My SNG Problems.

Hi there. I am new to the site, wasn't quite sure where to post this, thought probably here rather than Tournament hands, as it isn't really about any specific hand.

I am playing $30 SNG at the moment. Have played $100 dollar ones, but made a hefty withdrawal a while back. So dropped back down. I am playing on Absolute, I like it there because the SNG have a nice long structure to them, wouldn't mind a few recemondations for other sites with a good SNG structure while i am here

I think I am a good player, but I am really striving hard to make my game better. There are a few situations when I am often puzzled, have had a good read through the forum, which has helped a lot, but am going to put a few of my headaches here see if anyone can help

First of all i find it really difficult categorizing players, I watch games carefully, and take notes, but the notes often become to complicated and unhelpful. What notes do you take down for SNG purposes ? and how do you keep them simple so they can be used easily.

One that came up several times today. I am a fairly tight player, but am happy to get my chips in if i think I have the best of things. Something that really bugs me is when it gets to short handed and the blinds are high, People limping in the SB, If i have something like A7, do i raise him out the pot, and risk him trapping ? and as the blinds are so high usually, if i raise I am all but committed after the flop, if i miss with such a hand I have no choice but call. So is it best to just check his call from the SB, or move all in. I realise that different situations with Stack sizes has a bearing on it all, but the stack sizes are often the same at that time of a tournament.


My biggest bug of all. Over betters, I play 6 handed SNG, forgot to mention that. One bad hand in a SNG can cripple you, specially when you got some maniac overbetting all the time. I like to play flops, but often this can be impossible. I hate putting all my Chips in with AK pre flop early in a tourment, but I am finding that this can be the best situation that I am getting. If i believe that someone is just being super aggressive, am i right to make a stand and push them all in ? Or sit tight and hope for a better situation.

Leave it at that for now

Thanks in advance for any advice

Do you have some kind of software, such as Tourament Indicator? If not, you need to invest in that.

I just try to look at statistics. The consensus is that in order to go all in preflop early, you should have something like a 54% chance to win in order to make that justified. Hence, if you are playing with an idiot that raises every hand (statistically, somebody with a 40% VPIP or better) I would say definitely play AK all the way. They will likely have a weaker Ace, some complete trash, or a low PP. The only one you don't have beat is the PP, but the range you are playing against makes you much greater than 54% on average.

On reading people, I find it pretty easy. The guys that play 24 tables at once are gonna have a VPIP% of 10% or less, and almost always raise when the do play a hand. I 8 table, so I can make a few less "robotic" decisions than somebody playing that table. My VPIP% is 18%, and my PFR (pre-flop raise) is around 15%. I think those are fairly strong numbers. Not the only way to play, but they are certainly conducive of a positive ROI%

(gonna move this to Tournament Poker)

LOL on Debi missing the 3 year old thread bump!!