SNG Strategy

This is some stuff I have learned from playing sng's at UB and Pokerstars, a lot of what is said here would not be prudent for sites such as Party Poker, Bodog, or many other sites that increase blinds by hands instead of time. It is also not to effective for turbo tournaments. Any of those tournaments that this is not effective for I believe are a lot of luck and not much skill.

The buyins this form of playing is effectiveat is low limt sng's(under $50). The main difference between these limits that I have seen is the aggressiveness preflop, there are very few limped pots at higher limits, in the early part of the SNG. That of course is not all the differences, the trickyness and skillis also very different.

I have broken this into 4 different times in the tourney. Early when there are 5 to 10 left, middle or bubble play when there are 4, 5 and sometimes 6 but only if the blinds are higher. ITM play and heads up play. I also have six categories of hands I play. I will also open this up 3 handed and will play any two cards when it is heads up.

Early Play

Early in the tournament I like to play drawing hands. The key early on is to trap these bad players with the nuts and also keep yourself out of situation that you are unsure about, it is best to stay in the tourney and you will get chips later on when the blinds go up. I also don't like to play many of these hansd in early position, if I do and someone raises later on I will fold unless 3 or 4 people have called, it is not really a good idea to get heads up with these hands since they are mostly drawing hands.

• Suited Connectors

• You are of course hoping to flop either a straight, straight draw, flush or flush draw. You have to be careful with suited connectors because a lot of people are playing any ace that is suited and if you hit the flush there may be a higher flush out there. So it ok to fold your flush if the flush shows up and someone gets really crazy. Usually the pot will be small and you may only win a few hundred it chips or get knocked out of the tournament

• One or two suited gappers and I usually like these low so you don't get stuck with top pair of like K or Q and are looking at a 10 kicker.

  • Again you are playing for a straight here, it is also nice to hit two pair with these put you must be careful for the straight, and the flush is nice but use caution. I would not recommend playing these if they are not suited unless a crap load of people are in the pot.

• Ace suited

  • This is your flush hand, you are hoping for the flush. I actually hate seeing a ace on the flop when I have ace small suited, I will be very cautious when playing ace small.

• Small PP(99 or smaller)

  • I basically look at these like drawing hand, if I hit a set good deal time to make some money

• Premium Hands

  • This is pp higher than 10's and AK(which is actually a drawing hand) These hands are dangerous. This is also the only hands I will raise preflop early in the SNG. You of course want to raise preflop, but I don't get too crazy maybe 3x or 4x times the blind. Then I try and take it on the flop, if I meet a lot of residence I will even fold a PP that is higher than the flop. When you start looking at AK, that is very dangerous hand if you hit top pair you also have top kicker, I will bet the top pair, but not get to crazy. Also, early in the tourney I will not bluff on the flop with AK, people play interesting hands and may call you all the way down with a pair of 3's after calling your preflop play with 93. DO NOT SLOW PLAY PRE

• High Cards Meduim Kicker

  • I don't play these early on.

So basically early on you want to hit draws, not over play pairs. You also want to survive, but survive with enough chips to damage people.

Middle Play

This is where you have around 3 to 5 people left. A lot of the folks are waiting to get in the money and do not really want to gamble, this is still low limit though and people will have a hard time folding any PP or AK preflop and will usually play these hands for all their money. This is when you open up your game and start stealing blinds and out play people on the flop, guy bets on flop try reraising him as long as it is not going to pot committ yourself. I am also not afraid to finish out of the money, so I will bluff a lot more and bet on the come more, since you have to do this since the people are probably more aware and you smooth call and then draw hits it is hard to get paid off, also use this as a bluff method.

• Suited Connectors

  • Again come into the pot cheap, if they are high suited connectors raise preflop. I will also use these hands as stealing hands, so call a raise from someone then out play them on the flop, you could even be semibluffing.

• One or two gappers suited

  • Same thing as suited conectors, I am not neccesarily looking to hit my draw and will play them heads up for the potential to bluff.

• Ace Suited

  • Flush is not worth as much I will raise with Ace small, but be careful if ace shows up. I may also just call with these and then play a bit harder if ace shows with no preflop raises

• Small PP

  • Value of these hands increased greatly since there are now less players, push with these hands preflop. I would be careful calling allins with them though. If you can not lay them down with 4 or 5 people left after you raise and get reraised then just go all in preflop. I like to play these fast and will raise preflop, then usually continue to bet since I will probably be heads up.

• Premium Hands

  • These are the hands you can knock these people out with, they are too be played fast preflop and don't be scared to reraise and get all your money in with these.

• High Cards Meduim Kicker

  • I will raise preflop with these, again if I flop top pair and get resistance I will usually lay them down. I am looking to win preflop with these and if not I still have a ok hands.

3 Handed

Well you have made the money and should have a pretty good stack. If you don't push extremely hard preflop and play for first. The game actually loosens back up again since everyone is happy they are in the money, but people are still a bit scared cause they want to finish first since that is 50% of the money. So steal blinds here and try and out play people.

• Suited Conectors

  • Raise preflop, bet on come and out play people on flop. These type hands will actually make you a lot since people will push here with top pair since it is only 3 handed. I like defending my blinds with these hands, and check raising on the flop.

• One or to gapper suited.

  • Raise with these, same as suited connectors at this point

• Ace Small maybe suited

  • Might as well raise with these, but I will sometimes limp in SB to trap BB. I will not call a preflop all in with these unless they are very small stack

• Small PP

  • Push with these. I am willing to reraise all in or call an allin from someone half my stack size, good hand to reraise blind streal.

• Premium Hands

  • Pretty Clear here push preflop, reraise all in. Against aggressive player slow play these to blind steal or if person likes to raise from blind when you limp on button just call and then reraise him after he raises

• High Card Meduim Kicker

  • Raise with these, will call blind steals depending on player. Do not get all in preflop with these unless super small stack. You will usually be looking at 3 outs unless they have small PP

Heads Up

Not much hand selection here and this is probably the most skillfull of any of the other levels. I like to play the opposite of the other player. If the person is super aggressive I will raise every hand preflop and bet on the flop, watch for slow players in this, but most of the time they will start to get crazy and that is when you switch your style. If you are against a super aggressive player, I like to call and slow play them or value bet them, make it look like you are weak. The biggest thing is to stay on the opposite side of your opponent. That has worked well for me, also look for tells. Online your only tell is bet amount, look at their hands and how they bet them.

Well good luck and I hope this helps. I would also like to hear some feedback.

Thanks

Brian