Shorthanded Play in a Sit and Go

[vetman81]

Recently, I have had a bad string of 3rd and 4th place finishes in sit and gos that only pay the top three. I feel I play aggressively enough, especially when I am in the lead. However, I tend to get too attached to hands that I should probably give up once I try to steal with them. Here is my dilemma. If I get caught stealing too many times, it obviously loses its effectiveness, so I tighten up. This eats away at my stack and I don't know what I can do to stop that effect when I am not getting decent starting hands. Also, what can one do when they are not in the lead and also not getting cards? For example, the last SNG I played in when it was down to three, first place had a large lead (~6K) and second and I both had around 2K. Chip leader raised every time, as he should do, but I just wasnt getting any decent cards. When I did, I couldnt hit a flop to save my life. My all ins worked for a while, but then I got busted with 88 by A9 and ended up 3rd. I would appreciate any thoughts/suggestions/etc. on what I can do in these situations. Thanks.

[eastbay]

[ QUOTE ]
Recently, I have had a bad string of 3rd and 4th place finishes in sit and gos that only pay the top three. I feel I play aggressively enough, especially when I am in the lead. However, I tend to get too attached to hands that I should probably give up once I try to steal with them. Here is my dilemma. If I get caught stealing too many times, it obviously loses its effectiveness, so I tighten up. This eats away at my stack and I don't know what I can do to stop that effect when I am not getting decent starting hands. Also, what can one do when they are not in the lead and also not getting cards? For example, the last SNG I played in when it was down to three, first place had a large lead (~6K) and second and I both had around 2K. Chip leader raised every time, as he should do, but I just wasnt getting any decent cards. When I did, I couldnt hit a flop to save my life. My all ins worked for a while, but then I got busted with 88 by A9 and ended up 3rd. I would appreciate any thoughts/suggestions/etc. on what I can do in these situations. Thanks.

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What do you mean you couldn't hit a flop? You were down to 3, big stack was 6k, and you weren't just going all-in every time you raised?

Nothing wrong with getting it in with 88, getting called out by A9 and losing. You made the right play. You lost. That happens all the time.

As far as "not getting any cards" - when you're desperate, you need to get creative about what constitutes a playable hand. Certainly middle suited connectors come into play at some point, and after that you're looking at suited one-gappers, any two that sum to 15 or more, and eventually, any hand that doesn't have a deuce or a trey.

eastbay

[vetman81]

[ QUOTE ]
As far as "not getting any cards" - when you're desperate, you need to get creative about what constitutes a playable hand. Certainly middle suited connectors come into play at some point, and after that you're looking at suited one-gappers, any two that sum to 15 or more, and eventually, any hand that doesn't have a deuce or a trey.


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Thanks for the reply. I know I need to loosen up my starting hands, but do I go all in over the top of a raise with these types of hands on a consistent basis when I am shortstacked? Thanks for your help.

[nwaddell]

go to bugsy's club and play in their heads-up tournaments. play with free money, whatever. but it will get you a ton of experience, quickly.

[Jason Strasser]

This subject has been talked about before. Essentially, you should be pushing all in with 10xBB or less of a stack, which is most of the time at the end of a sng. I push with lots of crap if the people around me like to fold. I would suggest looking up some of the older posts on here about shorthanded play, there are plenty.

[vetman81]

Do I still push all in with anything when someone else has raised the pot? Granted they won't have monsters, but chances are they have a better hand than average. This is where I am having a hard time...pushing when I think I have the worst hand, say 79, T2, etc. Someone earlier said to push with any two cards that add up to 15 or more, but many times these hands will be few and far between. Thanks again for the responses.

[Jason Strasser]

Alright.

There are 2 spots when I will go over the top of a raise. The first is when I am confident my hand is better. That's easy, right? There is a huge difference between pushing T9s on the button to pick up the blinds, or coming over the top of a raise with it. I would hardly ever do this. There is one exception, and I've posted about it, and that has to do with specific spots on the bubble where a person really can't call you without AA KK QQ or maybe AK or JJ.

For example: tiny stack folds UTG. medium stack raises half his stack on the button, you have a big stack and put him all in with 23o, he will fold unless he has a monster because the tiny stack is about to be blinded all in. He would rather fold a good hand, but not great hand, rather than turning down guaranteed money he usually gets by folding.

Generally, avoid going over the top without a hand you wouldn't mind seeing get called.