Stuck at the microscopic buy-ins. Please help!

[JoeS65]

I have been playing online about a year, average about 1 and a half to 2 hours almost every day. Have read a half dozen books(including HOH 1 & 2, currently reading Theory of Poker), many forum posts, magazines etc. I play only no-limit SnG's ranging from $.25 to $1.00. (Doyals and Absolute mostly). I love to play--but.

I play such low limits because I do not win consistently enough to move up. It seems at times I am getting worse. I will admit I lose patience as the game goes on and I dont seem to get a hand. When I do get a hand I am raised aggresively. I give up mostly, but when i call, I am usually buried.

Although I am glad I am slightly ahead overall I feel I should be a much better player. At least good enough for the $5 level. Any thoughts on self analysis of my game. Especially good decision making when time is very limited online, vs. emotional reactions that are costly.
Thank you very much anyone taking their time to read and respond. It is greatly appriciated.

[HSB]

When you call and are buried, are these frustration calls because you haven't played a hand in an hour?

I'm not all that much of an SnG guy but when I dick around at the three dollar ones on Stars the basic strategy is fold anything but the biggest hands until you only have 10 big blinds or so then start pushing.

Remember, it's much better to be the one doing the rasing. They need more to call than you do to raise.

How many have you played? It takes hundreds before you know anything...or so the SNG players used to say.

[Slappy002]

I'm not ashamed to admit I play the micro SNGs on Doyle's alot... either for drunken gambooling fun, or when I'm busto (as is the case right now). I'm Slappy001777 on DBPN. Who are you?

You make money in these nano-SNGs by letting people bust each other while you just sit there. Don't try to win first place in the first 3 levels... just get to the bubble.
How to do this?

FIRST 2 LEVELS 20/40 30/60
Only open push allin preflop with solid pocket pairs (say 77-QQ)... You can slow down a little with KK and AA, but don't get too cute. Your 350 raise WILL get called by J7 or K4 or A2sooted.

The next group of hands: 55/66/AQ/AK: Push allin only if a bunch of EP people fold out. If theres lots of limpers, limp this hand group and fold if you miss. If there's raises+calls or reraises in front of you it's better to fold out and take it easy while the other people bust each other.

Group 3 hands like A7-AJ generally should be limped into only late postion opponents. When you miss the flop you're not committing any more money.

Limp small pocket pairs from all positions for set value. Fold to raises or if you miss the flop.

At 50/100 you start pushbotting unless you doubled through in the first 2 levels. If you're sitting there with T4000 or so, it's not good to get it allin preflop with AK when someone else with a big stack could possibly bust you
with a pocket pair or even a dominated hand like KJ or AT.

If you haven't doubled through in the first 2 levels you should have somewhere in the neighborhood of T1800 at the beginning of 50/100. Keep track of who's limping every hand and punish them with marginal good holdings like A7+/44+ by pushing preflop unless you're in early position and there's many players to act behind you.
Keep track of who's NOT limping every hand and don't push overtop of them if they limp unless you've got something solid like AQ/AK 88-AA.
Keep track of the lagtards and treat them the same as the people who limp every hand.
It's ok to slow down a little and make standard raises with KK-AA and sometimes QQ at 50/100. If you get multiple callers ususally you should push the flop if no overcards come.

As the blinds get higher just keep lowering your standards for open pushes allin. When the blinds are really high and you don't have a big stack don't be afraid to come over top of limpers allin with marginal good hands like AJ or even worse hands if it's just one or two limpers.

On the bubble if you have a decent stack, keep an eye on who's ready to bust out and DON'T play a big hand without a massive pocket pair if it means you might bubble out and someone on a shortstack could sneak into the money.

[Slappy002]

[ QUOTE ]

I play such low limits because I do not win consistently enough to move up. It seems at times I am getting worse. I will admit I lose patience as the game goes on and I dont seem to get a hand.

[/ QUOTE ]
<font color="green">The beauty of the microscopic limit SNGs is that you don't NEED to play hardly ANY hands to get very close to the money. True, you will need to win a couple of hands to get into the money, but you don't need to pick up tickets every third hand to win money in these games. </font>

[ QUOTE ]
When I do get a hand I am raised aggresively. I give up mostly, but when i call, I am usually buried.


[/ QUOTE ]
<font color="green"> If you're getting raised aggressively every time you have a hand, that means you didn't go allin preflop. That's a no-no unless you have AA-QQ or a speculative hand that needs to see a flop like 33 or AJ. It shouldn't bother you to fold AJ or 33 preflop to a raise in the early levels, you only put in 40 or 60 chips out of your 2000 starting stack </font>

[ QUOTE ]
Although I am glad I am slightly ahead overall I feel I should be a much better player. At least good enough for the $5 level. Any thoughts on self analysis of my game. Especially good decision making when time is very limited online, vs. emotional reactions that are costly.
Thank you very much anyone taking their time to read and respond. It is greatly appriciated.

[/ QUOTE ]
<font color="green"> If you want to bring your game up to a winrate you are happy with, I think you need to familiarize yourself with some math stuff that isn't explained in the poker books. Specifically I'm referring to combinatorics (card combinations) so that you can do your own independant math analysis of hands to see what works, what dosen't and why. It's hard and boring but it's the best thing I ever learned poker-wise.
Don't know what to say about your emotional reactions... they'll probably stop once you start playing good push/fold poker and the monkeys start throwing their money at you. </font>

As I said in my earlier post, I'm flat broke busto right now, blew off almost 40 buyins playing $20+2 heads up matches on monkey tilt. I'm nowhere near being a poker guru, but I have built a $2 bankroll up to about $15 pretty quickly at these micro SNGs.
If you don't mind I'd like to know your screen name on Doyle's. Perhaps we can improve each others games.

[JoeS65]

Thank for you your reply. Your advice is much appriciated.

I have played about 400 SnG's mostly all one table.

I think the frusation calls are my biggest issue right now. I long string of un-playable cards, coupled with a few bad beats, leads to emotional play rather than reasoned dicision making. A recipe for disaster.

I agree and do follow your strategy on tight play in early rounds, certainly until their are only 6 or 7 players.

Good point about raising and calling. I tend to call more than I raise. I know I should raise more when I have a strong hand, and back off some on the re-raises.

[JoeS65]

Thank for you your reply. Your advice is much appriciated.

My screen name at Doyals is the same JoeS65.

I agree with part of your approach in early rounds on letting a few people bust out early. I feel if I have the 1800 you mentioned with 6 players left I have a 50% chance to hit the money.

I concept I have not yet adopted but will consider is pushing all-in early with 77-QQ. It seems often there are callers with all-ins and creates a good chance of busting early. I may adjust this thinking if in late position, or if no one has yet opened the betting.

I agree with AA or KK about 300-500. I guess i like more information before going all-in, like seeing the flop. I am not opposed however to trying new things, especially since i am almost always behind in the chip count when down to 6 players.

I like your comments on observing limpers. Something I will do a better job of. It may make the difference in tough decision situations.

[JoeS65]

Thank you again for your reply.

I am beginning to think more about raising some hands than calling other hands. I think too often I am playing into someone else's game, calling a big raise out of fustration, or not wanting to back down from a good hand. At least if I raise aggresively with a solid hand and lose, well so be it.

As i mentioned before the all-in in early rounds pre-flop is something new to consider. I am gonna have to pick my spots on that one. Preferably when im on a good streak.

I have read at this forum that if you enjoy playing poker and are not losing money, then you are doing well. I am slightly ahead overall so I probably shouldnt complain much. I am warming up to the idea that is very hard to win alot of money.

[Alexisonfyre]

Just like that, how much rake do you pay per tourney? The standard % is 10%, but at micro limit you can pay more and that diminishes your ROI(return on investment).

[JoeS65]

Thank you for responding.

Doyals is .25+.02, .50+.05,
Absolute is .50+.10, 1.00 +.20

Been playin more at doyals because the % is obviously less, and lately the games haven't been as easy at Absolute.

[Jeff76]

The problem with all of the books and SnGs is that most SnGs devolve into push fests pretty quick where everything is happening pre flop (to put it in HoH terminology, you get below the green zone after just two levels). To beat these games you've got to know when to push, and sometimes what [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Now I said "most" SnGs for a reason, because I think the ones on Ultimate Bet are a little different due to a more gradual blind structure. You get about six levels before you start dealing with low M situations, so you get a lot of post flop play. The downside to this is that the players on UB are much better than other sites (at least what I've experienced), even at the $1 level (as compered to other $1 level players of course).

I started playing $1 SnGs and then moved to the $5 after getting a feel for the game. I did it with a $50 bandroll, which isn't enough for $5 buy ins, but I didn't know it at the time. Anyway, I manged to do well enough to move up and now am properly bankrolled for $10 SnGs (~$400) after about 7 or 8 months.

The poker books helped me immensly in learning how to beat these games, but I think a large part of that is due to the blind structure at UB- there's just not as much room to "play poker" at other sites.