Let's be honest here. When you are playing sitngos players don't like to play after the flop. Strangely this is because they A) have little experience post flop and B) they aren't good at it.
So how can you exploit this? I find that I like to play small ball. What I mean is play small pots and lots of them.
I do this for two reasons.
1) Huge implied odds
2) Its hard to make a hand in hold'em
ONE) I know that if I hit a monster my opponents are terrible and will get it all in. This is why the standard strategy (see Matt's post) is - play pps, some suited connectors, but basically just monster hands. The implied odds in SNGs is huge. Most ppl cannot get away from TPTK, so you flop a set, and all their chips are belong to you. There are plenty of times where you can hit other strong hands though. And when you have blinds of 10-20 or 15-30 - that is a lot of lottery tickets. You call that min-raise with Q6s on the button, hit trips, and you might grab a few hundred or even someones whole stack. I've found that if I'm willing to gamble with 1/3 of my chips ealry on, I don't lose very much - and usually I get an above average stack in no time.
TWO) Hold'em is an interesting game. We all know the basic odds of hitting a pair on the flop with two unpaired whole cards is about 2:1 (around 1/3 the time). Most of the time then, ppl miss. If you are in the pot, in position, those are free chips out there. Even more, you will hit some of the time - and those pots are yours too. Even more importantly - when ppl miss most fold to small bets; I pick up the vast majority of these pots on the flop for a 1/2 pot sized bet (or less).
HOW) So what I like to do is play about 3-6 hands per round. I play any suited cards that don't have a 2 or 3 in them. Any connected cards and one-gap connectors (the worst of which would be 78os or T8os). If I'm first to the pot I usually min-raise, but sometimes I put in 3x BB or limp. The key is seeing flops - so I always make smaller pots, so if I am raised I can call some of the time (when its not too much of my stack at risk). Then its pretty straight forward - I bet when I think they missed/are weak and check/fold when I think they are strong/hit. I only play big pots when I have a big hand. A pair is not a big hand.
This is working great for me. I have cashed in my last 7/10 SNGs. Gotten 3 firsts. And the other benefit, I've yet to bust out early. Every bust out has been 5th or better. I highly advocate learning how to play after the flop in these early. Playing any other way, just seems stupid to me.
5 comments:
I like to play super aggresive with my first 500 chips, in the early rounds ill play alot of hands and i generally come in for a raise if im coming in.
If things go well, i start playing solid aggresive poker, playing position and good cards, let some of the players get eliminated and get a feel for the table.
If things go badly, i tighten up and go into trap mode. I think trapping is so important sitngos, alot of players will comit all their chips with a pair so you need to give them a chance of hitting it.
Hey, interesting post, but aren't you supposed to play like ROCK solid in SNGs until you get top three?
http://i.fulltiltpoker.com/images/ourTeam/audio/Pod01-Howard-SNG.mp3
OMG, playing like this is amazing.
In the past 25 SNGs. I have gotten 10 firsts. That is nuts. Before I was barely breaking even, and now I cash most of the time - instead of about half the time, and I cash at the top - instead of constantly squeaking out a pathetic 3rd...
i think playing rock tight is definatly an option and im sure it probably works but if i build up a big stack i can guarantee whereas if i wait around for a hand im gonna find myself in the position where i need to put myself at risk to pick up blinds
Yah, I think the major advantage to playing a looser early game is that you very often can get at least an above average stack. So that when the blinds kick in you can steal with a 2.5x-3x raise and can still fold. If you have just been patiently waiting you often are in bad shape by that same point and you really only have one move - ALLIN. So when you are forced to jab all in with A8 or 22 or some other mediocre hand, you will lose a high percentage of the time you are called. Whereas if you keep your chips up, you can afford to raise and fold - so stealing works as well, but you don't have the downside of occassionally running into a hand that will beat you 70-80% of the time...
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