Thoughts on Transitioning from SnG to Ring

Just wanted to get everyone's thoughts on the most important factors of switching between the two. I play mostly Omaha 8 and the games over at Carbon take forever to start up. I have decided that jumping into the "ring" so to speak would be my best move. So far it is working out okay for me. I am playing 6-Max and usually leave if it drops to less than 4.

Help with making this transition is greatly appreciated.

What type's of SNGs were you playing before? Like DON, 9 man, MTT, etc?

What stakes were you playing?

What stakes are you now playing in Cash?

Obviously in SNGs you are valuing your SNG life more and in cash you value only the money and hands, there is no life. As this is true you then are playing to get value as opposed to protecting your life.

Desperation is a big difference - there is no desperation in cash - so if you get feeling that way ("gotta make a move", etc)- STOP IT.

You know how patient you are in the first half of a SnG? It never goes away in cash.

MediaBLITZ said:

Desperation is a big difference - there is no desperation in cash - so if you get feeling that way ("gotta make a move", etc)- STOP IT.

You know how patient you are in the first half of a SnG? It never goes away in cash.

Click to expand...

^^This. 100%. You can afford to play a much more patient, disciplined game at cash than SnGs. I'm actually going the other way; from cash to STTs and that's the biggest difference that I notice.....Once you hit that "panic mode" or shove/fold stage, whatever you wanna call it. Obviously, that never happens in ring.

Thanks for the replies guys. A lot of what I am hearing from you is Psychological and that is good cause I need to look at things that way. Does position matter more, less, or the same?

Also will it hurt my Ring game to play SnGs when I see one filling up.

FWIW all of my games are micro. $4 PLO8 SnGs ranged between 1 and 5 bucks when I play them. Don't quite have the roll for $10 yet

Just gonna hazard a guess and say that position, while obv important in both, is more important in cash. In SnG's you routinely get into shove/fold situations where, due to "M" considerations, you're shoving regardless of position. Also ICM dictates play as well. Finally, you'll often find yourseld super-short and the right play becomes obvious regardless of position.

Cash, assuming playing full and/or deep-stacked, you don't have that time pressure so I think position is more important here. Also, again assuming full-stacked play, there is generally much more "play" left after the flop so obv position is super important. SnG's frequently get to the point where there is no post-flop play left at all.

You never have to play OOP if you dont want to. IDK if position is more important in either game, but in cash you are never under pressure to HAVE to play, so you can use your position as you want. The players who have little to no idea play the same all the time. So if you get weak players in the blinds, you can steal a lot and make easy folds when u get played back at.

Enable you "top up" option to always have a full stack.

Yeah, I'm thinking more and more about this. And, the more I think about it; the more I'm not sure. In SnGs every hand you play is potentially your last; even early-on, so position is important in that regard. In cash, if you get into a tough/close spot OOP, you're going to be facing playing multiple streets OOP, and potentially bleeding money on every street. So, IDK, where it's more important....Hmmmm.....Just never speculated on this before.....

Thanks guys. Good discussion on position. Helps keep me focused.

I have found the 2 are a world of difference. I always struggle with ring games...in ring games you can't boss your opponent around when you're the higher stack. Normally in tournament play, a lower stack will defer to a higher stack betting with position, but in ring games I've found that the stack size really doesn't matter.
As i said, I struggled with trying to transition to ring games, but if you are having success doing it then congrats.

sam1chips said:

I have found the 2 are a world of difference. I always struggle with ring games...in ring games you can't boss your opponent around when you're the higher stack. Normally in tournament play, a lower stack will defer to a higher stack betting with position, but in ring games I've found that the stack size really doesn't matter.
As i said, I struggled with trying to transition to ring games, but if you are having success doing it then congrats.

Click to expand...

I was never very good at ring but the SnGs at carbon have dried up pretty bad and sitting for an hour to wait for one to start and then at least 75 minutes till the money is no longer my idea of fun.

So I am somewhat forced to play ring. Just now I played in an SnG and got busted pretty bad. Not a lot of mixed play volume to speak of but I am thinking it cant be good for the game to mix ring and STT often
.

Focus on +ev. Recognizee M value is not relevant. Be prepared for swings, especially in PLO in any variation. I play more holdem than PLO, and outlet 8 or better, but players seem a little better than in sit n go's.

I too have made this transition in the past few months. I didn't find it too difficult. Like fletchdad said, you can pretty much avoid having to be oop ever in a marginal spot because there is no pressure whatsoever to have to play any given hand. You can take different lines when you're 100bb's deep that you just would never even dream of in a sng.

Once you get out of the "build a stack" sng mentality, you can really start putting any acquired to skills to work.

This may be weak but I've thought about the last few days and last fall switched from tourney to exclusive cash for 6 months - and just now switching back to tourney.

Position was more important for me in cash - or I should probably really say more useful (as it is very important in both). Since the blinds are not escalating it was easier to use my position on some less than ideal hands and be able to mix it up more often against opponents I wanted to be in a hand with. Something I would be less inclined to do if it cost me 10% of my stack (as in a tourney).

Position is important in all facets of the game, so to determine if it is more important in cash is somewhat like picking at straws.

However, I would say that position is more of a necessity in cash games. As mentioned above, the blinds vs. stack pressure is not a factor. Therefore, there is a lot of post-flop play. All-ins are much less prevalent. With more post-flop play, there is more opportunity to use position to your advantage. When you get a good feel for betting patterns, position is a huge advantage, especially when taking down a lot of small pots.