So my first post on 2+2, well over three years ago, was in STTF and that was where I hung out for a long time. I figure my 5K post should be some kind of gift to STTF. But first some advice:
STOP PLAYING SNGs.
Fair enough if you enjoy them more, I guess, but it honestly pains me to see medium to large stakes players, or players who are trying to improve as a player, still trying to eke out an existence in the desert of the over-raked and basically solved game of SNGs, while those of us who made the jump are lazing around in the fertile fields of cash NL. Having played cash NL for a year now, I returned to SNGs to play the PCA steps on PokerStars and hated it. There is little to no opportunity to outplay your opponents and zero opportunity for creativity. When I played SNGs I used to say that I enjoyed the different strategy that was required during different phases of the tournament. At cash that is replaced by different strategies for different opponents, something much diminished in SNGs which often play out as a complicated form of solitaire.
So I was going to write a guide to moving to cash, but a little way into it I discovered it was too much like hard work. Then I remembered that I had started writing a book on SNGs some months ago. I wrote 7,500 words towards it, but there's no point finishing it now since Moshman's book was published by 2+2.
So for all you SNGers who can't bear to give it up for cash, I've put the text online. It's
here. There are some concepts in there that I think are new, or perhaps haven't been expressed in that way before. Topics covered include ICM, early game play, late game play and the stop and go. Questions/comments should go in this thread - I won't be reading comments on the blog. Hopefully someone learns something so I won't have completely wasted the time I spent spewing out 7500 words [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
Edit: For experienced SNGers who don't want to read through a rehash of basic ICM stuff, the main stuff that might be new and/or interesting is in the "Limitations of the ICM - Manipulating Blind Equity Loss" section. The "Stop and go" section might be worth a read, too, as it lays out the criteria for a successful stop and go pretty clearly.