$2 180 man SnG Full till Poker

ok
played this the other night , came 8th out of 180 playa`s , has anyone got some experience playing this Sng ?? what strategy works best?? wait around for monster hands?? or...

I haven't played these in quite some time so I have no doubt that there are others on here that could provide you with more insightful answers. Try Dakota, she recently had sng coaching and is doing quite well with them.

Nice job on placing in your sng and making the final table.

What is your style of play that you are most comfortable with? I like to sit back and play super nitty the first couple of blinds during these as you don't move tables too often. I like to make a lot of notes and watch those who are chip leaders and watch them at their tables and make notes throughout the sng so when I get moved and have one of them on my table I have some notes to refer to.

After the tight play I start to loosen up and if you are at the same table this works to your advantage. You'll have a tight image and can start stealing a few blinds and pots in lp.

In the later stages I used a lot of timed aggression. I should have many notes on many of my opps by this point (even if moved tables) and start to really pick on the blinds of the tight players and to play back a bit at the loose ones to pick up some extra chips.

not real sure on the 180 mans..but me personally i play quite a few of the $1.10 90 mans and gotta say they are SUPER soft. I play super tight til i pick up a monster get it in good and double maybe triple up. and i keep waiting for good hands til im ITM really. than its all about timed aggression like storm said in her post.

so far i have played 25 of these according to my PT3 and i have made it ITM 19 times and final table 12 times..could be and most likely is a heater..but i play like 2 per week or whenever i find time. they do take around 3 and half to 4 hours to play.

Also you could PM KingCurtis...although he plays higher stakes than the $2 ( i think he does $8) but i know he does the 180 mans and was doing well in them.

First: Well done wtg.

The 2$ 180 player sngs are a bit harder than the 1$ 90 players with a few less ultradonks but generally quite beatable.

Storms approach is probably best - very nitty at the beginning, extensive note-taking on different tables

(I don't do that because the space is occupied by the other sngs running there )

stealing in the mid-phaze (I'm stealing from almost every position depending on the opponents though)

and agressive betting towards the bubble.

At the FT the remaining players usually know what they're doing.

I don't really play 180's - I play STT's and that is where my training and coaching falls.

I do play MTT's and my style is very similar to what Storm mentions above.

I like Storm's approach as well. With as low of a buyin as it is, the first couple rounds are going to have a lot of action...people pushing massive amounts of chips in just because they don't know any better or just want to get a big lead early, so unless you have a premium hand, it's better just to sit back for a little while.

I also really like that you would take notes on the other tables early on. I have done this in bigger MTTs(which this essentially is at 180 people) with the last two or three tables, space dependent, but never really at the mid stages. Usually I am like graf where I almost always have my screen filled with other tables that I am playing, but it would be good for the beginner or even for someone more experienced if they just wanting to play some relaxing poker.

I placed second once in the $2 180 for $61 IIRC. I've played it a lot though and rarely finish in the money. Its probably because I suck though.

I'm kind of a fan of the $3 knockout 90 man. I can usually win my buy-in back in knockouts even if I don't make the money.

In those $3 knockouts, it's just insanity. People call with anything if you have a stack even slightly lower than them just so that they might get lucky and get your bounty. Smart if you are a huge lead over the person, but I have seen people do this with literally 10 more chips than the guy who went all in, and the caller had j5o....and won...

Yes - these are total donkfests... but if you play a solid game (I know you do ham and mostly I do to) you'll get your premiums shoved into left right and center

- so getting sucked out on doesn't hurt too much.

My favorite strategy in these type of games is to wait for a great hand like pocket kings make a big raise and then when they reraise me and i make the tough fold i can boldly say you know thats why im the best in the world cause i can lay down the monster when i know im beat i mean cmon the guy had to have two aces i mean im phil helmuth he wouldnt just raise me with nothing...
then as i finish one spot out of the money i can proudly and loudly say you know if it wasnt for luck id win them all, as i walk into the sunset.

Yea, I hear ya graf, when you get prem's, they are paid off left and right. The problem is just when the equity flips around after the flop(which happens all of the time not just in KO tourney's...they just hurt a lil more, lol)

LoL jk dude tough day just needed a laugh ok seriously now.
No you dont want to be a phil helmuth but you said 2$ sng if i am not mistaken and tight is right in this type of game. You dont want to wait for aces or kings all day but really you are not far off. At the start you really want to be only playing premiums AA KK QQ JJ 1010 AK AQ. Of course as the field starts to get whittled down and you start to get under 40 big blinds it is probably time to gamble a bit more, probably should start raising with any pair before the flop to try and steal blind raise with AJ A10 A9 KQ QJsuited mix it up you know hopefully your tighter image will get you a couple free pots. Yea thats just a quick overview there are a whole bunch of aspects but tighter play is correct play at these low levels no reason to take big chances when others will give away thier chips if you just wait.

I'm going to give one of these a roll tomorrow... See what happens...

That sounds fun...I've never played in a knockout tournament before. For a $3 buy-in, how big are the bounties on each player?

its a $3.30 KO turbo with $0.50 bounties on each player..first place brings home $72

in 3$ buy-in the KO bounties usually are about 0,50$ per KO. so if you get to the top20, there's a lot of chance to get people KO and collect the bounties. even if you loose, and wont finish at prize places, you will probably collect your 3$ easilly during the game.
it's worth of trying !
i play it time after time.

The 180's are alot different from the 90's as the structure is usually alot slower (the turbo 90's are donkfests).
I've noticed in multi-table SNG's you'll see alot of players wanting to play ALOT of hands in early levels... and open raises from EP often get multi-callers. People play so bad in them that if you get dealt a monster AA,KK you can often just shove it allin over a raise & caller.. and soooo often the guy will want to look you up (it's insane how much they overvalue weaker hands in early levels in those types of games.... my guess is from them viewing late stage MTT play on tv... "I gots da acezzz.... I callzzz!!").

Stack size is important in a 180. ie. typically with a 14-22bb stack in mid-late levels you'll only want to open with hands you're willing to go all the way with (often SS's will be playing back at you... or at least they should be). Too often you'll see players who'll open with a re-steal-sized stack and then either fold to a 3-bet or fire a cbet vs. 1 caller and then give it up on the turn.. spewing off 1/3+ of their stack.
Familiarizing oneself with how you want to be (should be) playing with different stack sizes is very important.

Also, contrary to 'typical sng style'.. often it is good to see flops with the donkeys in early levels (ie. if you're closing out the action or are in LP with any pp or SC's.. especially if it's a loose passive table (which it will be... but also a good amount of laggy/maniacs who willingly spew chips with marginal hands in early levels). If you're folding here too often you will miss a good oppurtunity to take down some big pots (those donks will be donating their chips in a big way... this is a chance to capitalize on it.. but don't do so so often that you're bleeding too many chips from your stack (ie. don't call a raise in EP if table has been typically re-raising alot.. but if you can get in in LP then go for it).

Good post PO, I forgot that the OP was about the 180 man tourneys and not 90-man knockouts, lol. Got a little sidetracked.

I used to play those regularly. I only came first once when I shoulda won about 5 times after making the FT but thats because miracle cards are a fact of poker life.

The strategy tight is right is the way to go at the early levels. I even have a notebook filled with the time it took for me to get Group 1 Hands (david Sklansky). sometimes only playing one hand in the first hour and doubling up because some donk really thought it was a coinflip when he held JQ after a first position raise lol.

When there are about 40 players left the medium stacks are easy pickings because they think they can creep into the money. Big Stacks are arrogant and small stacks are desperate so stay away from there blinds.

PO has the righ idea--There were many times I would just play my stack size and forget about my cards because I knew with 20 players left a medium stack is just gonna fold after a three bet unless he has AA KK and QQ. They still make the error of min raising or limping because they're frightened---so give them a reason to be frightened about not making the money and raise his spineless assssss.

GL

You put the desire in me to play one of these games again to see If I still have an edge in it.

And I'm leading one right now with 24 players to go-so if you wanna come watch me steal and resteal toward the end of this game come and watch---ECKSHAR on full Tilt

Played terrible on the final table and lost a coin flip with AQ to JJ and TT when the board came down J8KTK.

9th place sucked because I honestly thought I was the best player there (dont all poker players think they're the best on a table).

Got my buyin back plus a little extra

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Congrats on the cash.

Tight is the right play. God knows waiting for your opportunity is a virtue. Every time early someone will lay junk and catch.

I'd leave JJ TT out of that range early, personally, especially facing strength. If you can open with JJ TT then by all means go for it, but facing a 3bet PF, I'd just fold