CdnVet0506

There seems to be two trains of thought on placing consistently in SNG's. One party preaches only playing the Premium hands in the early levels while the LAG All-in crowd wittle the field down, then loosing up in the middle stage, going back to TAG on the bubble then going LAG when in the money. Others preach a similar strategy, however recommend playing smaller pocket pairs, suited connectors and A rag suited with position in the early stages if it can be done cheaply. (I tend to follow plan 2 with fair to good results). How do Forum members approach SNG's (and the pokerpwnage folks)

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"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing" Edmund Burke

GTA Poker

The old system was to play tiggggght early and the loosen-up as the blinds escalated around/before bubble time. I find that these days almost everyone does that so I play aggro from the start because no one wants to get involved early -- of course I adjust if the table is playing differently and cannot be pushed off of hands (mostly on weekends I find). Then once I get a decent stack i play even more aggo vs the medium stacks who don't want to lose their hard-earned chips before the money, avoiding the small stacks without a decent hand unless they are super tight. Works for me.

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That level 5 trap really paid off...ship him the cookies.

CdnVet0506

What buy-in are you playing at? I find starting aggro doesn't work too well at the $5.50 and under tables on Stars and FTP. Can't push people off hands very often, at least not until you get down to 4-5 players

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"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing" Edmund Burke

tellbox

Tight early on and then opening up once it's 6-5 handed.

Playing anything other than that style at lower limits is not going to win in the long run.

GTA Poker

I play $20-$50, but mostly PLO/PLO8 -- I just try and play opposite the table more or less. If you find many players calling down marginally then don't play aggro, if you find most pots hu for a small raise then try and steal small pots.

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That level 5 trap really paid off...ship him the cookies.

CdnVet0506

Thanks GTA... Yeah, if I can get into a pot HU, I always make a play for the pot.... Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view), at the lower limits most players seem to make calls with marginal hands, which can cause trouble for the hero.... thankfully tactics like that increase my odds of making the money by sticking to the TAG, LAG, TAG, LAG formula.

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"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing" Edmund Burke

goodwooter

you summed up my early stage philosophy in your post itself...sure...you only want to push for pots with strong starting hand that either hit or you are sure its the nuts as compared to the villians hand...however, you can really get yourself in a good spot if you can see a few cheap flops and hit a monster...as loose as some players play early especially at lower stakes, it can be an easy double up...i always try and pick about 5 or 6 hands in the first 2 levels just to limp in on...my thinking is even if i miss them all...ill still have 1300 chips with the bb still only at 50 or 60 depending on the site...

cheers and gl