SNG - How to adapt to fast blind levels?

[Nigginger]

Hi guys,

specifically I'm talking about the Blind Levels for full ring SnGs at 888poker.

At the turbo SnGS they are 10/20, 20/40(5), 30/60(5), 50/100(10), 75/150(15), 100/200(20), 150/300(30) ... and increase every 4min. (In the normal ones same Steps but every 8min)

For comparison Turbos at PS and PP: 10/20, 15/30, 25/50, 40/80, 60/120, 80/160, 100/200, 150/300 every 5min.

I know as faster as it gets more luck is involved, but the Turbos have only 10% rake on 888 (normal ones have 15%).

Im not sure how i should change my playing style to these Blind levels. Should i loosen up because time is running against me and i need to accumulate Chips or should I tighten up only playing my premium hands and trying to make big profit with them so I make it to the bubble?

Right now i play tighter which leads often to the situation that I'm down to 15BB and didn't even play one hand. Then its basically a shove or fold game.

Don't know if its relevant: I play mainly the 1$ SnGs and sprinkle some 3$ ones in. I am a slight winning player with a few Dollars plus every session, but there is definitely air!

Thank you in Advance

 

[venycyos]

Very interested to know the opinions, posting to follow. I don't like to wait long, especially when I'm deep. I like to play hands with good potential for a cheap price, connected suted, low pairs, I don't know if it's the best way, but I think it's a good way. I must be drawing at least.

I need to choose a path and focus on it, I play a lot and I'm getting lost in almost everything.

 

[karl coakley]

It depends on your playing style. Playing TAG (tight) isn't going to do well in a turbo. Too many times the cards don't come. You really need to open up your range quickly. This is multiplied by being a SNG and as the blinds move up they also move faster because of eliminating players.

 

[tagece]

I only play this kind of structure in spin and go's. I feel more comfortable to shove or call with medium hands when there are only three players enrolled. Because in tournaments like that, you will need to do this for sure. In a full ring to do this kind of play you'll need to have a lot of luck to win.
If anyways you decide to play, you need to open your range a lot. I usually call shoves with KTo+ and 22+ in spin and go's. And shove these hands too. And take an eye in maniac players and the nit ones. You can always find good spots against then.

 

[EnigmaTTO]

Also curious to know what other people think cause I don't really play this format but am interested in trying it to get more volume in. I'm thinking, like karl said earlier that you need to play a bit wider than you otherwise would in order to make sure you're stack keeps up with the blind levels when you don't get premium hands that are a no brainer to play. That, or just being more bold about mixing in 3-bet bluffs and things like that with hands that could make for a good bluff, but are an easy fold to a 4-bet.

 

[steve01991]

aggressive with the decent hands, and play it when you hit the flop, but know when to give up is also a valuable asset.

 

[fundiver199]

The SnG turbos on 888 Poker is almost a hyper turbo format. If you are going to play such games, the most important thing is to perfect your push-fold game, because this is, what you are going to be playing a lot of the time. To perfect your push-fold game its essential to have a subscription to ICMizer and spend a decent amount of time working with the program.

However here is where, the wheel comes off quite a bit. Your main motive for playing the turbos are the fact, that the 1$ regular speed SnGs are overly raked, so obviously you have a small bankroll, and a subscription for ICMizer is 99$ a year for the base level.

I also dont think, there is much reason to perfect your strategy for these very fast games. There is very limited upside in SnGs these days, so if you are serious about online poker, you almost have to get into MTTs, or if you want to go a different direction cash games. And even the turbo MTTs on 888 Poker have 6 minute blind intervals, plus they start with deeper stacks, so there are a lot more play in them.

So I think, you should simply find some other games to play. Either deposit at least 200$ and grind the 3$ SnGs with 8 minute blinds on 888 Poker, or start on a different poker site. On pokerstars the 1$ 45 man is an excellent training ground, which I have written about many times here on CC forum

 

[Nigginger]

The SnG turbos on 888 Poker is almost a hyper turbo format. If you are going to play such games, the most important thing is to perfect your push-fold game, because this is, what you are going to be playing a lot of the time. To perfect your push-fold game its essential to have a subscription to ICMizer and spend a decent amount of time working with the program.

However here is where, the wheel comes off quite a bit. Your main motive for playing the turbos are the fact, that the 1$ regular speed SnGs are overly raked, so obviously you have a small bankroll, and a subscription for ICMizer is 99$ a year for the base level.

I also dont think, there is much reason to perfect your strategy for these very fast games. There is very limited upside in SnGs these days, so if you are serious about online poker, you almost have to get into MTTs, or if you want to go a different direction cash games. And even the turbo MTTs on 888 Poker have 6 minute blind intervals, plus they start with deeper stacks, so there are a lot more play in them.

So I think, you should simply find some other games to play. Either deposit at least 200$ and grind the 3$ SnGs with 8 minute blinds on 888 Poker, or start on a different poker site. On PokerStars the 1$ 45 man is an excellent training ground, which I have written about many times here on CC forum

Thank you.

You are right I have a small bankroll and actually started it with a freeroll on 888 where I got lucky.
I stayed at 888 because I started with the site and thought maybe I can get better there so I can play some higher SnGs on other sites and unlock the full Cashback there.

I noticed that everyone is saying SnGs are dead but I had the feeling until 5 or 10$ there is some traffic. So I stayed with them.
Also I read in a lot of forums that MTTs are not good to grind a bankroll.
What's your opinion on that?

I already planned to switch to MTTs some time and got some of the basic books for MTTs (Sklansky, Harrington) but didn't read them until now, because I wanted to focus on one game type and try to grind a bankroll.

 

[fundiver199]

There is still decent traffic in SnGs until the 5-10$ level, and on PokerStars even a bit higher than that as well. But if you are thinking about making money from poker, you dont want to see 5-10$ games as your end goal. The hourly winrate for a winning player at 5-10$ SnGs is very mediocre, especially because a realistic ROI in SnGs is always going to be significantly lower than simlilar limit MTTs. This is simply because of the fact, that an MTT last longer, so there is more time for skill edges to show, especially when you make it to the final table, where the big payjumps are found.

Its true, that MTTs are not ideal for building a bankroll, because they have high variance, but it depends a lot on field sizes. 888 Poker actually has fairly small field MTTs, especially if you play outside the peak hours. In my opinion MTTs are by far the best games on 888 Poker, and they are the reason, why I have more or less stuck with the site, since I found it. I actually moved to 888 Poker, because they were rumoured to have softer cash games, but it was the MTTs, that allowed me to finally get some decent winnings, after I discovered them.

You do kind of need a somewhat larger starting bankroll though, because if you can only play the 1$ and below, its not possible to get decent volume. Ideally its best to start with around 500$, because then you can comfortably grind a mix of 1-5$ games, and the road to a 4-figure bankroll and 5-12$ games is not so long. But of course its a bit of a risk to take, if you dont know, that you are a winning player.