Big chip lead after first hand. Then what?

[nips]

My basic question is a very basic one -- how to play at small stakes sit&go tournaments when you get a very large chip lead. Details follow...

I won a huge pot and had 4/10 of the buyins on the very first hand of a 10 person tourney ( I had the nut full house and I don't know why 4 people are stupid enough to call all in, but that's for another post...). My strategy was to play *very* tight and only come in when I really had something. Coincidentally enough, I was being dealt very poor hands, so I sat around for the next 20-30 minutes and 4-5 blind levels until the big blind was 200 (1500 starting stacks) and my stack was about 5500. It was still by far the largest stack (x2). Then I started to loosen up a bit (still pretty tight, but now trying to buy blinds now and then). Nobody would fold to me even when they had bad hands. I lost a couple of medium pots, two players doubled up on other players, and suddenly I was no longer the big stack with 4-5 players remaining. I ended up in 4th and out of the money.

[wiggs73]

I wouldn't really change too much except for I'd be even more of a maniac near the bubble, at least until I took a big hit or 2. Still very tight early though.

[45suited]

Personally, after quadrupling up, I don't see anything wrong with seeing some cheap flops in the first level at least with cards that can make some big hands. Connectors and suited connectors. So it costs you 15 chips, you can afford it at this blind level. If you hit a big hand, you can really accumulate a huge stack. I don't try to bully the table (at the low blind levels) but I'll play hands cheap because of the implied odds and the fact that limping, say 4 times, will cost me 60 chips. Big deal - you just quadrupled up and the rest of the table is probably going to be scared of you anyway.

Just don't double some other guy up with a marginal hand.

[zipppy]

I think I'd still play very tight; I do this not so much to preserve chips but to preserve table image. If I've hardly played any hands and now the blinds are 50/100 or 100/200, it becomes easier to steal. If I've been seing lots of flops (even in just the first level or two), people's impressions of me aren't going to be beneficial when it's stealing time. This obviously depends on how observent your opponents are, however.

[spentrent]

[ QUOTE ]
I think I'd still play very tight; I do this not so much to preserve chips but to preserve table image. If I've hardly played any hands and now the blinds are 50/100 or 100/200, it becomes easier to steal. If I've been seing lots of flops (even in just the first level or two), people's impressions of me aren't going to be beneficial when it's stealing time. This obviously depends on how observent your opponents are, however.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree. OP's got 5500 (!) chips on the bubble! Take a 30 minute nap and then let them remember "tight full house dude" on the bubble.

[45suited]

Only problem is that the starting stacks are 1500 chips, not 800 or 1000. If OP takes a nap to the bubble, his 5500 chips might not even have him in the chip lead anymore.

I'm not saying he should be a maniac, but he can still play some poker. Once the blinds are high and the other 9500 chips are distributed among the remaining 3 guys on the bubble, OP's advantage is nice but not overwhelming.

He should not just go into a shell when he can use his stack to his advantage earlier is all I'm saying.

[zipppy]

[ QUOTE ]
Only problem is that the starting stacks are 1500 chips, not 800 or 1000. If OP takes a nap to the bubble, his 5500 chips might not even have him in the chip lead anymore.


[/ QUOTE ]
Why do you say this? If it's a ten person tourney, I'm assuming it's on Party, where the starting stack size is either 800 or 1000.

[45suited]

The OP said that the starting stacks were 1500 chips

[zipppy]

NVM...I see it in his original post. Regardless, he quadrupled up on his first hand, and having 4x the starting stack size after the first hand is the same whether the starting stack size is 800 or 1500.

[zipppy]

Nips, where are you playing?

[wiggs73]

There are other sites w/ 10 person SNGs... Pokerroom has them, probably others. This is actually an excellent point. I was assuming Party when I made my post. I would be more inclined to see a larger number of flops early if it's with 1500 starting stacks.

[45suited]

But if the blinds go up slower relative to the starting stacks, it seems to me that the longer you wait around, the longer you allow the other stacks to find big hands and get back in it.

If you see cheap flops in the first level after quadrupling up, you can kill some of these other guys off without giving them time to find hands.

All I'm saying is that the big stack can play some poker. The blinds are small and the stacks are large. If he knows how to play poker, having the big stack is a huge advantage.

Think about it, when you face a big stack, would you prefer that he plays passive or aggressive? (Different from what I'm saying, I guess, since I'm just saying "see flops" as opposed to "constantly raise and bully", but you get the idea.)

[zipppy]

Agreed. I assumed the OP was playing on Party, in which playing very tight would be very beneficial. How long are the blind levels, nips?

>>>ZIPPPY

[adanthar]

If I have 3K chips after the first hand of a Party SNG, either my see flop % for the rest of levels 1-3 will be over 30 or all of my cards combined added up to a 6.

[nips]

Thanks for all the replys. Here is the asked for info:
It was a 5+.50 sitNgo at pokerroom.com
The initial stack was 1500
Big blind levels were 20/30/50/100/150/200/300/400/...
Blinds change every 10 hands.

Also, I played roughly the way some of you suggested -- tight and then when I went in (for 3x big blind, say), I expected people to fold w/ medium hands b/c I was being so tight. I guess I should have realized that this table was full of callers, in which case I think a better strategy would be to see many flops for the big blind (agree?).

[Bigwig]

[ QUOTE ]
If I have 3K chips after the first hand of a Party SNG, either my see flop % for the rest of levels 1-3 will be over 30 or all of my cards combined added up to a 6.

[/ QUOTE ]

Heh.

Yeah, I'll be seeing a lot more flops on the early levels with a huge stack. I'm going for the implied odds. That doesn't mean I'm opening a lot more hands, however. Just that I'm trying to see some flops for .5% of my stack and hit something.

Generally, my overall strategy changes very little.

[zipppy]

Is this the way most successful SNGers here play? I'm curious because it isn't how I've been using a large chiplead, so I might need to try being a little more loose when I have the big stack.

[Bigwig]

[ QUOTE ]
Is this the way most successful SNGers here play? I'm curious because it isn't how I've been using a large chiplead, so I might need to try being a little more loose when I have the big stack.

[/ QUOTE ]

Careful now. Adanthar is talking about limping more hands--presumably with position--to try and hit big flops. He's not talking about open raising QJo from UTG at a 7 handed table on level 1, or raising 4 limpers from the button with 94o.