars, I really enjoy the 180 man tourneys. These are offered at $4.40, $11, and $22. These also are very beatable with a little good fortune from the poker gods. I've had good experience with these. The 18 and 45 are pretty good as well, lots of action early, stay out of the way without a premium hand.

Overall, if you dont try to pull a stupid bluff (my biggest mistake) all of these are very +ev in the long run.

[CardWarfare]

Good to have a SNG specialist in here. Since the majority of the posters here are NL players, I'm sure this will be a popular section

[JMoney2681]

Originally Posted by onlyme386

New here to TRR, but I would definitely say SNG are my strength right now.

When I was on Full Tilt I found the $5 6 max to be VERY juicy, and the 45 man tourneys are very beatable. Haven't experienced the 90 man but from what I hear they're soft. Lots of money to be made out there.

On Stars, I really enjoy the 180 man tourneys. These are offered at $4.40, $11, and $22. These also are very beatable with a little good fortune from the poker gods. I've had good experience with these. The 18 and 45 are pretty good as well, lots of action early, stay out of the way without a premium hand.

Overall, if you dont try to pull a stupid bluff (my biggest mistake) all of these are very +ev in the long run.

Oh god yes. I've only played a handful of the $5 45man sng's at FT, but god are they loose. Worst poker plays I have ever seen, without a doubt a good place to start crushing for decent $

[gkunit20]

So, basic strategy is to not bluff early in an sng?

[JMoney2681]

Originally Posted by gkunit20

So, basic strategy is to not bluff early in an sng?

Precisely. Really, there IS not bluffing early on, in SNG's. Most play like donks and are willing to get into coin flips - hell, even 60/40 just as a retarded chance to double up, which is terrible strategy.

[gkunit20]

My experience with sng's is to wait for a big hand, double up, and then wait for the next one, really letting everyone else bust each other. For two table sng, 1-2 double ups is usually enough to cash. For bigger ones, I'll wait for people to bust early and pick my spots. That's really all the info I have for sng.

[Dierks]

Here's the Single Table SNG advice I like to follow, courtesy of an interview I heard with Scott Fischman.

1. Fold AQ early
2. Look to double up early
3. Don't continuation bet if you raise pf and then miss the flop completely
4. You should have 1300-1500 at the 50/100 level (approx 7 players left)
5. Blinds are not worth stealing at the 50/100 level if you are the chip leader
6. Don't push all-in with Ace rag, connectors and suited connectors are better
7. By 100/200 level (approx 5 players left) go into maniac mode if players are tight and trying to make the money
8. Less than 6BB is short stacked, if folded to on the button or SB go all-in with anything

The overall strategy is play really, really tight early and really, really loose late. Remember that stack size is a bigger factor than the cards you are holding.

[CardWarfare]

I know everybody talks about how tight to play in the early stages of a sit-n-go, and I do, generally, but also look to build chips...


Does anyone else make this call?


PokerStars Game #7436100885: Tournament #38037010, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2006/12/14 - 03:33:12 (ET)
Table '38037010 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: crisco416 (930 in chips)
Seat 2: parlay1975 (945 in chips)
Seat 3: sublymelife (1710 in chips)
Seat 5: maurice1157 (1840 in chips)
Seat 6: CardWarfare (2130 in chips)
Seat 7: CPJCORP (3370 in chips)
Seat 8: jus 140 (1325 in chips)
Seat 9: blinknfire (1250 in chips)
maurice1157: posts small blind 15
CardWarfare: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CardWarfare [8h 7h]
CPJCORP: calls 30
jus 140: folds
blinknfire: folds
crisco416: folds
parlay1975: calls 30
sublymelife: folds
maurice1157: calls 15
CardWarfare: checks
*** FLOP *** [6c 4h Tc]
maurice1157: checks
CardWarfare: bets 90
CPJCORP: calls 90
parlay1975: calls 90
maurice1157: folds
*** TURN *** [6c 4h Tc] [Ah]
CardWarfare said, "but you hadda know he had a 9"
CardWarfare: bets 120
CPJCORP: calls 120
parlay1975: raises 705 to 825 and is all-in
CardWarfare: calls 705
CPJCORP: folds
*** RIVER *** [6c 4h Tc Ah] [8s]
blinknfire said, "??"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
CardWarfare: shows [8h 7h] (a pair of Eights)
parlay1975: shows [Ac 6d] (two pair, Aces and Sixes)
parlay1975 collected 2160 from pot
blinknfire said, "lol"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2160 | Rake 0
Board [6c 4h Tc Ah 8s]
Seat 1: crisco416 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: parlay1975 showed [Ac 6d] and won (2160) with two pair, Aces and Sixes
Seat 3: sublymelife (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: maurice1157 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: CardWarfare (big blind) showed [8h 7h] and lost with a pair of Eights
Seat 7: CPJCORP folded on the Turn
Seat 8: jus 140 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: blinknfire folded before Flop (didn't bet)

[JMoney2681]

This is still fairly early in a SNG, as the blinds are still sitting at 15/30, so with that in mind, I will continue. I don't know how much I like the bet on the flop as there is a flush draw on the board and you will never get a flush draw to fold, and thus are creating a bigger pot against a hand that has a much better draw than you.

However, if you are betting this as a "control "bet, as I sometimes do, then leading the flop is good. After the turn, the pot now has 390 in it, so for you to make a smallish bet of 120 is a tad odd, especially if you are trying to make someone fold. Again, I feel you are making a "control" bet, which isnt' terrible in this spot. So now your bet of 120 brings the pot to 510, and then CPJ calls 120 to bring the pot up to 630 now. Parlay pushes for 825, making the pot now 1455, and you must call another 705, getting SLIGHTLY better than 2 to 1. (2.06 to 1)

I don't feel that if we hit our 7 we will ever win this pot, so we need to hit either a 5 or a 9, giving us 8 clean outs, but only 6 if he has a flush draw + pair type of hand. The 8 might be good, but your straight draw outs are your clean outs. Since you bet such a small amount of 120 on the turn, I think we can safely fold this and fight another day.

You made a few bets and were told where you stood in the hand, considering we only lose 240 in chips on this hand, I can fold this no problem. We also have to worry about the other villain who might reraise all in as well, since you are now in a "sandwhich" position.

When villain pushes with a short stack on this board, he has a hand. I say fold, considering we don't have too much commited and we have many chips to continue the battle. Fold and fight another day.