Keys to SNG success....

[hi_am_chris]

Ok so just looking for peoples opinions on the most important things to do in sngs to make profit...

[RioRodent]

Ok so just looking for peoples opinions on the most important things to do in sngs to make profit...

OK, I"ll do it....

Finish in the top 3.

Thankyou, I"m here all week!  

[hi_am_chris]

Ok so what things would help u finnish in the top 3 regularly...

[AMRN]

Stay out of the way early on while blinds are low, unless you have absolute premium hands.  Preserve chips until nicking the blinds makes a material difference to your stack. Be prepared to fold decent starting hands.... and even be prepared to fold even though you sometimes think you might be ahead.

Unlike MTTs, there are only two gears to use - tight tight tight, then loosen up but play shove/fold.

Play more than one at a time - it helps to relieve the boredom of playing so tight early on (stagger the start times though so you don"t end up playing headsup in too many at a time)

This might not work for all, and is not really classic poker.... but it works well for me, and keeps my profits moving up.

[hi_am_chris]

AMRN do the dynamics change much if the sit n go isnt a turbo and also if their arent antes like for example on ipoker and full tilt? I agree with playing very tight early on and also very very rarely bluff (espec in lower level sngs) but can an argument be made for limping speculative hands in the first few levels possibly up until the 25/50 levels?

[MAIR]

Stay out of the way early on while blinds are low, unless you have absolute premium hands.  Preserve chips until nicking the blinds makes a material difference to your stack. Be prepared to fold decent starting hands.... and even be prepared to fold even though you sometimes think you might be ahead.

Unlike MTTs, there are only two gears to use - tight tight tight, then loosen up but play shove/fold.

Play more than one at a time - it helps to relieve the boredom of playing so tight early on (stagger the start times though so you don"t end up playing headsup in too many at a time)

This might not work for all, and is not really classic poker.... but it works well for me, and keeps my profits moving up.

Ditto is how I play em, nice write up there AMRN

[RioRodent]

Ok so what things would help u finnish in the top 3 regularly...

Play as stated above... on a site where there are lots of people not playing this way.

This MO has been well documented all over the internet, it does work but if everyone else is playing the same way your ROI will suffer.

I just played 2 STTs on Party, on one table we were down to 5 people before the end of level 2... = GOOD

I have played some on Full Tilt where there is still a full table into lev 5 & 6... they get really manic in a hurry! = NOT SO GOOD

[noble1]

[AMRN]

AMRN do the dynamics change much if the sit n go isnt a turbo and also if their arent antes like for example on ipoker and full tilt? I agree with playing very tight early on and also very very rarely bluff (espec in lower level sngs) but can an argument be made for limping speculative hands in the first few levels possibly up until the 25/50 levels?

No I think the dynamics apply to turbo and normal clocks - after all, the difference isn"t really that great - just 5 mins up to say 10 mins.

I play on stars, and the level that the antes kick is in is typically where I change gear.

I never limp with speculative hands - they miss more often than they hit. I would prefer to preserve my chips to give me more fold equity once we get to the shove/fold phase.

As Alan says further down this thread though, the style doesnt work too well if the whole table is deploying it.... however, on stars there are so many STTs running that it will work more often than not. I make far more playing this on stars than I do on iPoker, given that there are far fewer STTs running on iPoker, and many of the players are the same from table to table,

[hi_am_chris]

I play mainly on stars too (just started playing on FT tho), admittedly i only play mainly five and ten dollar sit n gos but i find  i usually do better early on limping with suited connectors and small pairs in position. I guess it means that instead of having 1400 chips i prob will have have around 1250 when i dont hit many flops but when it comes off im going to have 3k plus which can be a huge advantage in the standard sngs. Not a big fan of raising small pairs in position early on as i want people in the pot when i have a small pair (obviously). I normally play the standard length sit n gos and i think there is quite a difference. Turbos i play the way you stated. Maybe its because i play such low stakes but i think as long as you can lay top pair down with your 89 suited on a 9 high board in unraised pots i think there can be alot of easy chips to pick up early on but your looking to flop big. How do you guys play 99, TT and JJ early on in a sit n go? ive gone through phases of playing them differently, not a  huge fan of laying JJ down as usually you are ahead but most of the time your flipping and a key to regular cashing is avoiding flips.

[noble1]

hi_am_chris while playing tight early is a viable strategy in a higher limit SNG, it is simply a mistake in the lowest limit SNGs, where there are usually a few players just dying to lose their money early.  Get first crack at these players" money.  Play a wide range of hands in late position, hoping to hit a monster.  You have huge implied odds when the blinds are small, and opponents who are all too willing to call off their stack with top pair!  Play hands in position, cheap, hit a monster, and bet HARD hoping for a call.  You"ll get it more often than not.
99, TT and JJ these are ok to play early on in a sng but you must raise them to 1. limit the number of callers and 2. you get info on callers and re-raisers possible hand ranges
example - JJ utg+1 you raise the button re-raises a reasonble range to put them on would be 10-10+ or AQ+. if the button only calls you can put them on a range like 22-99 or KJ-AJ. but if you were to only limp and the button raised, the range is huge something like KJ+, any ace, or any pair.
Essentially by raising, and watching their action, you have defined their hand, giving you a better read.  It"s hard enough to play this hand out of position WITHOUT having to guess your opponents holding.

[bigredders]

Stay out of the way early on while blinds are low, unless you have absolute premium hands.  Preserve chips until nicking the blinds makes a material difference to your stack. Be prepared to fold decent starting hands.... and even be prepared to fold even though you sometimes think you might be ahead.

Unlike MTTs, there are only two gears to use - tight tight tight, then loosen up but play shove/fold.

Play more than one at a time - it helps to relieve the boredom of playing so tight early on (stagger the start times though so you don"t end up playing headsup in too many at a time)
spot on.... what i tend to do is be tight until it gets about 6 handed then obviously your range of hands becomes wider... i try and do this before it becomes essential to play push-fold poker...but remember... its ALWAYS better to have your chips in rather than calling all-ins

This might not work for all, and is not really classic poker.... but it works well for me, and keeps my profits moving up.

[TheBu11d0g]

Read all you can about position play and dont play speculative hands in early positions as they will be too many behind still to act and you will lose more chips than you will win them.

Stick to good solid ABC poker in the early stages and then be prepared to change up a gear or two when the blinds get bigger and become worthwhile when trying to steal.

Also try and get hold of an ICM programme and learn what cards to push/fold with as this will also help when you are deep in an SNG.