sng with fish 'problem'

[tskill]

I've been reading these forums for about a month now and and it has been helping me a lot, but now I finally found something that bugs me enough to post.

Lately I've been playing 5+.50 and 10+1 SNG's on pacific poker, which seems to be full of fish. I know fish usually pay you off, and they have been so I have no complaint there, but I was wondering if I should broaden my range of hands to limp/raise with in any position, simply because I know they will call with worse hands.

For example, if I get AJo in EP and raise with 1 or 2 callers, I can still feel confident with my jack kicker if an ace comes, simply because I know many of the people will play any two face cards, and pretty much Ax, sometimes even any two suited. This usually seems to work in my favor because I'll be winning these pots the majority of the time. However, should I be looking at it a different way? Every once in a while (not all that often) they will have the king or queen kicker, so I'm wondering if i should stick to TAG play even though I know some of the hands im folding are probably going to be called by worse hands, or start raising with hands like AJo, KQ, even in EP?

Thanks in advance for the help

[rjb03]

Look in the FAQ. There is a section with a strategy guide to beat the $10+$1. It will apply to the $5+$.50 as they play about the same.

[tskill]

doh, I must not have looked through the FAQ carefully enough, sorry about the post

[codewarrior]

Do not lower your starting requirements to their level, unless you can lay a hand down if you think you are beaten, or can outplay them post flop.

[rybones]

Actually, I do think your question does go beyond the faq. The faq offers a consistant strategy that works well and is great. However, most agree that it is a starting point for learning how to play sngs. When it begins to work well for someone and they get more comfortable, they will naturally begin to vary their play.

That said, I am mostly uncomfortable with A,J in EP for a raise. But, as with most things in life this depends. There may in fact be some situations where this is an ok play. Alternatively, I am fine with a 3xbb raise from the button provided no one else has raised and there is only one limper in front of me (ok, maybe two if I feel I have a read on the limpers). However, you must have the self discipline to lay the hand down.

As codewarrior said "Do not lower your starting requirements to their level, unless you can lay a hand down if you think you are beaten, or can outplay them post flop." Pay close attention to the last two phrases. I actually think we know when we are beaten -- like not even any realistic outs -- and we still tend to call. Likewise, it is easy to say "I can out play this guy on the flop." This warning however, is just that: a warning. There will be times when you should call, your ability should improve to where you know you should fold and you do, and you should look for times when you know you can out play someone and then you should go for it.

as always, just my thoughts and any comments welcome.

Ryan

[tskill]

I appreciate your thoughts a lot, and I have something more to add.

After a while of playing, I noticed that the majority of the players can be pushed around pretty easily, and did not do a good job of noticing anything about me. For example, even if I check from the BB to see the flop, I can make a pot sized bet from any position (if theres no bet in front of me) and steal the pot the majority of the time with absolute garbage, sometimes this would backfire, but not once have I seen a player there that was smart enough to start reraising me when I did this (unless they had a premium hand). Even then, I'd do the same thing when I did have a good hand and would get called by much worse hands. Does this make me a LAG player or is this just adapting to my opponents?

By the way I feel I can lay down hands when I know im beat, but doing this still sometimes this can drain my chips if someone happens to hit top pair a few times (I usually only try it if theres 4 ppl max in the hand, but overall im pretty sure I've won much more chips than I've lost so far doing this)

Comments are much appreciated