SNG Weekend
SNG Weekend
I haven’t played much this weekend, but when I did I was playing SNGs. Well, if I didn’t cash, I’d pull up a quick ring game and win another entry 
After my disappointing performance in the WPBT event the other day, I am looking to improve my NL skills.
To that end I played a number of $5 and $10 SNGs at Stars and Party. I know, the $5 ones probably aren’t a good way to get a lot of experience due to the potential yahoos that play, but this is Stars, so it should be better, right? I cashed in 70% of the ones I played there, but never won.
One thing I need to work on is playing with a big stack. Ironically, I tended to have a decent stack and in a couple of events I was massive chip leader (3:1) for over half the tourney only to come in 2nd. This is disappointing. I think I was too protective of it and was waiting for other people to bust out. If I didn’t have hands that I wouldn’t normally play, then I wouldn’t play them at that time either. This allowed other players to gain positions and eventually cost me the tourney. I guess I’m just not used to actually having the lead, I’m usually short stacked almost immediately Anyway, I seem to do OK at these low level ($10 and under) single table SNGs, but then again, my sample size is woefully low.
I also need to work on the other extreme. I too often find myself short or small stacked and I don’t think I play it very well. I tend to wait around and hope other people bust out ahead of me. I’m pretty sure this isn’t optimal strategy.
I’m not giving up my limit grind, but playing some small SNGs is a good way to minimize potential loses while trying to get some NL experience. I do want to add these to my rotation a bit more, they seem very profitable, even on Stars.
Tournament Structure
I received a couple of emails and comments saying that I would like the Stars tournament format better than Party’s. After my limited experience I would have to say that the Stars way is much, much better. The tournament lobby for all tourneys, even SNGs, is very nice. Another feature that is most obvious is the number of starting chips. Party starts you out with T800 which is awfully small considering how fast the blinds go up. Stars starts you will T1500 which is much nicer. The time bank is also another nice feature that Stars provides. While I haven’t used it yet, after all, I’m just playing $5 and $10 SNGs, but I can see where it’d be very useful. Stars also uses 9 person tables as opposed to Party’s 10 person tables, even in the SNGs. This does change the dynamics a little bit and just seems “different”. I’m curious why Stars uses 9 person tables as opposed to 10
The one thing I’m not sure about is the blind escalation method. I know some people have complained that they do not like Party’s method of blind escalation where they play a level for ten hands. They say they like the timed version at Stars. I don’t really agree with this. Personally, I like the x number of hands method. The reason why is that there are too many times that people time out or just take their time, including going into the time bank, which causes the level to complete “prematurely”. When using the number of hands method, it doesn’t matter if somebody takes forever to make a decision. Am I missing something here?
Misc
David Ross has an update to his first six months into year two of playing online for a living. See 2+2 for the update.
October 25th, 2004 at 1:18 am
Hey, Chris. While in playing SnG’s you definately grow in NL skill, tournament strategy and ringgame strategy are like night and day. So be careful.
Also, my experience is that especially early in the learning process, practicing no limit hurt my limit game and v.v., because of the often conflicting strategies with the same hand. So be careful with that as well.
As for playing the big stack in a tournament. Generally speaking you can say that the bigger your stack gets, the more difficult your decisions become. With a short stack (<10bb) you wait for a decent hand that plays well heads up (AK - AT or a pocket pair), and you push and hold your breath.
With about a 15-20BB stack you wait for a strong hand and play it really fast.
However, the bigger your stack gets, the less likely you are to push it all in, and as a consequence you have more decisions to make. This is always more difficult, no matter who you are.
Something that is different in NL in respect to Limit, is that stack size is crucial information. Make sure that whenever you play a hand you know exactly how much everyone in the hand has in front of them.
You want to pick on the smaller stacks in a tournament. You know they have to tighten up, and they can’t hurt you much. So basically you can push them around. Put them to all in/elimination decisions constantly. Raymer is an expert at bigstack play and he does so vert well on the ESPN broadcasts. For example, he eagerly takes any coinflip situation if he can eliminate anyone, but will make sure he never hurt his stack too much.
Especially in tournaments, and more so in SnG’s, make sure that as you reach the end you get more and more aggressive.
Bit long comment, hope I didn’t bore you with stuff you already know.
October 25th, 2004 at 5:51 am
Good points. Ironically, I was thinking that general NL strategy is probably different than tourney strategy. I’m glad you pointed it out to reinforce it. I am working on my tournament strategy more than regular NL having never sat down at a regular NL table.
Your point about getting more aggressive at the end is something I need to work on. Ditto with the big stack coin flip plays.
Like I said, my sample size is way too small to make any real generalizations about my play, either good or bad. I do know that there are some specific things that I need to work on. On the flip side, I cannot say that I have any real ability at these either
They are fun and I enjoy playing them, especially as a diversion from limit.
October 25th, 2004 at 6:57 am
Having fun is primary interest. I’ve become the self proclaimed advocat of having fun at poker! Because nowadays people seem to be concerned more with winning, than with love for the game.
Just play a lot, and see if you can keep from negatively affecting your limit results by No Limit strategy.
October 25th, 2004 at 3:53 pm
The TJ Cloutier book will help a lot with tournament strategy, though it’s obviously geared toward large multi-table events. One of my little tips is to make notes on what hands are being played by each player. Since these thing are over very fast, it’s rare to have PokerTracker notes on them.
November 4th, 2004 at 4:31 am
Concerning timed structures vs. number of hands structures:
I prefer number of hands, but it has now become a valid strategy for big stacks to “run the clock” and then proceed to blind out the smaller stacks.