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View Full Version : What I learned this month. I'm not Gigabet.


08-17-2005, 04:03 PM
I'M NOT GIGABET.

So I've been playing SNGs for the last few months and crushing the lower level games. I have over 500 sngs in the 10s, 20s & 30s and winning stats thorughout them. I was killing the games by playing an uber-tight ABC poker, just get me in the money strategy. In other words, I wouldn't bluff or try to steal blinds unless I had a big stack. And I wouldn't go into push mode until I was down to about 5BB. Now I'm not saything that this is a good strategy but I had ITM in the mid 40s and ROI in the high 20s for all three levels. This even considering that I had some downswings of over 20-30 buy-ins in all the levels. So I wasn't just running hot. And then...

I kept trolling the sight and reading Gigabet posts. And decided that I playing way too weak/tight. So I started opening up my game (playing marginal hands with position) and abusing the table with a big stack on the bubble. Pretty typical 2+2 tactics. And I watched my stats drop through the ground, and keep going down and down.

My thinking would go something like this. I'm the big stack, so I'm going to try and steal the blinds. But then the BB comes back over the top of me. In my head I'd say, "This is probably a 40/60 and I'm going to re-raise this re-raise...cause these are the calls that win tournaments" and then I'd lose the hand. And continue to raise like a maniac until I was knocked out a few hands later. Then I assumed everyone was playing like me and started calling everyone down with junk.

Everything changed after I reread a Gigabet post where he says that he pushed on a hand because if he simply bet, then someone would come over the top of him for all his chips. And then I had an epiphany, I'm not Gigabet, the people I play against don't play like Giagbet or his opponents. Nope I play low limit SNGs with opponents who shoot themselves in the foot if you just give them a chance. I slept well that night.

Since then my numbers have jumped back up through the roof and I've kept reading the Gigabet posts, so I'll be ready for him when I move up to that level. I'm coming for ya.

45suited
08-17-2005, 04:09 PM
Gigabet is obviously an incredible player, but if you're playing the lower limits, I think that any low level player's ROI would increase dramatically if they searched the archives and read everything that Curtains and Lorinda have ever written.

(Not that players at all levels couldn't learn from them either, obviously.)

1C5
08-17-2005, 04:10 PM
bluffing does not work vs shitty players.

straightforward poker is what you have to play more the most part.

Stormwolf
08-17-2005, 04:55 PM
you should only use that strategy limits where people actually fold, today for example I was playing a 50 I went all in for 1K UTG the SB called for 600 then the BB types 'well, I have K-7' and keept thinking, you wont be able to bluff people who have no idea of hand strenght

raptor517
08-17-2005, 07:37 PM
gigabet doesnt play 33 dollar buyin sngs. his strategies are not effective there. they are used against knowledgeable opponents. the reason he is good is because he attacks all of the people that play the same tight early shove bot late, and exploits it. this is not the way to go in the 33s and below. if yer methods got you mid 45% itm and high 20% rois, by all means, dont change a thing. holla

Back In Black
08-17-2005, 07:47 PM
I just posted a thread about how I'm on a 200 Sng breakeven streak. I think I may have the problem that you had. I have been trying to decide if I'm out-thinking myself lately and doing many of the plays that you describe after reading many of the high level posts here. I think the timing of your post could not be any better for me. Thanks.

Iamafish
08-17-2005, 07:47 PM
That same BS happened to me also, I'm having trouble moving up becuase of it and it still continues.

After about half a year of playing poker, I started to read the high stakes limit and NL posts. The other ones just bored the hell out of me. Same with the SnG posts. My game developed into being pretty tricky and unpredictable which is great, but one wrong move and Im OOTM....agian, sigh.

yid3655
08-17-2005, 07:56 PM
Totally agree with what Raptor says here and nothing more to add

TheNoodleMan
08-17-2005, 09:47 PM
I think this is a natural step in the evolution of most players. Most winners start out loser, tighten up and become a winner, then start chasing small edges and take a step back. The important thing is realize where you stepped over the line, and find the harmony located just before it.
I'm not gigabet either, but I'm still pleased with my (and my bankroll's) growth. With a game as dynamic and organic as poker, you are doing yourself a diservice by measuring your game strictly against another player's game, even if it is a player as good as Giga.

johnnybeef
08-17-2005, 10:19 PM
[ QUOTE ]
gigabet doesnt play 33 dollar buyin sngs. his strategies are not effective there. they are used against knowledgeable opponents. the reason he is good is because he attacks all of the people that play the same tight early shove bot late, and exploits it. this is not the way to go in the 33s and below. if yer methods got you mid 45% itm and high 20% rois, by all means, dont change a thing. holla

[/ QUOTE ]

I love ABC players

MegaBet
08-17-2005, 10:36 PM
So the moral of the story is "play properly and let the idiots make the mistakes". Now why didn't I think of that?? /images/graemlins/confused.gif

lastchance
08-17-2005, 10:39 PM
ABC wins the $33's, and it winz 4-tabling. Don't ever play that way against good thinking players though.

Good post.

raptor517
08-18-2005, 12:02 AM
[ QUOTE ]
ABC wins the $33's, and it winz 4-tabling. Don't ever play that way against good thinking players though.

Good post.

[/ QUOTE ]

can still be very profitable against good players.. just not as much as it can be by mixing it up a bit. holla