This is a concept i learned when i first started playing poker on the $5 sngs at PokerStars in 2005. It struck me while playing the other day that this simple concept is still the most basic, tried and true method of winning at sngs and mtts.
My Bankroll has been steadily increasing and i believe that its possible for me to have my best month of my poker career to date if things continue at this pace. I've been following the "Tight is Right" strategy. Which is basically playing extremely Tight early, only playing premium hands. So simple really. Its amazing how far we stray from this strategy when it consistantly brings home the bacon. Using this strategy I've been able to regularly get deep in the 90 man KO Sngs on Fulltilt and have had some success with it in the low buy-in MTTs.
Poker is easy! It really is. We like to focus on our opponents, trying to out play them or counter what they are doing. But for the most part our opponents are irrelavant. First we need to conquer ourselves. Most of the time i bust out of a tourny its because of a bad play i've made... I can think of numerous examples but i won't bore you. What it comes down to is making the right decisions over and over again.
If you only play premium hands you increase your chance of winning exponentially.
"But i won't get action" - You'd be supprise at how few opponents at the micro $0-$20pay attention to what you're doing. sure if you raise your AA in EP you might not get any action but you will still see more action vs weaker hands than you probably should.
"I will be easily Exploitable" - Again this assumes that opponents are paying attention and if they are, are capable of exploiting what they observe. From my experience this is very rarely the case.
"The loose aggressive gets more action" - True, but it is a much more demanding style of play and its very easy to play it badly.
Try it next time you play;
Don't limp... ever.
Play only premium hands..... for a raise.
Mind the gap - EP raise and you have AT/AJ... fold.
Never slow play one pair hands.... eg AA, KK
Play extremely tight out of position - you're in bb/sb vs a min raise with K5s... fold.
Remember you cannot win a tournament in one hand but you can surely lose it. TIGHT IS RIGHT!
gl
Island Grinder
Showing posts with label sit n go strategy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sit n go strategy. Show all posts
Monday, January 12, 2009
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Micro Stakes Sng Starting Hand Guide
One of the most important decisions you will make when playing micro stakes sngs, or any poker game for that matter, is which hands to play. Not thinking about the implication of playing certain hands can cost you dearly. You make your hand on the flop only to realize too late that its second best after you've lost your stack.
As a micro stake sng player you should always try to play the best hands posible. It is simply not profitable or necessary to attempt to mix it up. Especially in the early stages of a tournament.
NOTE: If you watch alot of Tv poker then remember that it is a show based on ratings, therefore it is edited to be exciting. Most of poker is very boring and would simply not make good television.
So what hands should we be playing?
22-AA, AK, AQ, AJ, ATs, (KQs, KJs, QJs ... carefully)
There are of course alot more playable hands, but playing just these few hands will already give us an edge against most micro stakes sngs players.
So we have an idea of what hands we should be playing. But how and when we play these hands is also very important. Play some of these hands in the wrong situation and it will still be a losing preposition even though we've identified it as one of our playable hands.
So when playing these hands we should consider the following;
The value of our hand can go up or down depending on these three factors. I will address these factors and the impact on our starting hands in "Micro Stakes Pre-flop Strategy" post later this week.
For now make note of what hands are not included in the playable hands lists; namely Suited Connectors and Ace 'x' type hands, suited or not. While these hands are playable, if you're a new poker player or you're struggling to beat micro stakes sngs i'd suggest you stick to hands above.
gl
ISGrinder.
As a micro stake sng player you should always try to play the best hands posible. It is simply not profitable or necessary to attempt to mix it up. Especially in the early stages of a tournament.
NOTE: If you watch alot of Tv poker then remember that it is a show based on ratings, therefore it is edited to be exciting. Most of poker is very boring and would simply not make good television.
So what hands should we be playing?
22-AA, AK, AQ, AJ, ATs, (KQs, KJs, QJs ... carefully)
There are of course alot more playable hands, but playing just these few hands will already give us an edge against most micro stakes sngs players.
So we have an idea of what hands we should be playing. But how and when we play these hands is also very important. Play some of these hands in the wrong situation and it will still be a losing preposition even though we've identified it as one of our playable hands.
So when playing these hands we should consider the following;
- Our Position
- Stack Size
- Stage of the tournament
The value of our hand can go up or down depending on these three factors. I will address these factors and the impact on our starting hands in "Micro Stakes Pre-flop Strategy" post later this week.
For now make note of what hands are not included in the playable hands lists; namely Suited Connectors and Ace 'x' type hands, suited or not. While these hands are playable, if you're a new poker player or you're struggling to beat micro stakes sngs i'd suggest you stick to hands above.
gl
ISGrinder.
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