Early on - limp a lot or be very tight...what is the consensus?

[celiboy]

I have read a lot re: levels 1 thru 3 or 4 in SNG's. Most people recommend playing very tight and only playing the premium hands whereas others recommend limping in with weaker hands because the flop is so cheap. I am curious as to what your strategies are...

[Valerio]

Firstly, I normally play the 2-table SnGs at PokerStars (10+1 and 20+2) where the blinds go up more slowly than at PartyPoker.
Anyway, I always used to play very tight in the early rounds of the SnG.

Unless I made some big hands, I would have a dwindling stack by the bubble and have to play "all-in poker". I was fairly successful with this approach.

After reading some articles by Daniel Negreanu about a month ago, I decided to try taking to more flops on the early rounds. I started playing all sorts of hands on the button or the cut-off.

Now, my sample size isn't big enough to be sure, and I do have more variance with this approach, but it does seem to work better for me. For one, I can tell my post-flop play has much improved. I often outplay weaker players post-flop and reach the bubble as one of the chip leaders. This gives me confidence to steal blinds with ease, and my chip count increases even more at this stage.

I should point out that I do not multi-table or multi-task while playing, so I am able to get a pretty good line on the other players. I do believe the success of my new approach has a lot to do with this.

So, I say try both approaches to the early stages of the game for a while, and analyze how you do. You can then be in a better position to judge which style will give you the best long-term results.

Valerio

[DasLeben]

It depends on how deep the stacks are, as well as the blind structure. At Party SNGs (800 starting chips, fast blinds), it's necessary to play tightly in order to maximize your FE in levels 4+. At sites such as UB or Stars, you're starting out with a lot more chips (1500) with slower blinds, so you can limp a lot of hands in position.

[BDarch]

yea at party it is definately best to play tight in the early rounds because of the stacks and fast blind structure. If i played at a site with deeper stacks I would most likely play a little looser and take more flops when I had good position.

[Pepsquad]

I don't have a "style" early on. It's very table dependant. If I had to put it into words, I guess I'd have to say I use a combination of the two.

In levels 1 and 2 I'm VERY tight, probably more than I need to be. I'm looking for that one hand that will increase my stack by a third or more.

Once I get that hand, I'll switch up and start limping with more specualtive hands.

BTW, I play on UB (~1,500 stacks to start). So if you can get up over 2,300-2,500 by level 3 it allows much more room to play.

[pergesu]

Every time I feel like loosening up in a tourney, I remembered the guy who said he plays "tighter than a frog's ass" during the early stages. I don't know how tight a frog's ass is, but I've done alright keeping that in mind.

Maybe I'll change my displayed nick to FrogsAss now.

[VoraciousReader]

I used to play really tight in the early rounds. But now it's more table-dependent. Wild table, I tighten up. But at PokerStars, there aren't a lot of truly wild tables. So if the table is tight, I loosen up (esp in position) and I've had significantly more success with it.

I read something that changed my style. It was along the lines of: "In a tournament, to win, you eventually have to take everybody else's chips. Would you rather try to take those chips from the weaker players early on, or from the better players who took it away from the weak players?" I'm butchering it, but that was the gist. Something to think about.

(By the way, when I say "loosen up", I still don't play garbage hands. Esp at 1 or 2 table tournaments, I don't want to blow my table image, which is really valuable for bluffing toward the end.)

[swarm]

Depends are where you are at in your play...

On Party obviously your stacks are pretty slim so you have to be fairly tight. If you are a begginner play extremely tight, you need to experience a lot of hands before you can open up your play. The tempo of the table as stated by a post above is another determination of how I play.

After 5,000 SNG's of experience under my belt I play a few more hands than the general consensus on this board as long as I can get in cheaply. I'm confident in my reads, know that I can get away from top pair top kicker if the situation calls for it, and stay away from chasing expensive flop or straight draws.

[dfscott]

[ QUOTE ]
I read something that changed my style. It was along the lines of: "In a tournament, to win, you eventually have to take everybody else's chips. Would you rather try to take those chips from the weaker players early on, or from the better players who took it away from the weak players?" I'm butchering it, but that was the gist. Something to think about.


[/ QUOTE ]

Close enough -- it was in HOH.

[VoraciousReader]

Thank you! Obviously it's time for me to work through Harrington again. I wish Vol II would come out...