Do you actually play tight/aggressive in SNGs? Am I too passive?

[kamrann]

I'm talking about early/middle stages of PartyPoker SNGs. I'm playing mostly the $55's. I was predominantly an MTT player before I started playing mostly SNGs recently. I certainly play tight in the early stages, very tight. However I feel I have become very passive in my postflop play, and also to some extent preflop when the blinds are still low and my hand is not absolutely premium. I do a fair bit of check-calling when I feel I'm ahead. The reason I've fallen into this pattern is that the players at this level are still predominantly very poor and if they've shown they have caught a bit of something you can be fairly certain they're going to call you down if you play aggressively. And since chips are scarce in Party SNGs, I tend to be cautious, preferring to keep pots small even though I'm allowing opponents to outdraw me cheaply, rather than get my chips in early, get outdrawn and be out or crippled.

Anyway, I'm doing fine so far as it is (just over 20% ROI although I've only logged 250 and can see from the huge difference between results of first hundred and second hundred that I have nowhere near enough data to draw any conclusions) but I have noticed that I am without doubt playing more passively than I used to, and wondered what peoples thoughts were on whether this is a good idea in Paryt SNGs, or if it's as bad a habit as it is is ring games and I should stamp it out immediately.

All comments appreciated.

[callmedonnie]

I try to do just the opposite. I think of myself as a somewhat tight player, but every now and then I catch myself getting passive at the SnG's too. I do the check call play usually when I'm on a draw. I know it sounds obvious, but often when people bet w/ top pair in these situations they still give me my odds. I think it is wise to tighten up in early rounds. The blinds are so small there is little reason to play, and sometimes you can get sucked into a pot where you lose chips unnecessarily. Do you have poker tracker? If so, check your Aggression Factor and make sure' you're not becoming passive.

[kamrann]

I know I have become more passive. My question is: is this a defensible/good strategy for Party SNGs. And as I said I do play very tight, and I will not check-call on draws other than maybe a minimum bet. I'm talking about situations where I think I'm ahead but don't want to get too many chips in.

[Pepsquad]

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My question is: is this a defensible/good strategy for Party SNGs. I'm talking about situations where I think I'm ahead but don't want to get too many chips in.

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Nope. It's not defensible. This is in complete contradiction to the Theory of Poker.

[kamrann]

If you're talking about Sklansky's Fundamental Theorem of Poker, I don't see how that's relevant. There are more factors in tournament hands than simply chip EV. And there are often cases where even if you knew your opponents hand, and you were ahead, and you knew he would call, it's still not correct to push all-in.

[TheCat]

You never, never, never want to give someone a free card when you're ahead and can be outdrawn. For example you hold A /images/graemlins/spade.gifA /images/graemlins/club.gif, make a 4xBB raise pre-flop and get one caller. Flop comes 2 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif7 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif9 /images/graemlins/heart.gif, you must make about a pot sized bet here otherwise you give them odds to draw a flush or straight. Many will call anyway but you, as Slansky says, have the best of it.

The only time you want to give a cheap card when you are ahead is when you are slow playing a monster or when you plan to make a big bet after the turn card if a blank hits.

[Pepsquad]

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And there are often cases where even if you knew your opponents hand, and you were ahead, and you knew he would call, it's still not correct to push all-in.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah? When? I hear what you're saying but let's be honest, those times are few and far between and this certainly isn't one of them.