Is it all just coin flips?

[Taraz]

Just curious . . .

For a good SNGer do you think it is necessary to win at least one 'coin flip' (or worse) with all his chips on the line in order to finish in the money at any level below the $109s? It seems like that's the difference in a lot of my tourneys. There was a pocket pair against overcards and if I won I finished ITM.

[SammyKid11]

Absolutely not. There are lots of tourneys where you DO need to win a coin flip, but there are many tourneys where you've doubled up, and then push at very specific times...and that's enough to get you ITM. If you haven't encountered these types of tourneys, then you might check your strategy (not to sound cocky, cause I'm not great...but non-coin flip ITM finishes do happen for good players -- really good players have more of them than I do).

[kasey2004]

no there will be a lot of times u will have coin flips but definitly not every tourney. i had a SnG earlier tonight ($22) that i won one huge 3 way pot with AA then didnt show down another hand til heads up just stole a lot of pots to get chips and folded alot ya know.

/images/graemlins/spade.gif Kasey /images/graemlins/spade.gif

[pergesu]

I've noticed that I've been in coinflips less often recently. I think I've been able to identify when I'm in a likely coinflip situation, and stay away from it. This is in regards to calling more than raising, cause if I push and someone takes a coinflip, so be it. But I know that I'm very, very rarely calling myself into a coinflip, and I've just noticed in general that I haven't been in as many. I also think I'm playing a lot better right now than I was even just a couple weeks ago...there's just so much here to learn, I think I can make pretty big strides in relatively short periods of time.

[sahala]

I did once fall asleep while playing a 10+1 on my laptop in bed, woke up at 8am and noticed I had placed 3rd. I think I had about 850 chips at level 2 when I fell asleep.

I try to keep my stack greater than 12 BB and in top 3 to avoid coinflip situations. Otherwise, it's standard push strategy.

[raptor517]

if u take advantage of +ev situations where you can accumulate chips by blind stealing, you dont need to worry about coinflips because u are +ev when you push. a lot of times u will get in 60/40s, and if yer running bad, that can be very not good for the self esteem.

yes, ive won plenty of sngs without winning an actual COINFLIP, but at least when u get 3 handed u have to win some showdowns. period. you can say you can steal yer way and outplay people till u have a huge stack, but the fact of hte matter is you WILL see a showdown, and u might not always be and overpair, and might have to race for yer chips. holla

Here's a good example of someone willing to race... or so they think /images/graemlins/grin.gif

(sorry can't get converter to work correctly)

NL Texas Hold'em $20 Buy-in + $2 Entry Fee
Level:4 Blinds(50/100) - Saturday, July 16, 05:32:14 EDT 2005
Table Table 14252 (Real Money)
Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 4: poop4sale ( $1785 )
Seat 3: Hero ( $1205 )
Seat 6: RuntheHouse ( $1050 )
Seat 7: nateyounk ( $2400 )
Seat 1: feeldeznutz ( $1560 )
Trny:13978135 Level:4
Blinds(50/100)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ Ad As ]
poop4sale folds.
RuntheHouse folds.
nateyounk raises [200].
feeldeznutz folds.
>You have options at Table 13971 Table!.
Hero is all-In [1105]
nateyounk calls [1005].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8s, 3d, 5c ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5h ]
** Dealing River ** [ Jd ]
nateyounk shows [ 2s, 2d ] two pairs, fives and twos.
Hero shows [ Ad, As ] two pairs, aces and fives.
Hero wins 2460 chips from the main pot with two pairs, aces and fives.
Game #2372139108 starts.


Villian insta-called with his 2's, no hesitation whatsoever. I had just re-raised him the previous orbit when he raised my blinds and I showed J6o when he folded, so I figured he had a decent hand this time and would call my all in thinking I was protecting again. He was a terrible lag, but even I was surprised at this call. At best he's a coinflip, and yet he's willing to risk a significant chunk of his stack to race. He busted out 4th I might add... which made me even happier. Perhaps it can be argued that if he was a coinflip this could be seen as a good call, since winning here puts him in a position to completely run over everyone on the bubble. After losing he still has over 10bb so he's not desperate. But I still don't see myself calling with 2's in this situation, ever.

The simple fact is that a lot of people in the lower limit sng's are plenty happy to put all their money in when they know they are at best a coinflip. I don't know if this is true at the 55's and up because I've only played a few of these, but I can only assume that it's less common as it seems a good player will want to avoid coin-flip situations as much as possible.

I'll stop rambling now, it's 5am and way past when I should have gone to bed but I was on a huge heater tonight with 7 itm finishes in a row so I couldn't stop /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[kasey2004]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm very, very rarely calling myself into a coinflip

[/ QUOTE ]

Im have fixed this leak pretty well lately im my game too. obviously if u push and get CALLED different situation.

/images/graemlins/spade.gif Kasey /images/graemlins/spade.gif