Playing Trash Early

[threei]

My strategy early in a sng is to play solid poker. In some reading I've done recently, it is suggested to play as many hands as possible when the money is very deep. At the site I play at you start with t1500 10/20 blinds, lvl 2 is 15/30. Should I loosen up and try to get involved in more pots when the implied odds are so big. Almost every game I play I see 2 or 3 people busting out early calling big bets with top pair weak kicker, and sometimes less than that. I don't mind playing suited connectors, small pairs, but what about real trash like 4-7 off? If its only 20 or 30 to get in and you can possibly double up with a straight or two pair is it worth it? BTW, the author is very wary of danger hands like KJ, AT... But doesn't mind limping or min raising(if first one in) with trash. Part of this strategy is that when your opponents seeing you showing down trash, especially after raising, you will get a lot of action on your big hands. Not sure this would have much of an effect at the 10 +1's that I play, as opponents really don't pay much attention. You can not play a hand for 30 minutes and still get action when you do hit.

So is it worth it to waste t300 out of t1500 playing trash early in an effort to put yourself in a good chip position?

[alieneyes]

I think its rare playing complete trash will ever work, however getting in cheap with hands like JTo or 89s is perfectly fine in later positions.

I think you will find that a lot of people wouldn't consider 75 BB a very deep stack anyhow.

[CrisBrown]

Hi threei,

In order to play truly trash hands, you need not only deep money, but a tight (so you can steal the blinds) or passive (so you can draw cheaply) table. That combination doesn't occur often in SNG play, especially not at the early levels.

Cris

[GoSox]

I tried that for a while. What tends to happen is you hit a pair or a drawing hand and end up staying with it too long. It's tough to give it up and with the number of people that try to slow play solid hands it just costs you too much.

[jedi]

You can't win a SnG in the first round, but you can certainly lose it. Cris' advice is right on. You need a passive table that will allow you to draw cheaply and pay you off when you hit a big hand. If they won't let you do that, I think you're better off risking your chips elsewhere. As for me, I'm practically on Autofold in the early rounds unless I get a huge premium hand or in late position with no raises in front of me with a small pocket pair or Axs. There's plenty of poker to be played. Wait for a good spot and exploit your tight image later.

[Bigwig]

Early on when the blinds are 10/20, 15/20, and even sometimes when it is 25/50 (depending on your stack size), I like playing LOTS of not-so-good hands, but NEVER trash. 76s, for example, I'll play from 1st position if I think I won't see a raise. I used to play real tight in the early rounds, and found that too often I got to the late levels, but with a smaller stack. As soon as I started playing more hands early, and hitting those one or two big ones, I would get to the later rounds with a BIG stack, and my win % went way up.

[BradleyT]

[ QUOTE ]
Early on when the blinds are 10/20, 15/20, and even sometimes when it is 25/50 (depending on your stack size), I like playing LOTS of not-so-good hands, but NEVER trash. 76s, for example, I'll play from 1st position if I think I won't see a raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

Please explain how you can tell whether or not ANY hand will get raised if you're in 1st position. Especially this early in the SnG when you don't have a read on the table.

[Bigwig]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Early on when the blinds are 10/20, 15/20, and even sometimes when it is 25/50 (depending on your stack size), I like playing LOTS of not-so-good hands, but NEVER trash. 76s, for example, I'll play from 1st position if I think I won't see a raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

Please explain how you can tell whether or not ANY hand will get raised if you're in 1st position. Especially this early in the SnG when you don't have a read on the table.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, I don't know for sure. But if I think the table is playing aggressive, I may not call at 15/30. At 10/20 though, I probably would. In first position, I've found that if you call you can induce others to call themselves, rather than raise. It's just a feeling, that's all.

[alieneyes]

[ QUOTE ]
Early on when the blinds are 10/20, 15/20, and even sometimes when it is 25/50 (depending on your stack size), I like playing LOTS of not-so-good hands, but NEVER trash. 76s, for example, I'll play from 1st position if I think I won't see a raise. I used to play real tight in the early rounds, and found that too often I got to the late levels, but with a smaller stack. As soon as I started playing more hands early, and hitting those one or two big ones, I would get to the later rounds with a BIG stack, and my win % went way up.

[/ QUOTE ]

What do you consider not-so-good hands? Two big cards?

76s can better than KJo, especially up front, for example because what are you going to do on a flop of K63 with a two flush? You have no idea where anyone else is on the K and you could be against a four flush and middle pair or something. 76s also has the benefit of deception.

I'm not saying play 76s every time, but its far from a complete trash hand in my opinion.

[Bigwig]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Early on when the blinds are 10/20, 15/20, and even sometimes when it is 25/50 (depending on your stack size), I like playing LOTS of not-so-good hands, but NEVER trash. 76s, for example, I'll play from 1st position if I think I won't see a raise. I used to play real tight in the early rounds, and found that too often I got to the late levels, but with a smaller stack. As soon as I started playing more hands early, and hitting those one or two big ones, I would get to the later rounds with a BIG stack, and my win % went way up.

[/ QUOTE ]

What do you consider not-so-good hands? Two big cards?

76s can better than KJo, especially up front, for example because what are you going to do on a flop of K63 with a two flush? You have no idea where anyone else is on the K and you could be against a four flush and middle pair or something. 76s also has the benefit of deception.

I'm not saying play 76s every time, but its far from a complete trash hand in my opinion.

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't say 76s was complete trash. In first position, however, it's value is greatly reduced. Here's an example of something crappy I'd play in late position, early on, if there is no raise:

97o
53s
85s

Something like that.