Sit 'n Go Strategy study group -- Part I: Low Blind Play

[Slim Pickens]

At the request of some people in the Books and Pubs forum, I've agreed to babysit a study group for the new 2+2 SNG book. Here's the Books and Publications thread. I have read the book and here is my review of Part I. It contains pretty much all I have to say about it. Use this thread to ask questions, stimulate discussion, and otherwise make conversation about the concepts presented in Part I.

My review of Part I:
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Tournament equity is about the only thing this part needs to cover, and it does this well. The rest of it has a lot of good ideas and some debatable ones, and I feel people will want to argue a lot about them. There’s not much point in arguing whether KK should be limped or raised UTG at a 9-handed table given a few vague early-game reads. Even though we could argue indefinitely about it, it’s not terribly important to a new SNG player’s understanding of SNG play. As long as people understand how important tournament equity considerations are even in the early game, argue all you want.

I’m personally not so much into mid suited connectors as speculative hands in low buy-in SNGs, mostly because attempting to semi-bluff a strong draw into players who can’t fold TPnK is really just an easy was of getting all-in as a 40/60 underdog, but I also think a wide variety of early-game play is acceptable as long as it’s qualified with “know your opponents, know your reads, and don’t suck at 50-100 BB poker.”

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This isn't 'nam, so we've got to have some rules.
<ul type="square">[*]1) No flaming Collin, or anyone else. Save the flaming of Collin for the Official STTF SNG Book Review Thread and your general flaming for the Castro Street Fair.[*]2) No unsubstantiated useless answers, even if they're right. If you say something, support it with something else. To phrase that differently: no one-word answers in the vending machine please.[*]3) No posting copyrighted material. Just assume everyone has the book and say things like "In hand 1-x, I think..." rather than posting the entire hand. My understanding is that posting a few sentences is OK. Posting an entire paragraph or hand is not.[*]4) No being a jerk. This is thread for beginners so there might be a lot of questions that seem stupid to more advanced players. If the stupidity of the questions is making you mad, stop reading the thread and go chat-berate some fish for a while until you feel calmer.[/list]

On the subject of limping KK early, Collin has already offered this in the Books and Publications thread.
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Both limping or raising KK/AA early in an SNG are both reasonable options. The key point is that ideally you want to get all your chips in the center pre-flop, but when you cannot accomplish this, it is important not to get wedded to your hand if you get multi-way action and do not improve. If the pot is small, you have multiple opponents, and you don't hit a set, you cannot hesitate to lay down an overpair in the face of substantial action. Particularly if deep-stacked post-flop poker is not a strong point, you should just let the hand go in these circumstances.

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