Interview Questions for Collin Moshman (author of "Sit 'n Go Strategy")

There's a small group of us here who are playing sng's and have a chat thread going every month:

$$$ October Micro SNG Thread $$$

Some of us are reading/have read Collin Moshman's "Sit 'n Go Strategy."

He has agreed to answer some questions for us in the form of an interview. I thought I would make a thread for you to post questions in.

When I return from San Francisco around the 25th I will compile the questions and send them to him.

If there are others who have questions for him feel free to join in!

I will post some of my own here tomorrow.

I don't play a lot of tournies so I haven't read his book, but I know it's a must read and I'm looking forward to hearing from him. Come on with the questions, those peeps that play tournies.

I have to admit to not having read the book, so it's possible I'm asking something he already covers in it. But here goes:

We often hear that turbo SnGs are "luckfests" that require less skill than a game with standard levels. What's your opinion on this, and what are the major changes you recommend making to your game for a turbo SnG?

There are so many sngs to choose from and I am confused as to which offer the best value. At bodog I can play 10 man with 5 paid and prima have 5 man with 3 paid while Stars pay out 3 from 9. Does it really matter when you play correctly which pay out rate you choose?

Good questions so far!

I have a few to add later today.

Howard Lederer has always suggested playing 18 man sngs over the 9 man. Does he agree and why?

How do your tactics change going from single table to multi table SNG's? Are low buy in large player pool tourneys worth the time investment? (e.g. 27+ player pool) More payout places, higher rewards for coming in 1st, but much longer tourney (3+ hours) and a lot more chances to get busted. Are 9 man's just the way to go?

Currently reading his book, but I'm only just starting it!

OT: May I ask how this interview is coming about? Does someone from these boards know him personally?

I have had some interactions with Collin since I got his book and got brave enough to ask him if he would do the interview. He seems to be a very nice person and readily agreed to do it for us.

We are really fortunate to have this opportunity so let's make the most of it!

- Do you think that mid-high stakes SNGs are legitimately beatable in the long run? Given that each SNG on average probably contains only one or two players who don't know near-perfect ICM strategy, the fact that it's seldom you come across a total fish, and the fact that it's inherently more difficult to table select in SNGs as opposed to cash games, is it really possible to turn a sustainable profit in these games?

- Given that most serious SNG players know about ICM and its applications in mid-late game play, do you see any benefit in adopting a method different to the 'uber-tight' norm that most SNG regulars adopt in the early, low blinds game?

- What do you think of the many SNG variants that have been popping up on poker sites recently, such as the double or nothing SNGs on Stars and FT and the matrix SNGs on FT?

- Any intelligent, computer-literate person, whether they have past poker experience or not, could be trained within the period of two weeks to play 12 or more tables of low stakes SNGs (say $20 games) and turn a consistent profit. True or false? If false, what sort of time scale would make the statement true?

I'll probably skim back over some bits of his book and think of some more questions later if that's okay.

I remember watching a video of his (at least I'm pretty sure it was him, apologies if I'm wrong), where he states that strategically there's no real difference between a 'normal' and turbo SNG - the turbo is just (obviously) faster paced which makes knowing ICM somewhat more important as the mid-late game is reached far more quickly.

After Googling "Collin Moshman",I crossed an article where you stake players (horses) and in your article you discussed some of your selection process for horses.

My question is,Why would winning players want/need you for staking?
Do they have bankroll management issues,such as Sports betting,women,partying ect?
Do you take "issues" into account when selecting Horses.

Also,I would like (and Collins time permitting) to have him look at My MTT Strategies
and get his input.I will leave the subject matter completely to him, to give the most amount flexibility for Collins answer.

Thank You in advance for your time here at CC and I really look forward to your interview!



Snow

Awesome stuff d, I have read Collin's book many times over (his first one that is.... as there's also a 2nd volume out now that pertains to HeadsUp play). Moshmann's book is something I like to pick up from time to time, reading a few pages here & there as a refresher and to get me on track prior to playing a SNG session. (oh yah.. we share the same name too.. 'Colin', lol).
After reading Collin's book my game improved considerably. It's an excellent read and one I always recommend to anyone getting into SNG's.

I'll think up some questions here myself, perhaps some that pertain to altering our shoving ranges based on playing vs. players who a) are unaware of ICM & b) understand that we understand ICM (I'll try to word that differently).

Great stuff dakota,.... what an excellent score for the forum.

Question.... any idea as to a time frame that our questions need to get in here by?

"vandweller" of duecescracked state's in one of his videos that he spoke with Collin about his book. I guess Collin agreed he may of over emphasized punishing limpers in his book. I'd like to hear Collin's reaction to this.

Try to post your questions by Tuesday.

Also - it is likely I will not be able to include every single question - so please don't have hurt feelings if one of yours is not in the final interview. I will try to use most of them.

There are some really good ones so far - keep them coming! The response is great - I am glad all of you are excited about this and appreciate the opportunity we have here.

He also wrote Heads Up No-limit Holdem witch suposedly is the best book on HU on the market, be it tourney or ring HU.

Id like to know what his idea of the Double up or nothing tourneys are

I.E. Specific Strategies on consistantly making the money ...I dont play them often and think theyd be a good way to build the bankroll..

Yea - I think I am ordering that when I get back in town next week. If I am going to play sng's I need to have a good HU game.

these are excellent questions.

Off to the hospital today, so will try post some questions later depending on what happens.

Was just gonna ask the bet question lol. And the playing different size sngs lol-

Is it sensible to play a mix of different size sngs at the same time?

How do you see the state of online sngs right now, can the average player be profitable?

Do you still play sng and do you have a stop-loss in place to quit if you dont place in a certain amount of sngs?

When starting out playing how much studying to playing ratio did you have?

Is the 3x raise becoming obsolete in sng now? I have found most people use 2.5 or even 2x blind raise even in the later stages but for some reason I find it hard to let go of the 3x raise!

Hi Collin,

At one time (ie. time of publication of your SNG Strategy book) SNG's were fairly exploitable, with many of the players not understanding an optimal way to play them, (generally tight in early levels not wanting to take big risks on marginal holdings, loosening up & stealing in mid-levels, push/fold in late levels never allowing oneself to blind out/down..... 'I've read your book 5 times already').
These days it seems most players who are playing above micro limits are well-versed in SNG strategy and edges to be gained are marginal at best, usually takes alot more than just a solid TAG game with a perfected shove/fold game (I.C.M.... SNG Wiz) - - more advanced SNG moves becoming more vital. Good players seem to rarely have higher than a ROI+2 to ROI+5% (I'm referring to buyins $100+).
Even in the lower limits on the more popular sites, you find alot of solid SNG players and edges to be gained seem minimal.
My question >> what is your take on playing "An Alternative Style to SNG Play" (referring to epicatc's article which I'm guessing you've read/seen as it is stickied on the site where alot of the online pros are), basically referring to trying to isolate the fish in early levels, &/or trying to play hands with them in hopes of outplaying them postflop or having a hand like SC's hitting big and stacking them off when they're not able to get away from something like TPGK or an overpr. The players that are typically super loose in early levels & often being huge chip-spewing monkeys. The thing is, you will see others who are taking advantage of chipping up from these monkeys in the early levels, giving themselves an advantage as game progresses into mid-levels. By just sticking with more basic TAG style game, we can get ourselves in a position where we're flipping at mid-levels and then we're out in one hand, whereas if we'd been a bit more active early and were able to take advantage of the early level fish, we'd have more of stack to cushion the blows with & of course to take advantage by hammering away at mid-sized stacks.

I personally will play 9-plyr. SNG's and will put in some sessions during a couple month period but then will stray away from them again. Reason being, I find that at the limits I play at where you get a mix of good players/donks & nooos (usually 3 v.good players, 2 good & a few bad), the game (alot of the time) is essentially a guessing game.... questions being a) How much does my opponent know about I.C.M.
b) How much do I figure my knowledgeable opponents think I know about I.C.M.

(sidenote.... all of my SNG play is on 9-plyr. tables, occassionally playing a series of turbos... at other stretches of times playing regs.,.. I found that by playing the turbos for awhile it was very beneficial for working on end-game play (shove/fold game).

Another question....
I've noticed that alot of the winning MTT players will also play the 45's as their 'bread & butter' game as the fields still seem relatively soft and there's a decent edge to be gained in them. What are your thoughts about the 45's? Have you considered writing a book on playing multi-table SNG's?

Why did you choose to write books on SNGs and tournament HU? Was it because you consider them to be your strongest games or was it because you didn't consider there to be much in the way of competent literature available on them?

Hmm seems quite interesting...is the book expensive? if not where can I buy "sit n go strategy" book

Check on Amazon.com

It is the third hand of a $3 SNG and you are dealt AK in the bb. One player limps in before you and you raise it, then he pushes all in. Now at this level we can put an unknown player on a large range of hands, say TT+, AJ+, KJ+. With this range our AK is a 62/38 favorite. I know that getting into confrontations early in the tournament is going to be bad for you tournament equity, but do you think this is too much of an edge to pass up?

I'm only half way through the book at the moment,due to the fact that I keep going back,and re-reading certain parts.Should have it finished by Xmas .
Q./Do you have any preferances as to where you play Sng's?
(ie.Live as opposed to online?)
Q./As long as a player remembers to divide a larger Sng,(18-45+) into
Early/Mid/ & Late blinds,then would it not be possible to adopt the same principles & strategies,as would be used in a 9/10 seater Sng?

I will go through these tomorrow and choose as many questions as I can. If your question is long expect it to be edited lol.

Thanks for all of the responses - you have until tomorrow to add any last minute ones.

Thanks for all the questions!! I am trying to group them together by topic and eliminate duplicate questions, etc. I should be able to send them to him today or tomorrow. Once I get them back I will post them in General Poker as a sticky I think.

Thanks again Deb.. Much appreciated

I would like to know if you could make a stable living off playing SNG's?

Collin responded and prefers to do this over voice - like in Skype.

If any of you have experience in recording something like this and can advise me on the best way to do it please contact me in msn or send me a pm.

You're more after a program that will record all the audio coming from your machine, rather than a specific skype recorder. I haven't tried it personally, I have recorded a ventrilo conversation, but this was a long time ago.

Try this...
http://www.voip-sol.com/15-apps-for-...conversations/

From my very brief perusing of the interwebs about this topic I hear lots of good things about PowerGramo (#7 on that list). Some of them are freeware, some shareware.

If it ain't a problem, i thought of some i did not see anyone ask..

How did his first SnG go?

Dose he have any plans, to be a teaching coach?

What are his thoughts on programs, to help play better in SnGs..