Are SNG players good poker players ??

[tjh]

Thanks guys....

Great discussion. I agree my question was a little bit oversimplified but I think you got the idea.

Specialization is what I was getting at. I would not want a whole football team made up of field goal kickers, although technically speaking they play good football, just rather specialized football, same goes for goalies in Hockey.

Of course we all play good poker, well if we are beating the SNG's that is. But how well do we play OTHER forms of poker. Myself, I am not sure I play the other games all that well yet.

How specialized is SNG play ?? Well rather specialized although a lot of the skills transfer to other games.

I have chosen to focus on 6max limit as my second game after SNG's. It is a fast way to clear bonuses, helps to develop people reading skills, has a lot of action, and rewards aggression. I would go for 6max NL but I fear the variance would make it harder for me to determine if I was beating the game or not.

In my opinion the games that are most beatable are the ones with fewer books on the bookshelves at Barnes and Noble and the ones that are more dificult to explain.

The knowledge on how to win at Full Ring limit is easilly available relatively easy to explain.

No Limit has more variables and is harder to learn.

Tournament adds another layer of variables on to NL.

SNG's are similar.

The other aspect is what type of mistakes the players are likely to make. SNG's require changing gears and most players seem to miss the inflection point.

6 MAX attracts action junkies and Bullies and also folks who play a tight full table style and miss many chances. So although you have to pay attention to see what mistake they are making there is a good chance that they are making mistakes.

Full ring I tend to just look for loose players and wait wait wait for cards.

Thanks again for the input and response.

--
tjh

[LostMyCaseMoney]

1) The $5 level is fine if it's 5+.50. The 20% vig will kill you on Party.

3) Noble and Party. If you need to start at the 5s go to Noble otherwise I'd suggest Party.

[sahala]

[ QUOTE ]
Yes they're easier (at the $22s for me at last) because so many suck at it. Follow this strategy for easy $$:

Play only AA-QQ (maybe JJ) and AK in the first few levels and push them against non-2+2ers. Or see a flop with them (including AQ and AJ suited/non and TT-88; lower pocket pairs if u can limp) and push if you hit something.

You double up to about 1,600, wait for bubble and most times one of the fish will go broke over-pushing on the bubble with K3o. Then you're in the ITM.

Not rocket science.

[/ QUOTE ]

And what's your plan if you don't double up early?

[citanul]

[ QUOTE ]
I get bored with SNG's and try NL, NL 6max, MTT, Limit, Limit 6 max. At these other games I seem to NOT be winning. Do you guys play SNG's because the other stuff is too hard, too boring, has too much variance, or what ? Why do we play SNG's? I for one seem to come back to them when I bleed my bankroll to a pitiful stack at the other forms of poker. Then I build a little stack at the SNG until I get bored again.

[/ QUOTE ]

well, you specifically asked about me, but also made some statements on your own. here's some suggestions and such.

if you get bored with sngs, either play fewer of them (don't count on them as your primary source of income, get a job, whatever) or play none of them. why would you play them if you actively dislike playing them? a lot of people will say "well the money's good" but really, meh to that whole venture. if you don't like playing poker specifically, you shouldn't be doing it, i think.

if you play those other games and you don't win, well, it's quite possible you're not a winner at those games. that is not necessarilly because you're some kind of mutant incapalbe of it, but because you don't have the practiced skills. sngs don't translate well to other games, and so if where you got your hours in was at sngs, then you are unlikely to just jump in to other games and be a winner. if you want to play the other games, play them, but study as well. there's tons of great resources out there for every type of poker, and finding them and reading them is a favor your should do yourself if you plan to play poker for any serious amount of time. even if you only intend to play one type of poker forever, learning the theory and fundamentals of other types will do you well in the long run.

people play sngs for a variety of reasons. i play them because i'm good at them, can make good money at them, and think they're fun. that doesn't mean that i don't play other games though. i play basically all the other games (though i really actively dislike playing stud, particularly stud high onlly, but whatever). the amount of time that i spend on each game as a percentage of total time playing poker per unit time is a varying thing, for instance i'm only playing like 30 minutes of poker on average the last couple weeks per day, and i'm playing almost entirely heads up no limit matches, though i've been playing quite a few PLO hu matches as well.

in that line, i don't not play anything because i think it's too boring, too hard, too variancy, etc. i tend not to play step 5s or 30/60 limit, or cash nl above 5/10 because i just don't like the swings that big, but i have played those as well. i dunno where all this rambling gets, but deep down i think my point i something like this:

at some point you have to decide if you like playing poker, and if you like playing sngs specifically. there's no shame in admitting to yourself at some point that no, you don't like one or the other or both of those things. i think it's much worse to sit around doing something you dislike just because you know how to do it.

citanul

[grandgnu]

I'd say 70-80% of the reason I play is to win money. The rest is divided between "having fun" and "challenging" myself.

I usually enjoy multi-tabling Omaha Hi/Lo cash games, since players are pretty terrible and making a profit is pretty easy.

But, it can get boring after awhile, and sit n' go's can give you that little action boost. Reading Harrington on Hold 'Em Volumes I & II really helped my play in sit n' go's. I went from constant 3rd and 4th place finishes to more regularly finishing 1st and 2nd.

Switching from the 10-person Empire tournies with 800 starting chips, to the 9-person Stars tournies with 1500 chips required a bit of an adjustment though.

I used to be primarily a 7-stud player, but it's died off a lot because of Hold 'Em. And even Omaha Hi/Lo doesn't always have enough loose tables to suit my greed. So sit n' go's offer a nice alternative.

[inyaface]

[ QUOTE ]
Easier to multitable = more tables = better hourly rate. Cash is obviously potentially more profitable as there are much higher stakes to play at.

I'd guess O8 would be the most profitable if you could multitable as heavily as you wanted. Has the multitabling ease of sngs and a better earn per table than HE. I dumped sngs a couple of times for O8, but there just aren't enough tables running to compete with 12+ tabling $55s.

[/ QUOTE ]

NL cash depending on your final goal MIGHT be more profitable in the long run then SNG's. That is of course assuming you want to move up to higher stakes eventually and beat these higher stakes game by putting in effort to learn them.
I would say 6 max could be 4 tabled and full ring between 6-8 tabled with the same effort as 12 tabling 55's.

Of course higher variance is an issue.