Need help with a hole

[Geng]

Slowly but surely the rake for SNG's is starting to eat into my bankroll. I'm $9 up against my entry fees but down $300 in rake for the tournies. Not very good and I've been on a down swing the last few weeks. I'm mostly playing 5 person, 30+3, 10 person 30+3, and 20 person 8+.8 all no limit. Occasionally if I've had a really bad streak I'll step down to a $5+.5 to relax.

Couple things I've noticed about my play:

1. If I limp in with a pocket pair and hit my set but there are 2 to a suit or it looks threatening for a straight I bet out enough 1.5 the pot to keep flushes and others from having pot odds. Same thing if I hit the nut straight on the flop. Most of the time this means I end up with the pre-flop bets and thats it. Example: Last night in UTG+1 I had pocket 7's where I called the BB. 5 others stayed and the flop was 7QT with 2 hearts. Pot was $210 so I bet out $250 and everyone folded to me. Next hand in what ended up a similar situation, the Set bet out about $50 and ended up taking over $1000 in the pot.

2. I fold a lot of blinds. If I haven't doubled up by the time blinds are at 50/100 I'm short stacked and figure I have to go all in and don't want to risk it with marginal hands. I've been reading and have been taking more notes to track this so I can do better.

Any thoughts on how to fix the first problem? Should I back off and make smaller bets and try for the bigger pots or be happy taking the hands that I'm winning to all the folds? In a little over 2 months I've played 114 Sit-and-go's. Only 16 1st, 18 2nd, and 26 3rd (which is my entry fee back most of the time - rake).

Thanks,
Geng

[pukenpete]

1. If you're trying to squeeze out more chips with a flopped set or straight, you might want to check raise all-in. Slow playing a set in no limit can get you in trouble if the draws hit. But don't stress if your monsters don't get paid off all the time.

2. All-in or fold isn't a bad strategy when you're short-stacked. The problem with folding all the time is that your opponents are apt to pick up on this and may realize they can steal your blind every time. Usually an all-in reraise slows them down a bit... but that of course depends on your opponent. Pay attention to the kinds of hands they're pushing you with when the BB or SB calls and make sure they aren't bullying you.

What are your 4th place stats? If you have a lot of those, it might indicate that you're too tight. (Though several of the top SnG players here tend to finish 1st or 4th b/c of their aggression.) The higher number of 3rd place finishes might indicate passive play. I've focused in on trying to be more aggressive lately and have a lot more 1st places b/c of it. Good luck.

[Geng]

13 4th
12 5th
1 6th
7 7th
3 8th
2 9th
2 10th (both this week as I was way too agressive early with JJ preflop and AQ after hitting the A on the flop)

I agree that I think I'm too passive. In my wins I've doubled mid-game and won a few hands that have shown down with premium holds so people think all I play is the nuts so I feel comfortable stealing. On the 3rds, 4th's, and 5ths, I'll try a few blind steals mid-game and if caught I think I back too far off especially if I'm getting garbage.

I wish PokerOffice or PokerTracker worked with Pacific so I could get hand histories. I currently have a spreadsheet setup where I track what I feel are the critical hands each tourney so I can go back and look at what I did right and what I did wrong.

When it gets to 3 or 4 peopl left, I've tried to step back and watch myself and know I'm folding too many blinds because I'll always get called or raised preflop when I'm on the BB but unless I have something decent I fold it. I have a hard time telling myself that Q2o or T6 can steal a blind just as well as AA if its folded around.

[Geng]

I forced myself to take more blinds and not always fold to a raise when I was on the blind tonight and won a heads-up and a 10 person $30.

Showed some good hands early to build a rep as only playing solid cards which allowed me to take a better than average number of blinds. Had my pocket J's get beat 3 times by small stacks.

Key hand: 3 people left with blinds at 150/300. Me on the button with T3354, SB with T4230, BB with T2416. Dealt KK, raise to T600, SB raises to T2000. BB folded. SB had been raising all-in whenever I raised the blinds so I figured he was trying to steal it. I re-raised all-in and he called. Board showed 67793 and I won it with K's and 7's vs his K8 suited. That put me at T7008 vs T2116. I stole a blind then finished the tourney by raising the BB all in when I had Q9. Board paired my Queen to take it.