Bluffing in SnGs

donkeykong2 · #1 11-23-2007, 09:38 PM

the general opinion here seems to be that bluffing is unnecessary and -ev in SnGs or that you dont need it at all besides some cbets/flopbets.
i think this generally is true for the early stages where blinds are at 10/20 till 25/50. When the blinds hit 50/100 i think you need to be able to react to some sort of opponents though. i mean these guy who will try to run over you be minraising/raising your blind every time and then make a cbet every time or very often. they might not be easily detectable in a full ring game but if you play some 5/6 max sngs you will recognize them after a short period.
a common advice against a raise in the later stages is to push or fold, while i like it vs button raisers i think it s usually not good if villain is on the sb. i actually like calling a lot more hands against these guys (keep pushing pairs though) because we re in position against a guy with a huge range who will cbet a lot. if the flop comes k or a high you can just try to raise him off his hand if you hit a pair you can call him down.
my experiences are based mainly on 5 max tournaments, so it might be difficult to just transform them to 10 handed tourneys. what i also like is to raise a sb limper almost every time in the early stages, as he will fold a lot preflop and on the flop and i might scare him to do some crap later on [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img].

suzzer99 · #2 11-23-2007, 09:51 PM

I'm very proud of my 20% success rate at bluffing in SNGs.

donkeykong2 · #3 11-23-2007, 10:00 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I'm very proud of my 20% success rate at bluffing in SNGs.

[/ QUOTE ]

maybe you picked the wrong guys [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img], you can easily spew a ton i agree with you there.

Fishing2do · #4 11-23-2007, 11:04 PM

Bluffing is the art of Portraying yourself in the eyes of your opponent and determining the likelyhood if you(he) would fold to your bet( from his POV). Therefor, the more you can "see" through the eyes of your opponents, the more successful your bluffs will be.
If you are a good SnG player, it will be very difficult to understand how bad players play. In other words, it's hard to look through their eyes and determine how'd you play the hand facing the action you have given them. Thus bluffing bad players is -EV.

This leads me to the conclusion that bluffing in SnG's is +EV if you have a high succesrate with "looking through the eyes of your oppponents".

Buttt......... and there's always a but [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. If you heavy multitable, you wont have the necessary time to "look through your opponents eyes". Therefor if you multitable 8+ tables, bluffing will be very hard and prolly -EV or not worth the effort for the +EV.

Sorry for the rambling, but I guess this kinda concludes where you stand on Bluffing in SnGs.

DevinLake · #5 11-23-2007, 11:35 PM

So, basically you are saying people should call SB raises and bluff A/Kxx flops? Ok, insightful post.

Also, I think punishing the SB limpers early in a sng is giving away EV in the late stages. What I mean is that by the time the blinds get big, the SB will have realized your strategy. I would rather let him think his SB completes will go unpunished and allow him to continuously give me free flops in position with my trash hand early. Then, when the blinds get big, I'll start punishing him making his completes a much bigger mistake.

suzzer99 · #6 11-24-2007, 01:49 AM

Devin, stop giving away one of the last secrets I have.

Tantalus747 · #7 11-24-2007, 02:10 AM

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Devin, stop giving away one of the last secrets I have.

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I didn't know this was a secret. Seems kinda common sense for a thinking player.

hagum · #8 11-24-2007, 10:09 AM

[ QUOTE ]

Also, I think punishing the SB limpers early in a sng is giving away EV in the late stages. What I mean is that by the time the blinds get big, the SB will have realized your strategy. I would rather let him think his SB completes will go unpunished and allow him to continuously give me free flops in position with my trash hand early. Then, when the blinds get big, I'll start punishing him making his completes a much bigger mistake.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well written. You'll benefit sooo much from this in the long run. Just don't let your ego get in the way in early stages. Guys with big poker ego's built a large part of my bankroll. Not only for the reason stated above.

futuredoc85 · #9 11-24-2007, 10:15 AM

bluffing is more fun than folding amirite?

MyGeneration · #10 11-24-2007, 10:54 AM

[ QUOTE ]
So, basically you are saying people should call SB raises and bluff A/Kxx flops? Ok, insightful post.

Also, I think punishing the SB limpers early in a sng is giving away EV in the late stages. What I mean is that by the time the blinds get big, the SB will have realized your strategy. I would rather let him think his SB completes will go unpunished and allow him to continuously give me free flops in position with my trash hand early. Then, when the blinds get big, I'll start punishing him making his completes a much bigger mistake.

[/ QUOTE ] Couldnt agree more. Theres no way Im stealing until the 50/100 level.