Decent hands Early in SNG?

This is a point where my sng game struggles. I typically play low stakes, $1-5 sng's and typically some sort of speed or turbo one.

Now quite often im dealt a good hand early, not so much the monsters like AA KK QQ AK etc, but more like KQ suited JA QA JJ. I'm not particularly sure how to play these. I've had some success 3xBB followed by a 1/2 pot cbet, or the odd check if i've hit against an aggressive player. I fold if im early and there has already been a raise.

Are these hands best thrown out? Is what I was doing pretty solid? Everytime I get these hands I just think uhhhh.... lol.

All help most appriciated.

I play the AJ AQ KQ only in late position. if someone raises then I toss em. I feel that those are just setup hands early, Always remember: Position is better than AA every time, its not a winner if you hit, its a winner if your opponent misses

The thing about SNG's, especially Turbo's, is that it only takes a few minutes for your M to drop and when you go into a pot, you're committing a significant portion of your stack. Even if you play a hand at the first level with 1500 stacks and 15/30 blinds, if you raise 3x pre-flop then make a pot-size c-bet (a little large imo, but we'll go with it for the sake of argument), you've already committed almost 20% of your stack. For this reason, it's important to be patient early in SNG's, as getting too involved with a marginal hand can be risky. If you're the one raising with hands like AJo, QJs, 66-99, etc, in late position, you should be okay. But a lot of times, like you mentioned, it is better to muck those hands when facing a raise.

So these hands are best played from a late position? Early position pretty much a fold I guess. It's just how loose the tables are, sometimes hitting can mean an early double up and pretty much guarantee the money.

Pocket pairs I seem to limp for set value, most times I make a set it seems to pay off big time.

MaxiRodriguez said:

This is a point where my sng game struggles. I typically play low stakes, $1-5 sng's and typically some sort of speed or turbo one.

Now quite often im dealt a good hand early, not so much the monsters like AA KK QQ AK etc, but more like KQ suited JA QA JJ. I'm not particularly sure how to play these. I've had some success 3xBB followed by a 1/2 pot cbet, or the odd check if i've hit against an aggressive player. I fold if im early and there has already been a raise.

Are these hands best thrown out? Is what I was doing pretty solid? Everytime I get these hands I just think uhhhh.... lol.

All help most appriciated.

Click to expand...

In a 1 table turbo sng, KQ s or not, AQ, AJ, should be played aggressively PF. Standard raises. I might shove the JJ hand if I was first to act. But Calling with those hands is different than opening hard with those hands. You don't want to go broke early, so always defer to survival unless you hit a flop hard.

In multi table turbo's, you want to see a flop with any of those hands, But again, beware the first few orbits. If you hit the flops, don't be slow playing (for the most part) unless you really believe you have a fish who's gonna try a steal.

BUT, for the most part you can sit there for an orbit or 2, or 3, and let the crazies bomb out before you start playing those hands hard.

Moral of my advice is to beware the first few orbits.

Does the fact they seem to be 70% Inexperinced players and 30% mutitablers/players with basic sng strat, make a difference to how I should play these?

I normally try to stay tight, unless situations like mentioned in my OP force my hand. When the blinds rise its just push and fold.

MaxiRodriguez said:

Pocket pairs I seem to limp for set value, most times I make a set it seems to pay off big time.

Click to expand...

I like this play, as long as like you said, you can see the flop for cheap. It might even be worth calling a raise (3x-4x BB) with 33, 44, 55, etc if you expect the pot to be multi-way, or you're in late position and there are many callers. Then when you hit your hand, you're almost definitely going to get paid off.

MaxiRodriguez said:

Does the fact they seem to be 70% Inexperinced players and 30% mutitablers/players with basic sng strat, make a difference to how I should play these?

I normally try to stay tight, unless situations like mentioned in my OP force my hand. When the blinds rise its just push and fold.

Click to expand...

I sometimes wonder if the inexperienced players even understand the ordinal value of cards, and it takes a while to determine that someone is multi-tabling.

So I stick with my post and emphasize BEWARE the FIRST FEW ORBITS.

I would question the solidity of folding AQ to a raise preflop in late position in the first couple levels, especially at the 1-5$ level. Don't they raise much lighter than that?

jamesdadeliverer said:

I would question the solidity of folding AQ to a raise preflop in late position in the first couple levels, especially at the 1-5$ level. Don't they raise much lighter than that?

Click to expand...

Yeah they do but in the early levels preflop raises can get called by many players and if you hit the flop big and start getting your chips in your probally getting called by some dodgy hands that are gonna win on the turn or river.

Remember going out 1st earns you no money so be carefull.

As for the multitabling post, that was due to the fact that I was too and they were on 2 or more of my tables.

I also was getting alot of very strong hands early in my SNG's earlier. I was shoving, AA KK QQ to try and get some calls but to no avail. I got shoved my self by a lose player, I had KA Clubs, this is always call right?

I'm struggling without SNG wiz, I'm trying to get 750tp's at Titan, but not particularly like SNG's much here.

This is interesting, because I wanted to discuss sng strategy a little bit and if the "tight early, loose later" plan is the best way to go? I play at the $10 single table level right now and I seem to be running pretty bad. I used to play these exlusively 2-3 yrs ago and then took a break from poker, and now that I am back they seem harder. Are SNG's no longer as profitable as they once were 2 yrs ago?

I think they are significantly tighter now. I used to play lots of $5 SNGs and don't so much anymore largely because when I do it seems I've still got at least 7 players at the table at 100/200. Didn't used to be that way.

In my opinion you should bascally play it according to this chart:
http://www.sitandgoplanet.com/sitandgo/sng_pokerguide/SNG_Starting_Hands.html
Do adjustments according to the table dynamics.

general rules for early-game (not looked at the chart in the above post but i'd be surprised if it's a lot different to what i say)

- Openraise AQ+/TT+ in early position
- Add AJs/99 in mid-late position
- Add KQs/88 in late position and if blinds are tight. You can openraise more hands in late position (lower pairs, other suited broadway) if stacks are deep enough and you're a strong postflop player.
- Limp <77 and other speculative hands (mid-suited connectors) if in late position or SB if >2 limpers and no hyperLAGs to act.

3-betting and stuff depends a lot on who the person raising is but you didn't ask about that anyway so w/e.

dam thats a nice list of how to play the sit n goes.

should help out alot thanks!

Thanks for all the advice, I should be alright when I finally get enough Titan points to unlock SNG wiz.

The Sit & Go Planet stated Titan as being the most fish site out there, well for MTT's maybe, but the low level SNG's seem to be atleast 5 people per table who aren't completely unware of SNG strategy. I gotta Question the motivation behind some of those claims...

Anyway I reckon my game is pretty solid, but my profits aint the best. Probably due to my inabilitiy to stay away from MTTs, but they are in my opinion, the best form of poker and what I most enjoy so what the hey lol.

TiltF0rLife said:

In my opinion you should bascally play it according to this chart:

http://www.sitandgoplanet.com/sitandgo/sng_pokerguide/SNG_Starting_Hands.html
Do adjustments according to the table dynamics.

Click to expand...

I went to the site and looked at the charts listed. First 2 seem understandable, I'm a bit confused by the 3rd one. I'll try and copy a pic of it below.

I might be reading the chart incorrectly, but why does it have N/A listed uner all the ep's? Are they saying you shouldn't open the pot when 6 handed with 16-20 bb's at all, or are they leaving that area blank for variances, like type of players, your image, etc;??? I'm assuming the later option right now, I just thinking I'm reading the chart wrong or something.

Dorkus Malorkus said:

general rules for early-game (not looked at the chart in the above post but i'd be surprised if it's a lot different to what i say)

- Openraise AQ+/TT+ in early position
- Add AJs/99 in mid-late position
- Add KQs/88 in late position and if blinds are tight. You can openraise more hands in late position (lower pairs, other suited broadway) if stacks are deep enough and you're a strong postflop player.
- Limp <77 and other speculative hands (mid-suited connectors) if in late position or SB if >2 limpers and no hyperLAGs to act.

3-betting and stuff depends a lot on who the person raising is but you didn't ask about that anyway so w/e.

Click to expand...

So if I understand you correctly, you are saying early on in a sng (understanding of course many variances) you recommend to open the pot for a raise "openraise" in ep with AQ+/TT+. By that statement are you also alluding to not open a pot in ep in the early stages of sng with any other hand? So AJ os or su or 88/99 you don't see a flop or you just don't openraise? These hands to me in ep are middle of the road, not premiums, guess I have a difficult time just tossing them and should be?

I see you've included the hands in question as mid & late hands for openraise. I guess I play these hands too much? I've been calling early in sng & mtt with these up to 3x bb pf, utg I've been open raising 2-3x bb. So this is too loose?

Always Fold in early positions?

Looking at the table, I too am confused. ARe you saying to aways fold in early position at middle stages (N/A in all columns). Also, are you saying to raise but never reraise with AA in any postition.