2 table $11 sng - help!?

[tjh]

I find that I do better on the two table than the one tables.

There is an uncomfortable stretch of short handed play before the final table that is a little bit baffling. Sort of feels like a bubble before the bubble. Down to 5 players on one table and 6 on the other, I hate that part.

On empire/party the blind structure of two table SNG is much more relaxed so you can be more selective early and not need to panic about the blinds. I could not beat the empire 1 table tourneys because I was used to UB rather slow blind structure and plenty of chips. To me the empire single table SNG required that I play a lot of hands that I do not usually play early on. So I just could not adjust.

What is your percentage of flops seen ?

What range of hads are you playing ?

First round is KJs good early position ? A8o ?

I would guess that your leak is loose starting hand requirements. Tighten up. Play any pair for very cheap, raise with AA, KK, JJ, QQ, . No fancy stuff till level 3 or so.

Getting to the "final table" shortish stacked is no big deal, just do not get there crippled. You may be able to save a few hundred by playing less rather than winning more hands. Try that. Your image will be tight so when you change gears it will take them a while to know what hit them.

Funny..
I post two table SNG questions on the "single table toruney" forum. I figure they are much closer to a single table SNG than a 200 player Multi.

Any thoughts on where these posts belong ?

Also there should be a formula to calculate what hands are playable based on blinds and structure. For example if I can fold every hand and see 500 hands before I lose half of my stack then I can hold out for some seriously good hands. If I see 80 hands for the cost of half of my stack then k-10s begins to look playable.

Tom

[Crooked Paul]

I see what you're saying, Born, and you're right -- that's a pickle. But you painted a portrait of the worst-case scenario, or pretty close to it. Using this method, I find that by the time I get to Level 3 I've added 33-50% to my stack, so I have about 40xBB. So if I raise 3xBB and get minraised to 6xBB, then I can comfortably raise 6xBB above that with about 12-14xBB in the pot. I usually don't take the pot pre-flop with a play like this, but it's very successful at isolating one opponent. Then I have 27xBB left and the pot is like 30xBB. Works pretty well.

I've only played in one turbo SNG and it left kind of a bad taste in my mouth. I had taken a couple of small pots, but the first really strong hand I got was QQ. I raised to 4xBB, got minraised by one player only, and at this point I had like 12 more BBs in my stack. I put the villain on a hand like AQ/JJ, so I confidently pushed all-in. Sure enough, he shows 10-10 and I think I'm sitting pretty. But he caught a 10 on the flop and another on the river for quad tens!! That really sucked. So I've been sticking to the non-turbo SNGs where my more patient opening strategy really pays off.


Crooked