Get Your Noob Out: All questions here!

[citanul]

Got a question you think is too noobish to ask?

Afraid your post will get locked because it's stupid?

Think you've got a frequently asked question that isn't in the FAQ?

In the second annual installment of Get Your Noob Out we're inviting all of you to post your noob questions - as silly as you think they might be - in this thread.

This thread is reserved for ON TOPIC questions only. This is not "Ask Citanul Anything." Attempts to troll this thread (where the mods will be politely providing answers) will be met with swift bans.

Looking forward to it:

citanul & co.

[billxo1b]

where do you see the online poker a year from now?

<font color="blue">this has nothing to do with this forum. i guess maybe i should specify that. </font>

[Scotty_12]

What are the main adjustments I should be making as I play tournaments with faster blind levels - from 10 minutes (regulars), to 5 minutes (turbos), to 2 minutes (ultra.)

<font color="blue">Well honestly, I wouldn't make too many adjustments. All this really means is that you're going to be playing push/fold poker sooner but I still base those decisions strictly on ICM. But I'd still play tight early... the one difference is I might be more willing to get all-in in a marginal spot early. But this doesn't mean limping all sorts of speculative hands and whatnot. It just means I'd be more willing to go all the way with strongish hands than I would be in a slower structure. But in general, I'd say tight early / ICM late is still the way to go, regardless of blind structure. -wiggs</font>

[fluorescenthippo]

are the ROIs in the FAQ going to be updated? like, divided by two or something

<font color="blue">Yes, but maybe not divided by 2. I just made a FAQ updates thread, if you somehow missed it, go post more ideas in it. </font>

[Shanemex]

When you're playing HU with around 12-20BB each in a SNG, how often are you limping on the button?

<font color="blue">depends on my opponent. -citanul </font>

<font color="blue">I never really do this, maybe once in a blue moon. Raptor got me thinking about it with his post, but it's something I never incorporated into my game. FWIW, I think this would work better at higher buyin games and I also think that IF you want to use it as part of your arsenal, you should make it a point to a do it with a sufficiently wide range of hands - i.e. hands you intend to fold to a raise with AS WELL as hands you'd call a shove with - otherwise it will be a very exploitable move. - wiggs </font>

[Sparta45]

When I'm playing HU and we both have 4500 chips and the blinds are 100/200. And some douchebag is raising about 70-75% of his hands off the button to T800 (folding the rest)....

<font color="blue">first off i want to point out that the idea that your opponent is a "douchebag" because he has adopted a strategy that you have trouble with is counterproductive. normally this happens when an opponent is just playing better than you and you want to think he's playing like a donkey. it can lead you to tilt and play wrong.</font>

1) I should almost never be calling his raise preflop with these stacks, right?

<font color="blue">you're 20 bets deep. he's raising to 4 bets, and a pot sized reraise would be to like 2400. personally i'd never just call here unles i was playing against a special opponent or i had a special plan for that hand, or both.</font>

2) What hands should I be pushing?

<font color="blue">sit down with an ICM calculator on this one. estimate the range he's raising with, the % of time he folds to your raise (based on range obv), and the icm value of the stacks you'd have in each situation. getting the final answer to questions like this isn't the goal of this thread. ie, i'm not going to do the calculations for you. getting the idea of how it is done to you is the goal. </font>

[dpbuck]

How do you use SNGWiz (or SNGPT) to review sessions? How do you use them to improve your game?

<font color="blue">I personally only own SNGPT, but that's because I stopped playing SNGs as my main game right around the same time SNGWiz came out. I review my sessions in 2 ways. One is I keep a notepad file open while I'm playing and I copy &amp; paste hands I'm unsure of in there while I play. I also write down any reads that might help me assign ranges. I review these hands first, one at a time. Then I review complete hand histories. I have to rely a little more on presets here unless I really take my time with it, but I just do this to make sure I'm not making any really obvious mistakes. - wiggs</font>

[Asgrow13]

Is there really enough dead money floating around in SNGs these days to make them profitable? I'm lookin at the $33-$55 range, and it just seems to me that there can't be many fish left in these games, and I'm curious whether people feel these games are still beatable for a good winrate when there's a decent amount of regulars in the games.

<font color="blue">this really depends on what you mean by "good win rate." i really doubt these games are beatable for 20-25% now, for instance, unless you get a rare table on stars, or are on some other site. profitable yes, but not like rolling in loot profitable by 4 tabling.</font>

[Mingdu]

What is the worst possible ROI, in $11 SnGs, over 1000 games that can still be attributed to variance?

What ROI over 1000 games at the same level is it obvious that the player is talented as opposed to just having good cards?

<font color="blue">go find RVG's ROI simulator, and play around with it. it answers all these questions and more!</font>

[marsus]

Why are headsup hands postet very seldom? Being good hu increases the roi a lot, but hu posts are very rare.

<font color="blue">because most of the time heads up play involves very shallow stacks, and because of this it is very close to a solved game how to play optimally.</font>