SNG strategy

[minus790]

I've adopted what I think is a good SNG strategy - play super tight until a few people get knocked out, turn on some aggression in the middle stages, and take advantage of the gap concept and people's fear of being knocked out when it gets down to 4 or 5 players.

Anyone else got general strategy thoughts on what to do once it's down to, say, 5 people? I'm finishing 4th a lot, and that may be the nature of the beast. I'd like to know if there's some flaw in my logic here though. Playing tight when you start with 800 chips leaves you in a position where you've got 650-700 chips by the time it's down to 5, and you're usually the smallest stack, with enough time to play one hand for a raise sizable enough to make an opponent fear calling or reraising.

Other thoughts requested on how to play AA/KK in a no-limit SNG preflop. One school of thought says that you should be raising 3xish the blinds, with a range of hands which includes these pairs, partly to disguise your holding. One school of thought says that these hands are strong enough to slowplay pre-flop in no limit.

To everyone who enjoys poker : keep on reading The Theory of Poker. It gets better every time I pick it up. Poker is a really, really hard game, but it's exciting how much there is to learn and integrate into your gameplan. Kinda like exams, eh?

[MNBridge]

Originally Posted by minus790

One school of thought says that these hands are strong enough to slowplay pre-flop in no limit.

That school will be posting in the bad beat area quite often.

[Expunge]

IMO AA can handle 2 callers, and KK needs to be heads up. In all other hands its better to just take down the blinds.

My friend emailed me a hand where he was in the BB and had AA. 5 limpers so he raised it to 2x, obviously everyone stayed in and someone hit a Q6 to go with their Q6.

[minus790]

One thing that we must philosophically accept:

It is a good thing to be receiving bad beats. This, by definition, means you are involving skill in your own game while your opposition relies on luck. Think the casino cares how much it loses on a few spins of the roulette wheel?

[Expunge]

AA holds up roughly 1:3 in no foldem poker (10 way action all stay)
AA holds up roughly 4:5 in heads up action

[foghorn]

Well here's what I did as an example of how NOT to play KK.

I"m something like UTG + 2 with 9 people still in. I raise 200 and get a re-raise of about the same, uh oh. I call. The flop comes Axx, and I'm worried about the guy having Ax or AA, so instead of all in I give a moderate bet to see if he was drawing or maybe QQ and I could scare him away. He's all-in, so I assume he got his A and click Fold. Then I glance at my stack and see that I only had 125 left anyway.
Rule 1: Never play with a chatty six-year-old asking you a million questions a minute. (okay, lame attempt to blame him)

So I look up and see my friendly caller had the other KK.

I don't think I was wrong to put him on aces, but to lose track of my stack size was a major error. I should've called, as I was out of chances in the tourney after that.

[Expunge]

Early in a SnG if i have KK and have an opportunity to go all in heads up i'm taking it. If he has AA so be it.

[Hummer]

Originally Posted by Expunge

IMO AA can handle 2 callers, and KK needs to be heads up. In all other hands its better to just take down the blinds.

My friend emailed me a hand where he was in the BB and had AA. 5 limpers so he raised it to 2x, obviously everyone stayed in and someone hit a Q6 to go with their Q6.

I reraise 5-10xBB or all-in to get rid of all the limpers. I want heads up against a smaller pair or an idiot in love with his Ax. I am still happy if I only get the 5xBB (ie - the limpers money). I'm even happier if I get to heads up for all of my opponents chips. If I lose, oh well, I played it correctly.

[MNBridge]

I actually had KK twice in the same SNG tourney this weekend.

First time (blinds still at 15/30) I raised to 150, got 1 caller. Flop came Axx. He bets 200 and I fold.

Blinds are now at (25 / 50) and I'm at about 800. I riase to 300 in the SB. Get 2 callers. Flop once again Axx. Everyone checks flop, turn A, everyone checks, river J. First seat bets 200, second seat calls and so do I.
I win, 1st seat had K9 (nice 250 preflop call buddy thanks for playing), Button had 99.

would I have gone all in? I don't know.

Also when we were down to about 5 people I get JTs. Flop Txx, I bet 2x pot and get raised all-in (about 75% of my chips). Fold. Would I have won, don't know but think it was the right play.
I lost 1/3 of my chips and moved from 1st to 2nd place in chips.
Had I called I would have been about equal with the bottom dwellers trying to get 3rd.

I ended up winning the tourney.

Morale of long boring story:
Don't fall in love with KK or top pairs.

[Voter]

Low buy-in SNG strategy (I usually play PL, sometimes NL).

1. In the first few rounds, if you can see the flop cheaply, do so with pairs, suited A's and K's, and suited connectors. If you don't make the set or strong draw, get out. If you make the draw and can't continue for the minimum bet, get out.

Some people don't like this strategy, but think about it. 4 flops @ 15 and 3 flops @ 30 is 150 - only one blind steal at the 50/100 level.

Play high cards with good kickers only. Play top pair and two pair very delicately. If any doubt, fold.

2. Next couple of rounds (6-8 players left), tighten up considerably. It's now too expensive to play drawing hands, but there's still too many players to play weak kickers. Play big and medium pairs and ace-and-a-face only, if in any doubt fold.

3. With 4-5 players left (top 3 paid), the goal is survival to the money. Bare A's and K's are now worth something. Stealing blinds and buying pots are the two main tactics. AVOID CONFRONTATION! Choose your opponents carefully - I'm assuming you have at least 2 fairly passive and predictable opponents left. The goal is to win without a showdown. Remember, all you have to win is your blinds once per round to survive. If I have a good hand out of the blinds and an earlier player comes in, I fold. Let the others duke it out. I'm making the money much more frequently with this approach. How many times do you bust out near the money and think, "If it weren't for that one hand..."

4. Once in the money, more of the above, but more aggressively. It's harder to make general comments here, because it really depends on your opponents. If they're passive and predictable, just steal and buy to the win. Not every hand, of course, they won't believe you have a hand every time. Just get more than your fair share and be patient.


Really IMO the key is point 3. You have to be aggressive, but be aggressive against weakness, be cautious against strength. If someone raises you, don't feel compelled to reraise him to protect your image. If someone who usually folds to your raise calls, slow down. Be patient. If you must defend your blinds against a chronic stealer, do so logically, not emotionally.