Micro ST SNGs part II

subtitle: "No, you are NOT Gus Hansen!"

My previous long, long post about single table SNGs failed to cover blind play. Ever since Daniel Negreanu and Gus Hansen published their books the number of rabid blind defenders seems to have increased exponentially. Unless your online name is Kidpoker or Gus Hansen...ummm...maybe you should reconsider considering that style.

While it can be enormously frustrating to play against opponents who are using that style, I actually welcome it. That's because most of them aren't Gus Hansen Out of all of my recent SNGs, I can remember exactly 2 where the GH wannabes busted me (once in the money, once on the second hand! lol) The rest of them eventually managed to donate all of their chips to me or another patient player, usually busting out of the money after enjoying chip leads as high as 75% of the chips in play.

Defend your blinds! (But do it with some intelligence on a par with your skills. Only Gus knows how to play like Gus.) That means be realistic about your chances of successfully defending.

Now, I'm not talking about allins. Just keep this in mind (and all I have is my personal observations so give them whatever weight you care to) MOST players don't raise with utter crap even from late position. In fact, at micro levels, I'd venture to say that 90% of your opponents are aware only of their cards and some vague notion that they need to raise from late position.

In practical terms this means you're not going to see many raises with A6o but quite a few raises with AJ, KQs, maybe K9s, JTs, etc. (Many of these are even more likely to be limps from most opponents but let's throw them into the mix.) For you, this means defending needs to be done with something a bit stronger than 75o...actually, a lot stronger.

Here's a quick guide to blind defense if you have 30+BB:

BB vs a LP raise of 3-4xBB
Pairs: All
Suited and offsuit: AK-AT, KQ-KT, QJ,QT,JT,T9

BB vs an EP raise of 3-4BB
Pairs: All
Suited: AK-AJ, KQ,KJ,QJ
Offsuit: AK,AQ,KQ

SB vs a LP raise of 3-4xBB
Pairs: All
Suited: AK-AT, KQ,KJ,QJ

SB vs an EP raise of 3-4xBB
Pairs: All
Suited and offsuit: AK,AQ

PLEASE adjust these hand ranges based on your notes. If it's too early to have notes on your opponents, then assume the worst and fold the weaker hands. Blindly defending blinds is a major chip spew for most players...save your chips for when you actually have a hand or at least have position.

If you couple this with part I you should definitely make the bubble pretty much every time you play a single table SNG. With today's tight play in SNGs that means 4-5 players are dealing with blinds of 150/75+ and unless there's a runaway chip leader no one is really comfortable with their stack.

This is great news for you! Two things happen here. The really short stacks realize, omg!, they only have 4BB left! The bigstack or two are licking their chops in anticipation of a lot of "blinds" snacks. The medium stacks, generally, are ignorantly complacent with their 10-12BBs.

If you're the shortstack (and you didn't get there trying to fold your way into the money, I hope) you need to use the 13BB or less hands to double up or die. That's pretty much the end of that story. You MIGHT be able to steal from the medium stacks with allins, but the bigstacks will definitely be calling you and you need a chip infusion now. While I don't mind getting the medium stack blinds, I actually prefer to challenge the bigstacks. If I can go from 600 chips to 1200 I am back in the game with some breathing room, can threaten the medium stacks even more and am now not such an easy call for the bigstacks. That's all the positives I need to push 64s (or better.)

And, as the shortstack, my whole attitude towards blind defense changes. Remember all those folds? Look like a rock, don't I? Well, if you've been stealing rather often, now you'll need to call. Because if I'm on the button or in the blinds and I've noted steals from my opponent, I'm definitely pushing back. Note, a THIEVING opponent, not the usual rock or guy who only PHC (plays his cards.) At 13BB or less, I'm pushing against thieves with pairs 66+, A8s+, any suited facecards, no-gap suited connectors to 87, offsuit any 2 ten or up.

As a medium stack (14+BB) I'm a bit more conservative against thieves. I want to give the shorties a chance to make a mistake. Frustration usually hits them as the one or 2 bigstacks are constantly hammering their blinds and, while they wouldn't fight back when they actually had some leverage, they'll finally kick it in with A6o against A9o. It happens all the time, so let the big guys do your dirtywork. Play your stack in relation to the other medium and shortstacks. As my wife says, "don't push a desparate player." For medium stacks that means target the bigstacks. You can't bust them but you can definitely hurt them. Reserve your steals for them and only hit the shorts when you actually have a good hand. (Good being a relative term when it's down to 4-5 players.) Here's a major point to playing medium stack: At some point you'll need to suck it up and fight thieves. You can do it by....just calling (gasp!) Let's say you're in the BB again and XYZ once again (4 chances, 4 raises) raises you from the SB. Unless calling will cripple you, you need to call with ANY TWO! You have position and he probably has crap. Now, being a good thief, he will almost always bet out on the flop. By now, you should know his betting patterns and unless it screams "TOP PAIR" you need to raise his bet at least 3 times. Purists will argue you've just pot-comitted yourself but since I don't mind playing the shortstack I beg to differ. If he re-raises allin I can fold. If he calls, and there's any draw on the board, I'm pushing if it doesn't come in. Look at it from his point of view. I've folded to all of his steals, until now. This time I call. The flop comes K84 rainbow. He bets 1/3 pot (at this stage that's usually enough to take it down from weak players) and I make a strong raise. In his eyes I probably didn't call with an 8 or 4 in my hand, so unless he has a king I'm golden. Besides, NOT pushing allin here looks like I'm trying to milk him...a true donk play. Not only will this often gain you more chips than you lost in all of those earlier folds, it generally causes the bigstacks to look for softer targets.

As the bigstack the game is actually more complicated. Good medium stack players are looking to double up through you, resteal from you, and generally chip up through you. If you haven't taken note of who the weak players are you deserve to lose those chips. Your task as the bigstack is to steal without seeming to do so. Just because you won 2 races (I don't care if you were the favorite going in) and sucked out bigtime because dumbo let you hit your gutshot by underbetting his overpair, doesn't mean the pokergods are smiling upon you. You, especially, have to play poker. As the bigstack on the bubble my definition of playing poker means to raise just often enough against the right players to steal without seeming to. It means understanding that when the short or medium guy who called you checks, he really, really, really doesn't have anything, so bet. (Yeah, some smartass check raises at least once in a match. So what? You got caught. Let it go.) The best bigstackers are the guys who were seemingly rocks and all of a sudden a shortie calls their raise and they show A6o. Here's a guy who changed his game and you never noticed. Make a note! As the bigstack you need to keep chipping up if you want to dominate the last 3 seats, but you have to balance it with a sense of when to shutdown, back off.

Since this is about micro stakes I can assure you, with some confidence, that you are not the best player who ever lived and your luck is not unending.