I have noticed that I can play very solid poker and make it to the last four in a 10-man SNG quite easily, but I sometimes struggle to make the money due to lack of patience or by making marginal calls to try and take a big chip lead into the final 3. I usually play $5 SNGs on Poker Room.

Here are a couple of hands that I played in a recent SNG. We played with 4 people for about 30 minutes with chips going back and forth, back and forth but nobody really wanting to go all-in.

Really aggressive with this hand, had a good chip lead at this stage:

Poker Room skin
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t150/t300
4 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
ajrees: t6060
Button: t3340
SB: t3195
BB: t2405

Pre-flop: (4 players) ajrees is UTG with
ajrees raises to t700, Button folds, SB calls t550 (pot was t1150), BB folds.

Flop: (t1700, 2 players)
SB checks, ajrees bets t1, SB folds.
Uncalled bets: t1 returned to ajrees.

Results:
Final pot: t1700


A Couple of hands later:

Poker Room skin
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t150/t300
4 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t2.195
Button: t1.955
ajrees: t7.510
BB: t3.340

Pre-flop: (4 players) ajrees is SB with
UTG folds, Button raises to t600, ajrees calls t450 (pot was t1050), BB folds.

Flop: (t1500, 2 players)
ajrees checks, Button bets t300, ajrees calls t300 (pot was t1800).

Turn: (t2100, 2 players)
ajrees checks, Button bets t600, ajrees folds.
Uncalled bets: t600 returned to Button.

Results:
Final pot: t2100


Now this next hand here is one I am really unsure about. I had a big chip lead at this stage and could have just sat back and waited for someone else to knock him out, but I had a big hand and put the other guy on middle pairs or Ax.

What would u do in this hand?

Poker Room skin
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t200/t400
4 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t3.695
Button: t2.555
ajrees: t6.810
BB: t1.940

Pre-flop: (4 players) ajrees is SB with
UTG calls t400 (pot was t600), Button raises to t1, ajrees raises to t3, 2 folds, Button calls t1.55 (pot was t604).

Flop: (t806, 2 players)


Turn: (t806, 2 players)


River: (t806, 2 players)


Results:
Final pot: t806
Button bet 2.555 collected 5.910 net 3.355 shows 9s 9h
ajrees bet 3.200 collected 645 net -2.555 shows Kc Ac

He hit quads But did I do the right thing?

I ended up busting out because I was getting killed by the blinds, and I made a stupid bluff that fucked me up.

Poker Room skin
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t200/t400
4 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t1.940
Button: t3.895
SB: t5.510
ajrees: t3.655

Pre-flop: (4 players) ajrees is BB with
UTG folds, Button calls t400 (pot was t600), SB calls t200 (pot was t1000), ajrees checks.

Flop: :10d (t1200, 3 players)
SB checks, ajrees checks, Button bets t400, SB calls t400 (pot was t1600), ajrees folds.

Turn: (t2000, 2 players)
SB bets t800, Button folds.
Uncalled bets: t800 returned to SB.

Results:
Final pot: t2000


Here was a crappy move I made on the button.....raise was too small anyway, looking back on it now.

Poker Room skin
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t200/t400
4 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t2.695
Button: t6.710
ajrees: t3.255
BB: t2.340

Pre-flop: (4 players) ajrees is SB with
2 folds, ajrees raises to t700, BB calls t500 (pot was t900).

Flop: (t1400, 2 players)
ajrees checks, BB bets t400, ajrees folds.
Uncalled bets: t400 returned to BB.

Results:
Final pot: t1400


By the end, I was just getting bored and I made another retarded play that saw me bust out in 4th. I'm an idiot, I know. Frustration.....

Poker Room skin
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t300/t600
4 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t3.040
Button: t2.695
SB: t6.910
ajrees: t2.355

Pre-flop: (4 players) ajrees is BB with
2 folds, SB calls t300 (pot was t900), ajrees checks.

Flop: (t1200, 2 players)
SB checks, ajrees bets t800, SB raises to t1.6, ajrees raises to t1755, SB calls t155 (pot was t2156.6).

Turn: (t4710, 2 players)


River: (t4710, 2 players)


Results in white below:
Final pot: t4710
SB bet 2.355 collected 4.710 net 2.355 shows 6h Qc
ajrees lost 2.355 shows Ks 3h

If anything I should have made a raise PF or pushed, instead of just checking and then betting at the pot with nothing, right?

I still thought it was funny.

-Your biggest fan.

I agree with dafish, too much pistflop not enoughh preflop.

Originally Posted by DaFish

Way too much postflop play. With those blinds, you want to push/fold

AK is good
QJ is a bad call
AQ you can push, although the way you played it is fine too

I understand the plays when on tilt. You can run extremely bad at SnG's. But of course you should try hard to avoid them.

btw K3 you can push after the SB completes. Very often he'll fold

On another note, I still don't know if it's a flaw in my SnG strategy or a great advantage, but I give shorthanded minraises no credit whatsoever.

Hand #1 (AQ)- Everyone behind you has 11bbs or less. Just shove. Y threaten people's tournament lives on the bubble. If someone calls and you lose, your stack still has a lot of fold equity and seeing that you didn't get cute with AQ gives your pushes with Q8o profitable.

Hand #2 (QJ)- Amazing how bad they play, but push this unless he's a total tighty-pants. If he is, fold. Yeah, he's committed, but if he's been an active player, don't be surprised if he folds. I see the worst folds in these things. Your best bet is folding, though.

Hand #3 (AK) The guy has 6bbs and raises to 2.5. PUSH!!!

Hand #4 (K4)- If 2 people limp my BB 4-handed and I see a King, I push most of the time. I won't if I'm unsure of the SB or one of them are trappers. I'm pushing this about 75% of the time.

Hand #5 (23s)- You have less than 10bbs. It's push or fold. Fold this. you're open-pushing a lot of hands next hand and folding the button here'll give that push more credit.

Hand #6 (K3)- You have no chips. Ask yourself why this idiot is limping into your BB. It's a monster or he doesn't wat to commit himself to your stack. He's been limping your BB a lot. Push.

I'm not as good at SnG's as I used to be because people blind away more now than they did a couple of years ago, but I believe what I just said. TA has a lot of experience especially over the last couple of months in SnG's and his video'll probably help you a lot. He can poker.