SnG Strategy

[calabazas]

As a novice I was hoping some on this forum could odder some general strategy advice for playing SnGs at pokerstars. I have been playing on the same $30 dollars for well over a month now. However, the swings from almost breaking even to placing in the money on literally the last buy-in I can afford is getting very disheartening. It's like I'm in poker purgatory. I know my game has got unbelievable leaks, but I only started playing poker about 4 or 5 months ago. Any tips or advice would be welcome. Thanks in advance.

[PantsOnFire]

1. You might get better answers in the STT strategy forum.

2. For a $30 bankroll, you should be playing $1 or perhaps $2 SnGs.

3. Read Dan Harrington on Holdem Volumes 1 and 2. They are not specifically for SnGs but they are for tournament style NL holdem which is very useful.

4. Play less hands. Fold after the flop unless you have a very good draw or a very good hand or stick around if you have middle pair but the betting is small compared to the size of the pot.

5. Forget about bluffing or slowplaying.

[poker_bill]

Read Harrington on Holdem Vol 1 and 2 before you play another SnG. After you finish vol 2, slap yourself for not reading them sooner.

After that, play the lowest buy in. If you play smart, and don't let the bad beats get to you, you'll slowly work your bankroll up.

[Nairb]

[ QUOTE ]
Read Harrington on Holdem Vol 1 and 2 before you play another SnG. After you finish vol 2, slap yourself for not reading them sooner.

After that, play the lowest buy in. If you play smart, and don't let the bad beats get to you, you'll slowly work your bankroll up.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ChrisV]

There's a new SNG-specific book out by Colin Moshman which is wayyyyy better than the Harrington's for SNG play. There's a couple of completely wrong answers in the Harrington books.

[CaptainSubtext]

A good beginners strategy in $1 SNGs is play sqeaky-tight in the beginning, only play premium hands. When the blinds get higher at the level of 75/150 start stealing blinds from LP to maintain your stack.

When the bubble approaches you're only folding or raising to steal the very high blinds. To succesfully play SNGs you should at least finish ITM 50% of the time, but to make big leaps with your bankroll you should win SNGs at least 25% of the time.

Playing 4-handed and shorter well is the key trying to win, before this you're almost "folding" your way into the money. Only fold or raise to win the blinds. Hopefully you have some good cards which you can exploit. If you have a big stack when bubble approaches use it when players are too tight but only play good cards when you know you will be called or raised by shortstacks or LAGs.

Try to find and read as much strategy posts about SNGs as you can. Post hands where you weren't sure about your play and learn to play very shorthanded and HU.

This is a nice article from a high stakes SNG/MTT player:
http://www.bluffmagazine.com/magazin...2007_04_50.asp

Good Luck!

Ps. also try some of those 45-people SNGs on Stars. When you place ITM it will be a nice payday.

[ChrisV]

[ QUOTE ]
When the bubble approaches you're only folding or raising to steal the very high blinds. To succesfully play SNGs you should at least finish ITM 50% of the time, but to make big leaps with your bankroll you should win SNGs at least 25% of the time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nobody, and I mean nobody, has numbers like this in SNGs. ITMs over 40 are rare. I was making a good living at SNGs with numbers like 36.8% ITM and 13% firsts.