Starting SNG's, some questions

[mithong]

I've been primarily playing limit, but I find SNG's much more exciting and have decided to play them exclusively... I am starting on the 10/1's...

Is the general consensus that you shouldnt be playing ANY hands except for the top 4 and limping with PPairs in levels 1-3...

cuz ive heard a lot of people say that you should try to limp in with a lot of hands in the beginning and build a chip lead...

which one is correct?

[Rolen]

First one. You limp with Q9s on the button. Flop comes Q72 to you + you put in a 2/3 pot sized bet. Everyone folds but the last to act, who puts in a minimum raise. You put him on AQ + figure you're behind but your implied odds if you spike a 9 on the turn are good enough to call...

OR

Fold preflop + save those chips for when you can put them to good use, stealing in the later levels.

[Phil Van Sexton]

[ QUOTE ]
which one is correct?

[/ QUOTE ]

Any strategy that you can describe in 1 sentence sucks by definition. Therefore, I choose neither.

Learn how to play NL, then learn how to play NL tournaments.

Read a book on NL, beat the 25NL ring game, and then come back.

[mithong]

k, so start off on 25 NL... does everyone agree with this?

[1C5]

I did the opposite. I started in SnGs and then am now playing NL25. Probably backwards. Hope that playing NL25 will help my SnG game. (Plus I get to clear bonuses at the NL25 at the same time as learning, can't beat that)

[Rolen]

Nope. I know plenty of people who own the cash games and can't beat SNGs. If you've never played NL and you intend to play NL sngs then you should of course learn it, but do it at the 5+1s rather than the cash games.

[jmark71]

You're right, there are two schools of thought there, both of which probably have advantages. Personally, I prefer to play a wider variety of hands early on if I can get to the flop cheaply. On early levels, the blinds are pretty insignificant compared to your stack, so raising with premium, non-paired hands (AK for instance) may not slim the herd as much as you'd like, so you have to play those hands carefully. Obviously premium pairs are a different kettle of fish and you can raise substantially and not terribly mind getting two or three callers.

The problem I see with the approach of only playing premium starting hands is that you may get to the 100/200 level before you even see one and then your stack is 3/4 the starting size and you're forced to make substantial moves. Picking up a few pots early eases the pressure a little on those later levels. There's nothing worse than sitting there getting blinded down and then picking up AA with the blinds at 100/200 and someone picking you off with two pair or something, because they were just as desperate to win a pot to stay alive as you were.

Others may disagree and I'm a relative newbie myself so there's probably a lot that I'm missing, but I'm happy with my approach and my results this year have been acceptable (38% avg ROI on 329 $10-$30 SNGs and 23% ROI so far on 117 $50 SNGs)

[lorinda]

I prefer to play a wider variety of hands early on if I can get to the flop cheaply.

With 800 chips and 15 big blind, it is impossible.

Lori

[Rolen]

Valid points, however I think you over-estimate the amount of 'moves' one needs to pull off in order to maintain a starting stack @ the 100/200 level. 300 Chips is not easy to win at the early levels and carries more risk (IMO) than going allin with junk just once when it's folded to you in the SB at the 100/200 level.

Of course, the best way to play is to pick up BOTH sets of 300 chips [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] - Personally I prefer to take the latter approach here.

[pooh74]

[ QUOTE ]
k, so start off on 25 NL... does everyone agree with this?

[/ QUOTE ]

no