Hold Em 5+1 SnG's compared to NL Hold Em

[hotsauce615]

Hi, I'm still a newbie to poker, and have only been playing for 3 months. Through whoring and .50/1.00 play have gotten my roll to like 700ish starting with 90. Anyway I play a lot of 5+1 sngs now, and have been doing well. I only play Hold Em though, because I feel like my reading and play time on limit tables have better prepared me. I also feel like you catch the occasional fish in there who thinks it's the same as NL. I'm doing ok, but I want to make the jump to NL because it seems like most of the profitable players do that. What reading would you recccomend for NL play at those tables, as well as any other advice is appreciated. Thanks

[runner4life7]

First, dont play the 5+1s too much rake, then read some of the guides in this forum and post hands you arent sure about.

[Slim Pickens]

I see no problem with staying at the 5+1's while learning the nuances of NL. Why waste more money learning when you probably a losing player? Limit tournaments are a great way to learn opportunistic stealing since it's even harder to do it in limit than NL, so you're getting good experience in a format with which you're probably comfortable. NL is more profitable in terms of $/hr, and the games are easiest to find and multitable, so that's why most people stick to those. Don't get too caught up in the "robotic" play thread going around. It's a great academic excercise for more advanced players but it's not reccomended you actually play that way if you want to become a good player.

[Oluwafemi]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi, I'm still a newbie to poker, and have only been playing for 3 months. Through whoring and .50/1.00 play have gotten my roll to like 700ish starting with 90. Anyway I play a lot of 5+1 sngs now, and have been doing well. I only play Hold Em though, because I feel like my reading and play time on limit tables have better prepared me. I also feel like you catch the occasional fish in there who thinks it's the same as NL. I'm doing ok, but I want to make the jump to NL because it seems like most of the profitable players do that. What reading would you recccomend for NL play at those tables, as well as any other advice is appreciated. Thanks

[/ QUOTE ]

before even reading a book, switch over to Pokerstars and play the $5.50s with a bigger starting stack. Party's structure does'nt allow for much creativity preflop, no matter what anyone on this board tells you. NL postflop ability either comes from a higher starting stack [in SNGs] or ring games. also, i have'nt read any good books on NL play that would apply to SNG startegy [Getting Started In Holdem, which i thought was gonna be good, was awful]. i read the Mid-, High-Stakes Pot-Limit & No Limit forum for strategy more than i do this one. there are two high level SNG players that post in this forum [that i know of] that play high stakes NL ring. they both know the value of postflop play.

books: i'm waiting for David Sklansky's NL book to come out. not sure why Ed Miller is even involved, David's brilliant poker mind does'nt need any distractions. either that, or Bob Ciafonne's long awaited NL book.*

[hotsauce615]

Typically I tend to see a lot of flops early on because of how cheap it is to see em, and attempt to make some money right away and then weather the storm a bit and wait for premium hands, and then act on them. I really hate when a fish gets big off of extreme luck and then starts pumping chips into everyone else around me when I'm being delt junk. Just a gripe

[Slim Pickens]

You're going to have to reverse this strategy for NL. At least at first, you won't know how to extract enough from your early junk hands that hit to make up for the chips you lose seeing lots of flops. I made the limit ring ---> limit SNG ---> NL SNG transition and I made a lot of bad NL mistakes early on because of it. Don't minraise medium-strong starting hands for value. Big difference there. People can punish you big-time in NL for that. Later on, you can start pushing crap because overbetting the pot keeps your opponents from calling with all but the strongest hands.