HOw to beat Micro-Limits Sitngos

Im trying to build a bankroll on Fulltilt and on pokerstars, i usally play TAG style, but in these limits sometimes i feel thats not the right approach.
Im losing too many hands on the river also. 2 days ago had AA in UTG+2 first to act made a standard raise 3,5BBs (blinds were 120-240) got called by the player next to Act with AK and the dealer called with KQ. FLOP camed K63 , i pushed all in for 2500 in chips , both called , guess what the river was , a K (1 outer) . So wanted to get some advice from a pro, that is a sitngo especialist and that have grinded the micro limits sit n gos in order to build a bankroll. WHATS THE BEST STRATEGY/STYLE to play in theses crazy sitngos ??? Like im getting killed on too many time near the final table. I usually play 45players sit n go and un the past i builded a nice bankroll on Fulltilt , started with 50dolares and reached 1000$ in 5 months. But now i think im playing too solid , and i understand ICM theory (pushing and calling ranges ) quite well , i just cant cash anymore. I lose every AK AQ vs Arag, i lose with AA, i lose with KK. And i never slowplay. I fold KQ,ATo,AT,KJ,QJ and bellow in EP and UTG (in a full ring table) , i try to be in the best position on the table and have the best hand , and i normally do (85%time) .However i cant cash, Later on i become more agressive using ICM theory, start makin the right shoves but i keep getting bad beated and outdrawn. etc.etc.... HELP plzzzzzzzzz

Lisen, always losing with AA, or KK is just bad luck, nothing you can do there, but there are somethings you should improve. You say you always fold those kind of hands like AT, etc, and that you never slow play. First of all cards like AT are good hands! i mean they arent great hands! but hey are still good. They are very callable if the raise isnt too big. Also the thing about the slow playing, never doing it. You have to vary your play. Its very important for your opponents to always keep guessing what you might have. At those small sit and goes youll usually find very lose players, so your game has to be tight mostly, but agressive to scare away limpers when you have a good hand, just like it looks like you usually play. Obviously you have to vary your play at one point or another, but the main idea is what i just said. Keep playing this way and your sure to be a winner. GL at the tables

I'm by no means an expert, but I ahve built my bankroll from ~1.50 to about 350 playing (mostly) low limit SNGs.

I've since moved up to slightly higher limits, but what seemed to work best for me was pretty close to the strategy you described, with a few little tweaks.

First off, the only way I was able to beat these games was playing tight - VP$IP between 15% and 20% on average...so I'd stick with that.


Early in the tourney (until about 5 or 6 players are left) you have to be very careful with your aggession. Too much aggression can get you into trouble.

At these levels you are likely going to get alot of callers/chasers. Try to isolate a single player with a decent raise when you have a strong starting hand. If you get multiple callers back off a little because you may no longer be favored to win against more than one person. You should still bet your hands when you think you are ahead, just be very careful about going all in against more than one person. (Hope this makes sense, I'm not sure if I'm explaining it very well)

You can take a hit to your chip stack and still place in these SNGs so don't get discouraged if you are sitting on 500 chips early. It's not ideal, but there will be enough bad players at the table to help you build that stack up again.

When it gets down to 5 or so players just play standard TAG. Most of the donks will be out (or it will be very obvious who they are) at this point.


Your example above is just a bad beat...you will run into plenty of those at the micros SNGs so try not to let it bother you. If you can get ITM in ~40% of the time you will be doing very well.

The best advice I can give you is to play tight and aggressive, being very mindful of position, and try not to play too many big pots without a big hand. Sounds basic, but the micro sngs require basic fundamental strategy. Your play doesn't have to be too sophisticated to beat the $5 and $10 sng players on Stars, trust me. If you say you are playing TAG style and can't beat the micros on Stars, you aren't playing TAG. Stick to the fundamentals. Play only good cards. Don't limp very often at all. If its worth playing or calling, its worth raising.

Use the gap theory. It's the biggest thing beginners foget or don't understand that hurts them. The gap theory states that you need a better hand to CALL a raise with than you do to OPEN RAISE with. So, when you say you always fold hands like AT and QJ, you have a huge hole in your "TAG" game. AT is a perfectly acceptable hand to raise with if no one has yet raised the pot, but should be folded to a raise most of the time.

There is no magic formula. dakota-xx started a great thread announcing a discussion of Harrington's first volume on hold em. Get a copy of HOH and read through it. If you play the way he says, and I can guarantee that you will crush the micro sngs online.

I really hardly play micro limit SNG's anymore. The level of skill is that of a freeroll 99% of the time. I find a nice $12-$25 SNG to be enough to weed out the superfish but at the same time not break your BR.

lovethemile said:

I really hardly play micro limit SNG's anymore. The level of skill is that of a freeroll 99% of the time. I find a nice $12-$25 SNG to be enough to weed out the superfish but at the same time not break your BR.

Click to expand...

Why do you want to weed out the "superfish"?

UrBluffingMe said:

Why do you want to weed out the "superfish"?

Click to expand...

I guess he likes playing against players of equal strength so he doesnt get sucked out on all the time.

Me personally I dont mind either type of player and to be honest I think the more fish the merrier.........

gnk2727 said:

I guess he likes playing against players of equal strength so he doesnt get sucked out on all the time.

Me personally I dont mind either type of player and to be honest I think the more fish the merrier.........

Click to expand...

Usually, players who have trouble beating the $5 sngs or the $10 and $25 max buyin NL cash games and attest this trouble to excessive suck outs by "fish who don't know how to fold" or "fish who don't respect a raise" are probably donating. In other words, they don't understand the game well enough to know that if you can't beat the very worst players with some regularity, you can't beat any players with some regularity.

UrBluffingMe said:

Usually, players who have trouble beating the $5 sngs or the $10 and $25 max buyin NL cash games and attest this trouble to excessive suck outs by "fish who don't know how to fold" or "fish who don't respect a raise" are probably donating. In other words, they don't understand the game well enough to know that if you can't beat the very worst players with some regularity, you can't beat any players with some regularity.

Click to expand...

^^^^ This is so true.

People who constantly talk about how the could kill every good player at poker because the good player whouldnt suck out on them all the time are usualy spewing implied odds machines,that cant fold there overpair/TPTK when a passive player all of suddon comes to live on the river when the 3rd flush card hits,4str8 card or the board pairs.
These players are worse then they "donks" they keep whining about imo.