Ask Collin Moshman and Katie Dozier About Sit ‘n Goes!

[Minikiwi9]

Thanks Minikiwi!

We have a course coming out soon with lots of SNG content for CardsChat

In the meanwhile, besides our posts, check out our videos like

on the CardsChat YouTube channel. If you have any other questions please feel free to post again!

How does your play differentiate between turbo and regular speed 9man tourneys?

 

[Minikiwi9]

1) How would you approach Turbos vs Regular differently, when you are multi tabling SNG did you run both or one specifically
2)What was/is your way to 'warmup' prior to a session, did you have a 'cooldown' what did that look like?
I'm sure I'll have plenty more questions that I will keep firing your way if you don't mind, I'm striving to increase my bankroll and skill with SNG's right now and want to increase my edges as much as possible

 

[Collin Moshman]

1) How would you approach Turbos vs Regular differently, when you are multi tabling SNG did you run both or one specifically
2)What was/is your way to 'warmup' prior to a session, did you have a 'cooldown' what did that look like?
I'm sure I'll have plenty more questions that I will keep firing your way if you don't mind, I'm striving to increase my bankroll and skill with SNG's right now and want to increase my edges as much as possible

Good questions!

1. I would usually run both formats to fill up tables, although in practice the turbos tend to fill up faster (in SNGs at least) and be the majority of my tables. Regular speed games tend to play out at deeper stacks than turbos, but if the situation was the same then I'd almost always make the same play in both.

You might shove a bit wider in a turbo with the blinds going up faster. But generally, while the two formats require different skill sets, I wouldn't change my play just because one game was regular speed and the other was a turbo all else equal.

2. Warm-up was picking one game at random from my last session and going through it to analyze spots and making sure I wasn't making too many tight folds or lines I didn't like looking back. So in large part I'm prepping myself to play better after seeing anything I don't like from the last session, but also analyzing spots I wasn't sure on at the time.

 

[Mendo]

Question about microstake 181 player (247 entries) tourney
Did I raise too big on the river?



Yatahay Network - 5000/10000 NL - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

rowlee1 (SB): 10.99 BB
Mendo (BB): 24.45 BB
fubot (UTG): 18.63 BB
Scott5364 (MP): 5.1 BB
Morticyde (CO): 20.92 BB
skm1220 (BTN): 18.24 BB

6 players post ante of 0.1 BB, rowlee1 posts SB 0.5 BB, Mendo posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.1 BB) Mendo has 8:spade: A:heart:

fold, fold, Morticyde raises to 2.5 BB, fold, fold, Mendo calls 1.5 BB

Flop: (6.1 BB, 2 players) A:diamond: A:club: 9:spade:
Mendo checks, Morticyde checks

Turn: (6.1 BB, 2 players) J:heart:
Mendo bets 1.52 BB, Morticyde raises to 4.55 BB, Mendo calls 3.02 BB

River: (15.2 BB, 2 players) 6:club:
Mendo checks, Morticyde bets 6 BB, Mendo raises to 17.3 BB and is all-in, fold

Mendo wins 27.2 BB

 

[Katie Dozier]

Question about microstake 181 player (247 entries) tourney
Did I raise too big on the river?



Yatahay Network - 5000/10000 NL - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

rowlee1 (SB): 10.99 BB
Mendo (BB): 24.45 BB
fubot (UTG): 18.63 BB
Scott5364 (MP): 5.1 BB
Morticyde (CO): 20.92 BB
skm1220 (BTN): 18.24 BB

6 players post ante of 0.1 BB, rowlee1 posts SB 0.5 BB, Mendo posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.1 BB) Mendo has 8:spade: A:heart:

fold, fold, Morticyde raises to 2.5 BB, fold, fold, Mendo calls 1.5 BB

Flop: (6.1 BB, 2 players) A:diamond: A:club: 9:spade:
Mendo checks, Morticyde checks

Turn: (6.1 BB, 2 players) J:heart:
Mendo bets 1.52 BB, Morticyde raises to 4.55 BB, Mendo calls 3.02 BB

River: (15.2 BB, 2 players) 6:club:
Mendo checks, Morticyde bets 6 BB, Mendo raises to 17.3 BB and is all-in, fold

Mendo wins 27.2 BB

Hi Mendo, I think you played this hand on the river extremely well by opting to shove! Ultimately I believe that your line on other streets got your opponent to bluff, which is great! Your opponent most likely would’ve called considering pot odds with any kind of hand, so I believe that you made the most here that you possibly could have considering your opponent most likely held air.

 

[zisamba]

What is your suggestion about our hand selection in the first levels in a SNG?

 

[Collin Moshman]

Zisamba, that's a good question and it depends on the players at the table as well as other factors like whether there's an ante and how comfortable you are playing post-flop.

Here are a couple of first-in ranges assuming typical opponents and the Stars ante of 15%:

UTG: AJo, A9s, 66, KQo, JTs

Button: Any ace, any pair, K5o, Q7o, Q2s, J8o, J5s, T8o, and suited connectors 65s / 75s and similar strength.

Remember to make the ranges work for you and your game!

 

[zisamba]

Thank you for your immediate answer.I find it very interesting and i want to ask you some more things aboyt it.A lot of books and sites suggest to play in the early leves(1-3) of a SNG only the very huge hands(AA,AKo,AKSs,QQ,JJ)from any position and pocket pairs and suited connectors mostly from late position.I saw that you suggest hands like AJo or A9s or pocket pair like 66 from UTG.
1)Obviously you are involved with these hands raising from UTG.What is this raise?Is it a 3x,4x,5x or more?
2)Is not excist the danger off been dominated with AJo or being reraised with 66 if you play from so early position?
I woyld like your answer because an answer from a player with such an expirience will help me to improve the orizon of my game specially now in the beginning.
Thank you.

 

[Katie Dozier]

Thank you for your immediate answer.I find it very interesting and i want to ask you some more things aboyt it.A lot of books and sites suggest to play in the early leves(1-3) of a SNG only the very huge hands(AA,AKo,AKSs,QQ,JJ)from any position and pocket pairs and suited connectors mostly from late position.I saw that you suggest hands like AJo or A9s or pocket pair like 66 from UTG.
1)Obviously you are involved with these hands raising from UTG.What is this raise?Is it a 3x,4x,5x or more?
2)Is not excist the danger off been dominated with AJo or being reraised with 66 if you play from so early position?
I woyld like your answer because an answer from a player with such an expirience will help me to improve the orizon of my game specially now in the beginning.
Thank you.

Hi Zisamba

1.) The size you’ll want to raise to is mostly a function of the effective stack size. With deep stacks, I tend to open to 3x, with stack sizes around 30 BBs, I opt for 2.5x. Once stacks get a bit shorter, I downgrade to minraise opens, and generally at 10BBs I would be playing shove fold.

2.) If you’re not comfortable deciding what to do if you’re raised having opened AJ or 66 UTG then it is totally fine to just fold the weakest part of that range instead of opening it. As you play more poker, you’ll most likely become more comfortable with opening a wider range as you gain even more experience[emoji4]

For the record, I would almost always just fold if I was reraised while holding those hands (ie I would tend to just fold the bottom of my range most of the time if someone raised me, unless the pot odds made it wrong to do so).

In general it’s the middling hands that are often more difficult to play—because it’s often a cleared decision when we hold the top of our range (as we’ll tend to reraise) or the bottom of our range (when we’ll tend to fold). In these situations I think having a read on the player that’s raising you is especially important. If it is a good reg that’s raising, tend to be more cautious with the hands you choose to continue with [emoji4]

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

[Andrey007]

Thanks for the story. Are you still playing now? It would be interesting to talk to you live, but I'm from Russia and it's unlikely to work out.

 

[Katie Dozier]

Thanks for the story. Are you still playing now? It would be interesting to talk to you live, but I'm from Russia and it's unlikely to work out.

Yes, we are both still playing

 

[copycutpaste]

Just wondering if you have ever thought about making an audiobook version of Collin's sit n' go strategy book...

I would love to listen to it...I have bad eyes and cannot read for very long...love reading this thread though...

 

[Katie Dozier]

Just wondering if you have ever thought about making an audiobook version of Collin's sit n' go strategy book...

I would love to listen to it...I have bad eyes and cannot read for very long...love reading this thread though...

That’s a really cool idea, thanks for it! I love audiobooks and have always been curious about the process of them being made!

 

[BigFatRat]

Just wondering if you have ever thought about making an audiobook version of Collin's sit n' go strategy book...

I would love to listen to it...I have bad eyes and cannot read for very long...love reading this thread though...

I was just about to post this exact suggestion, as I really enjoy listening to poker audio books on my work commute. I will be first in line to purchase if this is done!

 

[BigFatRat]

Question about when to fold a big pair on the bubble:

I recently had a hand on the bubble in a 6 max SNG where I was at about 4000 chips, the chip leader was at 4200, and the nearly blinded-out short stack was at 800. Blinds were 100/200, I was in small blind, chip leader was in big blind, and the short stack folded. Sitting on pocket kings, I raised to 600. The loose chip leader on the big blind shoved all in.

Should I fold here knowing that I likely have 2nd wrapped up by just waiting it out, as well as a decent chance of beating the chip leader heads up (due to my read on his play, and ability to exploit him) or should I put my equity on the line with KK?

I actually called to see the chip leader’s pocket nines, which he tripped on the river, knocking me out. So bummed... but was my call correct, or should I have just folded?

 

[Collin Moshman]

Definitely the right call! You're right that you need to be very tight calling an all-in here, and even AK is probably a fold. But with JJ or better it should definitely be a profitable call.

Also in a spot like this, if the big blind is a good/strong player, there are a lot of hands it's best to overbet shove for 20bb like 22 or A3o. The reason is that a good player will be very tight calling your all-in, but shove much wider over a raise since he has fold equity.

 

[bigredwolf]

Spin & Go help

Hi there,

firstly, a quick thank you for the great content you provide for free in your videos!

I am returning to poker after a 10 year break and about to do my first deposit with pokerstars. I noticed they give out a lot of spin and go tickets so I thought I should get good at it before I take this opportunity.

I've played a couple of $0.25 using my freeroll bankroll ( sitting at $5). I am mainly a MTT player, so don't play much heads-up. Any advice on where to start improving my "spin & go" game?

Thanks in advance!
Big Red

 

[Collin Moshman]

Thanks Big Red!

Here are a few tips on improving for spin and go:

*** If the button raises small, shove at least all pocket pairs, suited aces, suited broadway hands ***

*** Play shove/fold with 12bb or less. From the small blind, shove any non-junk hand down to J5o and any two suited cards. ***

*** People generally don't have much 3-handed and heads-up. Stab a lot and continue barreling if you have any equity such as picking up a gutshot. ***

Hope that helps and good luck!

 

[bigredwolf]

Thanks Big Red!

Here are a few tips on improving for spin and go:

*** If the button raises small, shove at least all pocket pairs, suited aces, suited broadway hands ***

*** Play shove/fold with 12bb or less. From the small blind, shove any non-junk hand down to J5o and any two suited cards. ***

*** People generally don't have much 3-handed and heads-up. Stab a lot and continue barreling if you have any equity such as picking up a gutshot. ***

Hope that helps and good luck!

Not only did this help my spin and go efforts, it also helped my MTT final table play and I finally turned one of my cashes into a winner as a result (I am Bostinbeats on ACR).

I would not say that this is a winning strategy, more like a "completely dominate and crush your opponents" strategy. Thank you so much! I own you many:beerglass

So now I am going to play a lot of sit and go's! I will need some software to track results, any recommendations?

Also is there any reason you 12BB or less rather than say 10? What is the maths behind this?

 

[Collin Moshman]

That's awesome, congrats Big Red! I'm really excited for you on this win!

I like PokerTracker a lot so that is a nice option to keep track of your results.

Good question on 12bb -- the reason I put that number in is that it's a good middle ground that works well in different situations. For example, you can shove deeper from the small blind with an ante. And from early position without an ante, the 10bb number you suggest works very well.

So I put 12bb as a general number that's always at least pretty close

Congrats again on winning this tournament!

 

[piobest]

Hi guys!
Maybe my question will seem stupid , but I don 't know how to be in the late stage of sng, when the stack becomes short and the hands start to come garbage. The stack melts, you start to get nervous and sometimes you show up with a bad hand . This is of course a question not only for sng, but I only play their 0.25-1.5$. I apologize for my English. Thanks

 

[Spinnerz]

Shoving range

Collin,
In today's low and mid stakes SNG, it seems like the average villain has a calling range when facing a 10BB or less effective stack shove that is way wider than it was even 5 years ago, but especially wider than when you wrote your book. To combat this, would you suggest tightening up your shoving range? For instance, your suggested shoving with 10BB in ~2007, you now use as a shoving range for 7-8BB?​

 

[Collin Moshman]

Hi guys!
Maybe my question will seem stupid , but I don 't know how to be in the late stage of sng, when the stack becomes short and the hands start to come garbage. The stack melts, you start to get nervous and sometimes you show up with a bad hand . This is of course a question not only for sng, but I only play their 0.25-1.5$. I apologize for my English. Thanks

No need to apologize, you have good English and it’s a great question!

The answer is that you should shove a lot of hands when your stack is short and everyone folds to you, particularly from late position.

For example, suppose you’re dealt 83s. Garbage hand right?

Usually yes, but sometimes no! If everyone folds to you in the small blind, and the effective stack is 10bb, it’s a great hand to shove. Remember also that your opponents will have junk hands most of the time too.

So stay aggressive and you’ll do very well

 

[ventrolloquist]

Hi guys.

What's the approximate sit and go buy-in equivalent for each cash game stake level? (NL2, 4, 10, etc). Roughly, in terms of hourly earnings and assuming single tabling?

Is competition the same between cash and SnG at the equivalent hourly earnings levels?

Thanks

 

[sickthis]

Would the icmizer sit n go coach be a good tool to study with?