Strategy for $1.20 45 player SNG on Stars

[Buckster_uk]

I am playing these 45 player tourneys right now to try and gradually build up my bankroll, does anyone play these? Whats the best strategy for these specific sngs?

I play them quite a bit. Sorry if I'm going to ramble a bit here.

Usually I play fairly closely to HOHv1 starting hand quidelines. Basically, you need to choose the strategy you are comfortable with. Tight, Semi-loose, or loose. The looser you play, the better you need to be post-flop with your reads. You can also find Phil Gordon's starting hand guide on his web site. Generally the first 20-25 players who get knocked out are donks who play any two cards. Sometimes they have a good streak of luck and make the final table. I make the final table and ITM about 25-30% of the time, but I've only played about 50 of these SNGs. I usually start out Tight and as the blinds increase I try to get more aggresive from LP and late MP.

If I'm short stacked then I don't get fancy, I push with any pair 44 or higher and any two high cards T or higher. If someone's already raised the pot, then I only push with AK and JJ or better when short stacked. You want to be first into the pot when short stacked, and then it's all in.

People usuallly like to see a cheap flop in the early rounds. Play you speculative hands from late position possible late MP if you think you can read the other players post-flop. Try not to be all in pre-flop in the early rounds. Pay attention to which players are the big stacks. If you push against the larger stacks with nothing, you'll usually pay, so don't try it too often. Bluffing in the early rounds doesn't work very well because the donks will call you down. Try to identify these players and add notes.

There's lots more I could say. If you want to send me a PM and ask specific questions, go ahead. I'm not close to being the best SNG player, but I'm learning.

[cognito20]

I've only played 7 of these so far, but my current results are 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 4th, 9th and 34th (when a donk called my AA UTG raise with 65 offsuit and the flop came 743 [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] ). 6 out of 7 final tables, 5 out of 7 money finishes, and 3 wins. Admittedly, I'm probably having an extremely good run of luck (although in only one of them was I getting absolutely clobbered in the face with the deck), but anyone who plays a HOH-type tight-aggressive style is going to completely destroy these tournaments in the long run. Two things I could point out that might not be readily apparent are that 1) starting at the 50-100 level, going after the blinds with any 2 cards once a circuit or so has actually been a quite effective strategy for me (probably helped by the tight image I create in the first half hour by sticking to the HOH1 starting hand strategy - people aren't defending their blinds nearly as much as you might expect in a $1 tourney) and 2) if you can get to the heads-up portion of the tournament, autoplaying Harrington's HOH2 strategy is a good idea....most of your opponents are not going to be able to adjust correctly when the table gets short. Good luck, and I'll probably see you in one of these if I haven't already. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

--Scott (cognito20)