SNGs are totally solved

baudib1 said:

ram, don't mean this to sound harsh but thinking such is yours is the reason why low BI SNGs remain profitable. SNGs are totally solved, the only gray area is coming up with realistic villain ranges and even then it is a matter of degrees; there are just clear spots where you A. shove ATC or B. fold pretty much ATC except KK+. but pretty much any SNG spot is totally standard.

I don't profess to be a great SNG player myself, but for reasons that are mostly similar to yours: I've not fully dedicated myself to committing all the math of shoving/calling ranges to memory, but I acknowledge that.

Click to expand...

https://www.cardschat.com/forum/general-poker-13/do-pros-use-math-their-game-197915/

Are SNGs totally solved?

In theory, yes, or pretty darn close to it.

In practice, very few people (at low BIs) actually know or apply the "correct" solution, and thank goodness for that.

there are just clear spots where you A. shove ATC or B. fold pretty much ATC except KK+

Click to expand...

This is wrong (or atleast a broad generalisation) but I agree with the rest of the statement. If you could learn perfect push/fold SNG's would be technically solved.
The higher BI you get, the more people you can assume play closer to optimum and so your ROI is going to decrease.

So why are there so many threads here about SNGs?

NoWuckingFurries said:

So why are there so many threads here about SNGs?

Click to expand...

Their the most popular would be my guess, SNGs are a lot more entertaining then a long ass MTT. The reward may not be that high but they are definitely more entertaining than MTT.

imo, baudib1's statement refers to late game play (which you get to much quicker in Turbo format). There is some 'play' before late game play, (before we're at shove/fold game) & this is where many rookies play very poorly.

NoWuckingFurries said:

So why are there so many threads here about SNGs?

Click to expand...

Because even if the game is "solved" (still not sure I agree with that 100%) it's not an easy solution to learn and apply.

Plus I don't think we have all that many SnG threads anyways.

ballers101 said:

SNGs are a lot more entertaining then a long ass MTT. The reward may not be that high but they are definitely more entertaining than MTT.

Click to expand...

That`s very much a matter of opinion. Personally, I feel just the opposite. Single table SNGs seem to me to be dull and repetitive, precisely because the mathematically correct line is easily discoverable in most of the situations encountered.

I used to grind the SNGs every day, four or five years ago, and built up my bankroll that way, but began to find them dull and moved on to MTTs. There is much more scope for creative play in an MTT, especially in a Deepstack or Rebuy MTT.

Playing the bubble and the push/fold game is really the essence of SnGs. I've never really been great at SnGs out of sheer laziness but I can recognize the fact that they are basically pretty simple mathematical equations. I mean, if your push/fold game is great but you overplay 96o with starting stacks, I guess you might have problems, but I'd assume you can play a bit of poker if you get to that point.

I'm not knocking SNGs, as I said, I'm not great at them. But other forms are more interesting to me. Pre-BF, I got into deepstacked HU SNGs (100 BBs), which often play a lot like HU cash games. Those games are definitely NOT solved. HU games are really complex and so much depends on constant adjustments and reassessing new information quickly.

There are some other variations that interest me. The 50-50s on Stars were great, I think, because they add more interesting elements to bubble play that force you to gamble more.