Need some help with Party $10+$1 SNG's

[Chu]

Hello all. I really don't know what type of poker player I am. I do ok at the smaller limits for limit hold 'em (up to $5/$10 or so), and I've made at least $3000 on $2-$5 buyin multi tables over at paradise by playing 3 or 4 times a week since December or so. Anyways, I decided to take a go at the Party Poker $10+$1 SNG's. Here are my results for my first 36 tourneys. Time is time in minutes 'till I busted out, Pay is $/Hr.

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~milutino/poker/startingstats.jpg

I'm in the money 44% of the time as of now, and have an roi of 30%. Obviously my game could use some work. Specifically the blind structure is driving me crazy. In the big tourneys I alterante between rock, maniac, and rock as the phases progress. This doesn't really seem to be working for the $10 sng's because before level 4, I maybe see the flop 3 or 4 times. Then we go into coinflip mode. What really bothers me too is that usually there is a huge stack at 4K during 100/200 or 200/400, and they spread their stack around making the coinflip sistuation even worse.

Anyways, because of the sheet number of maniacs, I think playing rock is really my only choice, except I deviate just a little and will put someone all in preflop with QQ if they small raise. I don't know if this is a winning strategy or not yet. The real question for me is - at some point it seems like you have to go from playing rock from playing mainac, because the standard big bet of 2x or 3x BB is about 70-80% of your stack when the blinds get to 100/200 and above. Is this true? If it is, at what point should you make the transition? I generally make the switchup when I get to ~20 hands left if I check & fold, but with all those 5-6's in there I know I must be doing something wrong.

-Chu

[dethgrind]

I bet you'd be a lot more comfortable playing at a site with a different structure than party. People on this forum seem to like poker stars. I personally play the 10+1 at pokerroom. Both start you with more chips and the blinds go up more slowly, which is good for the rock/maniac/rock style. I've played that way for about 50 SNGs (also just getting started) with great success.

[sapster]

Can you elaborate a little on the rock/maniac/rock style and at what levels and number of people you make these changes?

[Jsb]

first of all an ROI of 30% is actually pretty good, so you really can't complain too much.
also, check out the guide to beating 10+1's on party (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=singletable&page=0&view=co llapsed&sb=5&o=14)
and yeah, can you elaborate on your alternating between rock/maniac/rock, cause reading that at face value you seem to be saying you play like a rock on the late stages, which is definitely not a good thing to do. when it gets down to three, you want to be very agressive, or if you have a chip lead on the bubble you want to be pretty agressive too, take advantage of everyone elses tightness in the higher blinds.

[Chu]

[ QUOTE ]
Can you elaborate a little on the rock/maniac/rock style and at what levels and number of people you make these changes?

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah, ok, I think I might be using slighly different definitions of these then most people. For the first stage, rock generally means I will only play the very best hands - and am generally in the 'let others bust themselves out' and 'collect information for stage II' phase. The problem is I find this stage incredbily boring in most cases and generally do something else at the same time (coding in this case).

Maniac means that I play hands based almost solely on how likely I think it is I can get someone to fold to agression. I will put pressure on someone with any suited connector, Ax, any pair, face suited connectors, and AT/KT, and sometimes even worse, if I think I can get them to fold. I call this 'maniac' phase because I could probably cover my cards with a sheet of paper and not alter my playing style much. I do *VERY* well with this in the bigger multi table events, but in these 1 table sng's it seems that I really need to tighten up a little bit here because people's calling standards seem to be much worse. I generally switch into this mode when (1) we're at 100/200 or 200/400, depending on how tight the players left are, or (2) we're at 5 people at at least 50/100.

As for rock II, well, in the big multi tables I switch here right after I'm in the money because the damn bursts, and for a while people are absolutly nuts. Don't know if this is the same at higher limit tourneys, but the one time I played Pearl on Paradise ($150 buyin) I noticed the dam burst effect as well. As for switching back into rock in sng's, well, after thinking about it some more I really don't. The blinds are just too high . . .

[slogger]

What's up Chu? I think you've put your finger on what can be very frustrating aspect of Party SnGs (particularly the 30+3s and lower) - the crapshoot factor because the small starting stack and fast structure.

However, I think there may be one problem with your strategy, and that's the idea that you should be rock for the first 3-4 levels every time. I think that you'll end up playing for a lot of 2nds and 3rds this way, which will prevent you from being a big winner over the long haul.

This is exactly how I used to play these and I am a very tight player in almost all cash games. Now, I have found that there is often cause for slightly looser play early on. It all depends on your read of the table, so it's critical that you pay close attention to your opponents right off the bat.

For instance, if it's a limpfest for the first 6 hands, you should trying to see flops from MP w/ suited connectors and Aces. From LP, play medium connectors and even some one-gappers. Be willing to sacrifice some chips (not huge chunks, but more than just 15-30 chips) for a chance at busting someone early. If most pots are raised first in and most people are folding to those raises, then throw in a few raises of your own when you get the chance to open a pot. If the play is maniacal, then of course, sit back and enjoy the show until it's your turn to be doubled up.

The point is, there is no one strategy that will maximize your winnings (assuming you play only one table at a time - AleoMagus has a pretty good system/strategy to play solid and reduce variance if you insist on multi-tabling). You must adjust to your particular opponents. If you're able to do this, you will turn a lot of those 5ths/6ths into 2nds and 3rds and a lot of those 4ths and 3rds into 1sts. Putting together a big stack early (and I don't mean by recklessly spewing chips at every opportunity) can pay off in spades once the field is whittled down to 5 players, or so.

[slogger]

You're drawing way too many parallels between how you play a multi and how a SNG should be played. The answer to the Party low stack/fast blinds problem is gather chips early on. In fact, the way I would describe what works for "most" low-buy-in Party SNGs is medium-loose early/ tight-aggressive middle/hyper-aggressive on bubble/ play your stack size in the money.

The middle stages must be played a little tighter if you were not able to accumulate chips early.

But again, none of this can be a simple blueprint for success. You must play to opponents weaknesses, whether they be over-aggressive, super-loose, or rock-tight.