SnG FAQ - First draft (long - but not long enough! )

[t_perkin]

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SnG FAQ:
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Ok this is definately still in the early early stages of development.

These are just the questions that I have immediately thought of. If you can think of others then I will happily consider them for inclusion.

All suggestions, corrections and comments will be well received.

According to the terms and conditions of posting on 2+2 you own the copyright to your own posts. Which is why I am currently only posting links to the posts, with a description of their content.

At a future date I may turn this into a standalone document.
I will make every effort to contact those who own posts that I reproduce. If you own a post that I reproduce and wish for it to be removed then I will happily remove it and simply provide a link to the post on 2+2.

I will give credit for all posts used. Plus credit for all help and assistance given in the production of this FAQ.


Ok here is v0.00001 of the unofficial 2+2 1TT forum FAQ:

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Should I move up?

A good discussion:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...mp;sb=5&o=

And another:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...mp;sb=5&o=

In short:

To move up you should be confident that you are a winning player at your current level
You can achieve this through proving as much by showing a profit over 150 (some would say as much as 250) SnGs. Anything less could still be affected by a prolonged winning or losing streak.
If you have the experience to recognise that you are a superior player to your opponents then you are probably safe to move up earlier.

People go about moving up in two different ways.
Some people like to get sufficient bankroll to play (and lose) a good number of SnGs at the higher level before making the move up.
Some people like to just take the occaisonal stab at the higher level and play more and more at the higher level as they gain in confidence, experience, skill and bankroll.
Both approaches have their share of proponents.

You will generally not play well when you first move up. Most players find they play a little bit scared to start with. Remember that the players at the level above are not likely to be significantly better than at your current level.
Don’t give up!

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What Bankroll do I need for SnGs?

General concensus seems to be between 15 and 30 buy-ins. Remember that no size bankroll is enough if you are a losing player.

Here is a very good post:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...mp;sb=5&o=

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Difference between Party/Stars

The slower blind increases at Stars undoubtedly favour the better player over the course of a single SnG.
However the structure is slow enough that it may be more profitable ($/hr) to play at Party. Especially as Party is generally considered to be more fishy than Stars.

The difficulty is obviously not static though. Players move up and down limits, player improve, players quit, poker rooms improve etc. etc. It is a market and like any other real life market it will never reach a static equilibrium.

Here is a reasonably good post:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...mp;sb=5&o=

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Difference between level X and level Y

Generally there is less difference than one might expect. General concensus is that:
Difference in ability between $5 and $10 is very small, and you should definitely get out of the $5 on Party due to the 20% fee.
Difference from then on is a gradual improvement in ability.
Note that there is an increased number of starting chips at the $50 level at Party (1000 instead of 800).

Also see difference between Party and Stars post.

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ABC SnG poker: AleoMagus´ how to beat 10+1

This is a post which gives a basic way to win at the $10+1 level and will give a good basis for a first time SnG player.

The original
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...mp;sb=5&o=

And a revised (and better) followup.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...mp;sb=5&o=

Read the discussions as well not just the main posts.

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Limping with AA PF

Can be worth doing at the higher buyins at the early stages of a tournament in EP. Even then it should be viewed as an attempted limp reraise.
Avoid in most other situations.

One discussion:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...mp;sb=5&o=

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Playing lots of hands on the cheap, early in a SnG

Some people try this. Most people however feel that this is not a good idea. It costs too many chips and leads you into marginal situations too often.

Anyone got a good post for this?

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Does anyone want to make an FAQ for this forum

finally this is getting done 

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What is a good ROI for SnGs

You need to play at least 200-300 at a given level to get a good read.

25% ok
25% - 35% good
35% - 40% very good
40% - 45% excellent
45% - 50% probably unsustainable
50%+ one of: unsustainable, your lying, you have hacked the poker room

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The difference between 1 table SnGs and 2 table SnGs

Erm… more players? 

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Playing more than one table at once

Some people play 2,3 or even 4 SnGs at a time.
Generally I think people believe that it is harder to do this than at ring games, due to the need to concentrate during most of the last 1/3 or ¼ of a SnG. This makes playing more tables hard.
Most players who do play more than one like to stagger the starts (i.e. wait until around level 2 or 3 before starting another).
Many players play 2 or 3 and claim to have little or no drop in ROI, which can mean an instant doubling or trebling of hourly rate. Definitely worth at least trying.
Many players think that your game does not improve as fast whilst playing more than one table.

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How about a note on SNG games and tournaments?

DrPhysic and few others including myself (t_perkin) organise weakly $11 SnG games for posters on the 2+2 forums. These are not affiliated or sponsored by 2+2.
Everyone is welcome and many find it both enjoyable and instructive.
Send a Private Message to DrPhysic or t_perkin to find out more.

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3xBB raise what does it mean?

Imagine you are in a SnG and the small blind is 50 and the big blind is 100. If someone says they “raise 3xBB”, “bet 3xBB” or “made it 3xBB” it means they put out 300. Not 400.

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Note on posting on the forum

If you are posting a situation on the forum for analysis make sure you include all of the following information:

The buyin size of the tournament
The blind sizes
The number of players at the table at that point
The stack sizes of at least the relevant players in the hand.

You will get far less responses if you just post your hand history straight in. Most people don’t like reading them.

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How do I imporve my Heads Up play?

Play some of the Stars HeadsUp (HU) tournaments.
Play against SparBot (http://games.cs.ualberta.ca/webgames/poker/)

Heads up is all about practise and experience. Most beginners are not aggressive enough playing HU. Remember you have the best cards 50% of the time!
This will give you an idea of the quality of hands HU:
http://www.jazbo.com/poker/huholdem.html

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Poker Glossary and Abbreviations
The following are some good lists of acronyms commonly found in poker and often more specifically in these forums:

http://www.riveredagain.com/terms.htm
Very complete. Sometimes slightly inaccurate – but they give you the gist of what is meant. Includes a lot of 2+2 jargon.

http://www.planetpoker.com/games/dictionary/
The poker dictionary – very good. But no abbreviations and nothing 2+2 specific.


http://www.twoplustwo.com/abbrevs.html
The official two plus two list. Pretty useless.

http://www.conjelco.com/pokglossary.html
Glossary of general poker terms

http://www.thepokerforum.com/handnames.htm
Some common nicknames given to hands

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Other handy links:

Holdem Odds:
http://www.pokerupdate.com/pokerodds.htm

Twodimes:
www.twodimes.net/poker
Let you know your chances of winning the hand (if played to showdown) for any combination of pocket cards and board cards.

Hand converter:
http://www.team-skilz.com/
If you are playing at Party you can make your hand look presentable for posting with this.

Poker Tracker:
www.pokertracker.com
The program that everyone uses to store their hand histories and analyse their play.

[eastbay]

Good enough to post, IMO. It'll get a lot of use if recent posts are any indication.

Thanks for doing this.

eastbay

[klagett]

I think you should add stuff like what ROI is and how to caluclate it.

[eastbay]

[ QUOTE ]
I think you should add stuff like what ROI is and how to caluclate it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point. Here's my contribution.

What is ROI and how do I calculate it?

ROI is an acronym for "return on investment" and it is a measure of how many dollars you are earning for each dollar you "invest" in a poker game.

There's two equivalent ways to calculate it:

ROI = (total prize money won)/(total buy-ins + fees) - 1

or

ROI = (net profit or loss)/(total buy-ins + fees)

For example, if I've played 10 50+5 SnGs, and I've won $650 in prize money, my ROI is 650/550-1 or about 18%.

eastbay

[fishhead]

Hey Tim, thanks for putting this list together. Would you guys rather bookmark this post or should I post it to the website that I built (www.SitAndGoStrategy.com). Maybe I can revise the site to function as a living bookmark page with links to relevant posts organized into categories. I thought it would be easier to say "You can find that in the XXX section at www.SitAndGoStrategy.com" than to tell them to search for something at the 2+2 site. Of course I'd like to remain sensitive to sharing info with the general public.

What are your collective thoughts on this?

[TylerD]

BUMP

[eastbay]

Can we please get this to be a permanent first post in the forum?

eastbay

[Hood]

I'm up for cleaning this up a bit and doing a new version, including some basic plays (10x BB/40% stack = all in, stop n' go), using the replayer, hand organiser, posting guidelines... what does SNG stand for ... at least some more placeholders where others can submit an answer.

We definately need an FAQ like this something pinned... I big proportion of posts here have been answered in the last few days.

[slogger]

n/m

[TheCat]

Thanks, this is first class stuff.