Micro ST SNGs (LOOOOONG) part I

subtitle: "Things I stole from Andy Bloch and Bond18" for NHLE SNGs


Single table SNGs are how I make my money when I play poker. I don't have the patience to excel at tournaments and cash games really bore me. I like SNGs because they're usually over in under 90 minutes but have the tournament feel as blinds are ever-increasing (putting pressure on everyone.)

Oddly enough, I DO have the patience to play SNGs (read KC's article on the subject).

That said, a month ago I was in my usual mode...small cashes in tournaments and MT SNGs, dabbling in ring games, generally playing "gerbil" poker. (You know, gerbil in a cage, running to nowhere in his little wheel.) My bankroll wasn't going down, but it was barely creeping upward.

Someone on another forum linked some of Bond18's blogs and I read through them, was confused, read again, then the fog started to clear. His blogs were all about tournament poker and the insights he gained over the years. But what struck me was how similar they were to the style I'd employed playing LIMIT (lol) SNGs very profitably a few years ago on Party.

Hmm, I thought, this holds some potential. I began experimenting and, suddenly, my BR was moving up nicely. (Nicely, but not enough, as Bond's only focus in these blogs was late position play.) Soooo, I decided to thieve from Andy Bloch, of Full Tilt Poker fame. In the Full Tilt Poker tournament book Andy has a huge section devoted to starting hand play, position by position.

As any decent chef is wont to do, I decided to mix and match ingredients and, thus, here's my guide to ST SNGs:

Raise first in 4xBB:

UTG: Pairs: 55+
Suited: AK-A9, KQ-KT, QJ,QT,JT
offsuit: AK-AJ, KQ

UTG1: Pairs: 33+
Suited: AK-A8, KQ-K9, QJ-Q9, JT,J9,T9
Offsuit: AK-AJ, KQ

MP1: Pairs: 33+
Suited: AK-A8, KQ-K9, QJ-Q9, JT,J9,T9
offsuit: AK-AT, KQ,KJ

MP2: Pairs: All
Suited: AK-A3, KQ-K8, QJ-Q8, JT, J9, T9, T8, 98
Offsuit: AK-AT, KQ, KJ

You'll findyourself adjusting these hands as you play...some will feel comfortable, some won't. Adjust them to suit your style and comfort level or, even more important, the table you're at.

As a rule, if I'm in say, MP1 with JTs, and the UTG player limped before me, I'll raise it up 4xBB +1BB. He very well may have limped with a better hand, but is it a hand he feels comfortable calling a raise with? If he calls, I have position on him. If he re-raises, well, JTs is a hand I can fold to a slowplayed monster.

This play has a lot of beneficial effects: It tells limpers they can never safely do so when they're on my right, thus, hopefully, keeping out crap like A4o soooo many people like to limp with. It scares off potential callers behind me (not always, but nothing's ever certain in poker) because most people just flat out won't raise limpers without a premium hand. It helps me determine what the limpers have. A call generally means at least a decent hand like AJ or KJs...a re-raise means that tricky bastard wants me allin NOW lol.

I make a lot of my chips off these early 4 positions as most people still respect plays from those seats. You can argue we're actually stealing with some of these hands as they're definitely on the low end of most rating scales, but these are very, very profitable steals with hands that all have more than average potential. (Thank you, Andy Bloch!)

The late position hands are where Andy and I part company. I've never been a big fan of A-rag offsuit, so this is where Bond18 comes in. After taking my brain-clearing meds I finally started to intelligently dissect his posts. Man, what a wealth of information! Broken down into component parts, though, it's really, really simple.

Late position plays based upon your BB ratio (not M).

Raise 4xBB first in from hijack, cutoff, button:

30+ BB: Pairs: All
Suited: AK-A2, KQ-K9, QJ-Q8, JT-J7, T9-T7, 98-96, 87-85,76-74,
65-63,54
Offsuit: Ak-A7, KQ-KT, QJ,QT,JT

22-29BB: Pairs: All
Suited: AK-A2, KQ-KT, QJ,QT, JT, T9, 98,87,76
Offsuit: Ak-A9, KQ-KT, QJ, QT, JT

14-21BB: Pairs: 66+
Suited: AK-A9, KQ
Offsuit: AK-AT

13BB or less: Same as 30+ except allin

At first glance the above seems absolutely retarded. Isn't the mantra "tight early, loose late?" or "tight with a big stack, loose with a small stack?" Bond's taken the herd mentality into consideration and makes a very good point...as a smart player sees your stack dwindling he figures you're going to loosen way up in your raising requirements. Hence, if you're at 16 BB and raise from any of the 3 late seats, he figures his KT might very well be best. Normally, he'd be right. not here, though, as Bond has you raising with hands that are not easily dominated by just anything. (Granted, ATo ain't that wonderful but the list is already damned short.)

The advantage here is twofold...it's rare that I enter a SNG with no notes on anyone...in fact, sometimes I play against 5-6 players I have notes on. That probably means they're regulars, too, and have notes on me. So, if I raise from LP with 15BB, will they put me on Ax or even worse? Not likely. That means I can probably take those blinds with fairly little risk since they'll have me pegged as a rock. I can even loosen up a little since the last time they called me with K9o they found me holding KQs or better. This tightening up helps in this SNG and future ones. (It's also where patience comes in. Did I mention, read KC's post?)

This is the basic outline I use and I'll be happy to answer questions or debate fine points as I'm ALWAYS open to suggestions.

For the record, my Sharkscope stats show me at an 11% ROI at an average buyin of $2 over 980 SNGs. What it doesn't show are my figures since adopting this style: 58% in the money, 48% ROI.

PS: This will get you down to 4-5 players depending upon how tight the table is. Part II will cover that play.

Very nice post! Thanks for taking the time to share your strategy with others. I agree with most of it. I am just a little curious however, do you ever limp? Or is that a no, no with your strategy?

Kath: Sorry, I wrote so much I failed to bring out all of the details.

Let's say UTG limps and I'm holding T8s in the cutoff (assume I have 30+ BB). I'll definitely limp behind. I know there are plenty of people who never limp, but I'm happy to do so with a fairly weak hand as long as I have position. It's ALL blind-dependent, though. I won't limp behind with that same T8s if I have 22-29 BB unless I know the early limpers or the blinds are weak...even then, I'll often fold depending on THEIR stack sizes and playing styles.

SNGs are all about letting other players make mistakes and using your reads to pick on the weak players. It's not at all unusual to see 2 bigstacks whacking away at 2 or 3 small-medium stacks while carefully avoiding each other. That's why, when it's down to 4-5 players and my stack gets smallish I play back at the big guys. (Resteals are in part 3 lol.) Big stacks in SNGs know there's a fairly small, finite number of chips and they much prefer stealing blinds to playing poker. Having barbs on you can hold the wolves off while the true tight-butts get blinded down to nothing and have to pretty much push with ATC.