Limit vs. NL SNGs

I have played a bit of both and wonder what other people's experiences are with them.

Obviously, there is a huge difference between limit and NL hold em - but I am curious as to how these differences translate to the SNG world.

Personally, as a relative newbie, I much prefer limit in all aspects of the game. For me, NL introduces concepts that are more advanced - as long as I am still learning the essentials of counting outs, reading the table, and calculating pot odds, I find limit to be far more mangeable.

Or perhaps the reason is that my first SNG win was at a limit game.

Hmmmmmm....

[aargh57]

I don't play very many SNGs so I won't say one way or the other. However, the question got me to thinking. I would think that NL would be more profitable all things being equal just because the game would go quicker. Add to this the fact that you usually don't have to wait for a NL game and I would just guess that NL is better for SNGs. I also play almost exclusively limit too. As I said I would think that NL would be more profitable if all things are equal. If you suck at one but are good at the other than you obviously should stick to what you're good at.

Right now my breakdown is that I play limit almost exclusively and I try to play 1 MTT and one or two SNG per week - mostly to break up the monotony since they are a lot more enjoyable.

The MTT I usually play is the $1+0 lucky dollar $1000 added on pokerroom.com - it seems to me to be an excellent potential ROI for a beginner - minimal cost, no buy-in fee, and an extra $1000 thrown into the prize pool.

As far as the SNGs go, I am gonna stick with limit for now, since I am more comfortable there.

My feeling is that its important to focus on one aspect of the game - and for the newbie, I think that limit is the best place for that - but the tournaments allow you to experience some different situations, which both helps keep you on your toes and also makes the overall poker experience more engaging.

[jb9]

I think it is important to play what you are comfortable playing, and if limit is the game you like, play it.

I personally prefer no limit for hold 'em tournaments for 2 reasons (at least 2 I can think of at the moment):

1. If you get a big hand early, you can go all in and win a huge pot and double or triple (or even quadruple) your chips. In limit tournaments, you simply won't win giant pots (relative to your stack size) early in the tournament, so your big hands have less upside early on.

2. If you don't get any good starting hands in no limit, you can still blind steal and bluff and have a decent chance of staying in until your cards improve. In limit, you are less able to do this and more at the mercy of the dealer.

Also, while no limit is more complex in some ways, no limit tournaments (especially the 2nd half of SNGs) often end up being little more than making good preflop and flop decisions. By the turn and river, someone is often all in or at least pot committed which simplifies your decisions.

[donkeyradish]

I think they become more alike as the blinds increase and its mainly the action in early rounds that differs.

[stlip]

At least on the Party skins you can get reload bonuses playing straight limit, but not the SnGs. I'm not all that aggressive about going after bonuses, but even so there always seems to be at least $100 mos. available via that route. It adds up. So I play mostly 1/2 and dabble in the NL SnGs whenever I need a break.

I play both, although right now I'm playing more NL than limit. When I do play limit though, I only play turbo games, otherwise the game seems to drag on forever.