My question evolves around the problem of playing AK in 5$ SNG's, when the blinds are low. Last night I played in about 10 SNG's and was dealt big slick or two high cards e.g. .AQ AJ s , several times when the blinds were low, generally levels 1 through 4. I would raise preflop , about 3 or 4 BB ( might I add cautiously with AQ and very cautiously with AJ) Anyway I think I the flop missed me almost every time. It would generally be an uncoordinated flop such as 7 4 9 rainbow. When only 1 or 2 people called my initial preflop raise, I threw in about a half pot bet. To see where I stand. Nearly every time this situation occurred one or both players would call or raise my bet on the flop! Leaving me completely befuddled as what to do on the turn. It seems as though the players at these 5$ will almost refuse to lay down any hand on the flop!I don’t know what to do in order to combat this! One of my theories is that if I miss the flop, when the blinds are low, I should just check/fold. I think that it is ill advised to put a lot of chips in the pot when the blinds are low and I only have over cards, not to mention I correctly executed exactly two bluffs last night.

So my questions are as follows, remember I am only playing in 5$ buy in SNGs

1. When the blinds are low and I miss the flop with 2 big overs, after I made preflop raise, should I just check /fold?

2. It seems like these guys call my bets on the flop no matter what! Should I stop my continuation betting?

3. Is it always ill advised to try and muscle out pots, when the blinds are low?

4. What do you guys do when you miss the flop with 2 overs?

5. I have discovered and now assume(at least so far) that coming over the top is not effective against these players at all. Every time I come over the top they make me fend for my whole stack, have you guys found similar patterns and are these assumptions correct?


Any help would be much appreciated
Thanks a lot,
Al