ZRTaylor said:
It seems to happen a lot. Playing an SnG with 5-6 players left or on the bubble, and I'll get tossed something like 79o or a comparable hand. Playing tight I fold before the flop and by this point blinds are usually 20/40, more often than not I have about 960-980 chips at this point in the game. Flop drops and it's a straight draw (in this case 6,7,8,9,T rainbow) and I'm feeling like an idiot when the dude across the tables takes a decent sized pot on the river with a pair. This has happened about a half dozen or so times in the last few days, and I'm wondering if this is a play error on my part, or if it's just a resonable casualty of playing tight in the early, mid, and bubble stages of an SnG?
Don't be 'results oriented'.. ie. "I should've played that hand there!!!!".. cuz the majority of the time you're hand is going to be in bad shape.
Question for ya.... why are you down to only 960chips?.. perhaps from limping in too much in Early position... or limp/calling raises preflop?? if you're dropping down to 960 or so 'more often than not'... in early levels I'm thinking you've got some HUGE leaks (to be totally honest... there are many, many, many SNG's I'll play where I'll never even consider playing a hand when blinds are still at 20/40).
Some advice for ya... (suggestion), try watching a SNG play out at a higher buyin (ie. ~$109 buyin... both reg. speed & turbo) and it'll give you a MUCH better idea of how the game should be played. In the micros you'll often see 4 & 5 players seeing a flop... lots of limping... or a raise followed by 3 or 4 callers. You just don't see this in higher buyins... usually it's a single raise will take it down... sometimes a raise then a reraise by a player in Late Pos., EP raiser might flat.. but more likely will fold or come over the top of the LP raise with a 4bet shove.
Of course you can't play the micros the same way you'd play the higher buyins (you need to adjust to the table) but they will give you a fair idea of how the game should be played (or at least how it's played by good players).
Even on the micro tables (or at least the $5 to $11 buyins) watch & see that the majority of winning, experienced players are rarely getting involved in hands in the early levels. If they do get involved, they're not taking big risks with marginal holdings when the blinds are so small. When I start a 9-plyr. SNG, it's the players who are folding every hand in the first couple levels are the ones I'm watching out for (and most often they'll be the ones who have the best ROI's and have played the most games... not always the 'most' games as there are ALOT of players who seem to choose to continually play bad in SNG's even after playing 1,000+ of them).
