L
LankanSoulja
Rising Star
Silver Level
You should always play tight in the beginning because you don't know who's a donk and who's not. And the donks usually lose a little bit into the game. After the blinds have gone up to a decent amount, you can start stealing and aggressively taking pots if u have good reads on the other players.
TiltMonkey999
Rock Star
Platinum Level
I usually tend to steal blinds when the its at 100 200..50/100 is just not worth it to attempt to steal and get caught..That could hurt you as you get to the later tables..People could start to read you
Good Post
Ray
Good Post
Ray
T
thebiatch22
Rock Star
Silver Level
you just have to have a feel what what you think is the right time to make your play depending on how many people are in the tourney and whatch to see how they play some will push all the time those people just call when you have something decent cause chances are they dont have nothing
SusieP
Enthusiast
Silver Level
play it like a triangle, Tight at the top, looser and looser as people get eliminated. 9 people at your table, play tighter than usual, play your cards more than the people at this stage you wont have good reads until later in the game. once it gets down to around 6 people you can loosen up a little bit, play more hands like K10, Ax. Then heads up, everyone has there own style but i favor a super aggressive style preflop, but give it up somewhat easy if you miss on the flop. Ofcouse that totally depends on your opponent, and is not the right strategy sometimes heads up, but if done right, and selectively enough you will get a nice little chip lead early on in the match to soften the bad beat which may come later if you use this style.
NineLions
Advanced beginner
Silver Level
I don't know that I use any fixed procedure.
If I know the competition is decent (like a CC non-freeroll tournament) I'll start taking shots at the blinds right from the beginning from the small blind, button or cutoff with a wide range of hands.
If the competition is weak or unknown, I'll tighten up considerably, from all positions because weak players don't understand position and will call with anything catching unlikey flops. They're more likely to do so early when the blinds are not high.
Against weak competition I wait until the blinds become more significant, like 80 or 100 assuming 1,500 starting chips. Even so, it depends on the reads on the players in the blinds and their stack sizes.
If I know the competition is decent (like a CC non-freeroll tournament) I'll start taking shots at the blinds right from the beginning from the small blind, button or cutoff with a wide range of hands.
If the competition is weak or unknown, I'll tighten up considerably, from all positions because weak players don't understand position and will call with anything catching unlikey flops. They're more likely to do so early when the blinds are not high.
Against weak competition I wait until the blinds become more significant, like 80 or 100 assuming 1,500 starting chips. Even so, it depends on the reads on the players in the blinds and their stack sizes.
T
thetrimguy
Enthusiast
Silver Level
I am a FIRM believer in getting a read on people before you play agg let the morons get out of the way before you start jumping the gun. I have always said that it is crucial to choose your hands wisely in the beginning the blinds are never worth stealing until late in the tourney you have to play for an hour and a half before blinds even reach antes so the risk of loosing your money is not worth the size of the pot but everyone is different and different methods work for different people you just have to find yours
G
grunta0
Enthusiast
Silver Level
The idea in STTs is not to try and build a large stack but to survive.
At a full table ,when the blinds are low, there are not that many hands worth risking your tournament "life."
Two good books for STTs.
1. "Online Ace" by Scott Fischman. (A very tight stategy.)
Pros. You will win. You can multitable easily.
Cons. Very boring.
2. "Sit and Go Stategy" by Collin Moshman. (Plays like a mini MTT.)
Pros. Much more interesting and will improve your overall skills.
Cons. More difficult to play than the first stategy.
You need to decide what your goal is ,to win money or to win money and enjoy playing.
W
Wilko89911
Enthusiast
Silver Level
As others have said play tight to begin with (9-6 players), then loosen up and begin to steal blinds etc. Not only will you have reads on most of your opponents, you will also create a tight table image which will help in the later stages.
FatBasset
Rock Star
Silver Level
Tight Aggressive is a solid strategy for most players to utilize. My question is how do you plan to adapt your game if seven or more of the players are using the same strategy you are? From the consensus shown here regarding "proper" SNG strategy, how do you plan to have an edge over the 6 other people implementing the same strategy? Frequently enough, I've been playing SNG's that will have 5 or 6 people with basically starting stacks when the big blind gets to 100+.
ryodejaneiro
Rock Star
Silver Level
I think this shows that you can't approach a SNG just one particular way. In fact, whenever I try to approach a SNG without making adjustments (i.e., playing one particular way), that's when I bust out early. I've encountered situations like this quite often and I usually try to open up my play a bit more to make plays to pick up pots. This could go against some of the previous comments, but I think you've got to make some adjustments to keep on building your stack.
If your opponent's starting stacks are the same as they began after a few levels, I'd say they are playing too tightly preflop since you should be building your stacks, not keeping it the same size - you can try to take advantage of this tight preflop play by adjusting accordingly. I think you really have to feel out the table to see how people play when they are raised. (e.g., Do they fold to 2x, 3x, 4x bets preflop? Do they just call bets without any re-raises?)
M
Michelle5000
Enthusiast
Silver Level
This is wrong roy, you can play a LAG style but it requires great skill and maybe you have it ahh still tight is just as good. YOu just keep ti simple.
However, why make any adjustments? When as each player gets busted out your equity OR THE VALUE OF UR CHIPS GOES UP.
So say you buy in for $10 and u play no hands and two guys go out. Your equity in the tournament will increase. So your chips will now be worth say $10.50. So tight is always right in SNGs. I've watched vids on stoxpoker and the pro's recomment you play 8/7 at the start. As a average number.
You just nit it up big time. It worked for me when i played them and i ain't very good. I only played about 100 mirco SNGs and i never even fully developed my 10bb less shoving ranges. Yet i still manged a decent ROI and how? by just folding hands all teh time ahahahha. That worked for mirco SNGs as the looser guys are basically giving you free money.
ryodejaneiro
Rock Star
Silver Level
I'm not necessarily suggesting a LAG style of play. It does take a lot of skill to play this way, and I'm in no way that good. For me though, what's becoming increasingly important is getting a good feel for the table and then adjusting my play accordingly. Certainly on loose tables (the 10 player beginner SNGs at bodog come to mind), my tendency is to play tight and then as players get knocked out, start to play more aggressively - I'm not arguing against that. But the sit tight strategy has backfired as well, especially if I'm not getting good hands and I'm playing a larger field (e.g., 10+ player SNG)
I hope my last post didn't make it sound like I was advocating that you change gears constantly or play LAG. My opinion was that we need to be able to adjust our play when we think its necessary to do so if our initial strategy isn't working out well after a period of time has passed.
BTW, I'm "ryo" not "roy"
B
Brian182
Rock Star
Silver Level
I think it's good to switch gears, but only if you can afford it, meaning for sure, play tight in the beginning. If you get a nice stack, you can start to play looser, meaning low suited connectors. You can also fire bullets on people you think you can bluff, but if you do get caught, fold, and play tighter to recover, or if you do get a good hand, play it similarly so people think you're bluffing again.