A table full of rocks

In a normal SnG on AP the blind levels are around 12 minutes I think. These creates a long period of time where the blinds are very low compared to stack size. Stealing blinds in the middle stages is needed to maintain and increase your stack for the later stages, but what about the early stages?

Several times I've been at tables where everyone folds around to the button or the blinds for the first half hour or more when the blinds are low. The only time people seem to play are when they hold a premium hand. They usually tend to limp and call a raise. In light of this is it a good stradegy to open up your range early to try and take down these pots? Granted they are small, but somebody has to take the chips. I've seen where players will call a raise early, but they will fold to a cbet on the flop. Is this a good opportunity to pick up some pots with some aggression and bluffing? Or should I sit tight and build the image for later?

My only concern with playing tight is that I will get action from only a good hand, and when I have a good hand I will get no action early. This leaves me in a situation where I'm basically getting blinded down.

I always bet.. that's my style though, I am the type of person to fire off 3 bullets to pick up a pot... Of course there are times when you should know when to fold but for the most part a small bet even a min bet will push out the rocks.

General rule of thumb, play the opposite of the table. Everybody loose, you play tighter. Everybody tight, you play loose. Loose/aggressive in the example you cited is probably the way to go. You'll steal a good number of pots. You change up a bit or everyone figures it out and slow plays you when they hit a big one, and you can lose a lot of chips.

You're going to want to adjust your play according to the table... & if they're all rocks then we can loosen up & widen our range. Generally speaking when the blinds are low it's not worth it to get involved.
I'd consider calling in position w hands that'll break them, knowing they're playing big prs. AK,AQ, etc.

Tight tables are good to be active on. Likewise, on loose tables you tighten up and wait for big hands to punish them with.

Playing loose like that, you're probably going to break even with all the steals and folds when they fight back. But that makes you look wild so you get called down more when you do actuall hit a hand.
When you've been really active and someone makes TPTK against you, you can take their stack when you hit a weird straight or two pair or whatever.

Daniel Negreanu says that S&G's are not like regular poker. Actually I think he said it is not real poker, because there is a pretty standard strategy that pretty much all S&G pros follow. You don't play loose if everyones tight, unless you want to finish early. When Blinds are low you ARE a rock. Play all your premiums with raises (usually larger raises early4-6x) and only limp if you are limped in front of or if you can get a small pair to the flop cheap. No chasing bullshit hands, unless you have a ton of outs. After the blinds start getting high and more and more people start getting felted you can open up your range a bit and play more. And once you get to the point where you have only 10bb or so its pretty much push fold. The best thing I ever heard about S&G's was from a S&G pro, who said "If a player has a short stack before the blinds get around the 100 level they were either terribly unlucky, or they are terrible."

My strategy for early tournament play is:

1. Limp with all pairs 22 to TT or call a pre-flop raise up to 6 BB and hope to hit your set
2. Raise with AQ/AK and JJ+
3. Call a normal raise(3-4BB) in position with suited connectors and play only if I hit something very big
4. Fold everything else

I am usually winning most chips when I hit a small set and the opponent can't fold his AA or KK.

i believe it's always correct to steal blinds no matter what level there are. if you think it's a +EV play to steal the blinds go ahead and steal. but as for the cbets i'd be weary. if this guy has been giving up his blinds then flats you be weary of a trap. i'll often wait till the turn to go ahead and do a (delayed) cbet. for the most part I want to avoid a big pot early on. but don't mind picking up lots of small ones.

I'd suggest listening to RichKo's advice. Assuming you are raising 3-4xBB to steal 1.5 blinds and cbetting every hand with a 50% pot cbet, then your success rate for stealing the blinds and cbet better be pretty high to make up for the time when you run up against a villain with a big hand who traps you.

I like to do this ^^^. Loosening up your play a bit doesn't mean going full out loose. Instead of folding your 56su in lp see a flop. You can create a rep for a wider range without being considered too loose and this can work in your favor later on stealing pots with low cards on the board or the like. You don't want to go all out loose because there just isn't enough chips in the pot to make it worth it but picking up some extra small pots here and there can be helpful for when the table does loosen up and you're being dealt less than desirable cards.

When the table is tight for a few hands regardless if the blinds are low or high, it's recommended/okay to take a stab at the blinds from position if you have chips in front of you.

It's my experience; that stagnant tables typically don't stay stagnant for long with online tourneys. And after a few positional moves from random people at the table, the table action usually begins to pick back up and play continues as normal.

However, if you still want to open your range early to see a higher percent of flops from an early to middle position, then I suggest doing it at a minimum risk to your stack. To set up for this change in style I suggest opening with your normal preflop hand range at a lower opening raise (about 2 or 2.5 times the BB) for a few rounds before you open your preflop hand range.

Of course once you start coming in with your preflop hand range open, you will have to be willing to give the hand up. (For this reason you don’t want to commit too many chips to a mediocre hand preflop or otherwise). Try to make sure you have a good read on the opponents that you end up playing against in this situation before you try this approach.

Don't choose this as a spot to make a stand unless you flop the nuts or you have such a good read on your opponent that you feel you can outplay him once he’s isolated. Be ready to play defensive, but conservative with any postflop action. On the flops that you do continue to play, I suggest only placing REAL value bets. Try to keep your floats at a minimum level or cheap and don't become overly aggressive postflop. Again, you don’t want to commit too many chips to a mediocre hand.

*****VERY IMPORTANT*****
Slim value bets with marginal hands can be a HUGE loss to your table image! Thus making your future raises hold little to no value.

People may not get to see the AA, KK, and AKs you just played and they folded to. But if all they get to see is the 79s you just played to showdown, your respect at the table could be shot as they will no longer respect your raises. Getting that kind of action can have some advantages. But mostly if the table doesn't respect your raises overall, it will be a LOT harder to isolate players later. Still getting to the river in a heads-up situation without having to go all-in could from that point could be very difficult. Not to mention your odds to win with ANY hand is a lot lower if there are multiple players in the pot.

To counter this: be sure you are coming in with the same lower opening raises and giving the same postflop action with the big hands as you are the little hands. That way they get a chance to see the pocket aces and other premium hands as well the less impressive you have just opened your range to.

IF YOU ARE AT A TABLE WITH ROCKS, THEN WHEN ELSE DO YOU THINK THE ART OF BLUFFING WILL COME HANDY !!!
I would say u can try and steal the blinds till no one re raises you or goes allin, u better drop then...
And if u continue to steal the blinds for a considerable time, those rocks will eventually try to switch the mode...

Question mark.bmp (http://www.cardschat.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=23390&d=1253113751)

Well, I'd rather get action when I have a good hand than when I have a mediocre one. Playing sngs is not only about stealing blinds.

Personally, I like to mix it up a bit early on, when the blinds are low. Then, when I tighten up (after showing down some questionable hands), I will get less respect when my good hands come later (at the higher blinds, with the bigger pots). The thing about sngs is that one does get a table rep. It's interesting to adjust one's table image as the game goes on. The impression one makes early on can be lucrative later.

I know this is the opposite of what many suggest. It does make for a more swingy game. Occasionally it gets me busted. But, more often, it works for me.

Early on it's best to play a tight agressive game. Everything depends on tendencies of the other players. Try looking for +EV spots where you can take down the pot right away. If you bet preflop in position, dont be afraid to fire again on the flop. I like to raise hands like 98s, 68s, pocket pairs. When you do hit you will get paid off big and if you dont it's easy to get away. KT A8 QJ can be trap hands early