Strategy

Basic strategy for No Limit Texas Holdem sit-and-go (SNG) tournaments

Introduction

Tournaments in which the maximum number of participants is ten and in which they are all together at one table, are named sit-and-go (SNG). These tournaments are very popular. Particularly the No Limit Holdem tournaments with a buy-in of 1 to 100 USD. At PartyPoker for example, it is possible to participate in a SNG within a couple of minutes at every moment of the day. There are sites which offer SNG's with five or six players max, for example PacificPoker and NoblePoker For more information about the different sites and the quality of the SNG's, we refer to the poker site reviews.

Strategy

Before you start at a SNG tournament it is wise to first take the structure of the tournament into consideration. You should know how many players will win a price, what the prices are and how long the levels per blind will last. These characteristics of the SNG in question have influence on how to play best.
For the continuation of this Article we will assume that the first three places will win prices (as is usual on PartyPoker . The winner gets 50% of the pot and the number two and three respectively 30% and 20%.
The basic rule with SNG tournaments is: The fewer players will win a price the more aggressively you should play!

The low levels (blinds up to $0.25/$0.50)

In the first levels you can play several types of hands. In case it is not too expensive (in case there's no re-raise), you can even play low hands like 55 and 76s. In case re-raising or all-ins are constantly happening, this will not make much sense. Strong hands should always be raised, approximately until four times the blind on low levels. In general slow playing is not recommended in these levels.
Furthermore there are in general always a couple of bad players at every table who will play too recklessly. Therefore, in case you get a strong hand, the chances are likely that you will be paid out. Frequently you can even get people as far as to go all-in with you and that way collect all their chips.

The average levels (blinds $0.25/$0.50 up to $1/$2)

The moment the blinds are becoming higher it will be interesting to try to steal the blinds. It is almost always a good idea to raise in case nobody has yet raised, re-raised or called before you. The only reason to reconsider doing this is when there are still many players after you to make their decision or in case there are players who call almost everything. On the average levels it will be sufficient to raise the blind three times. This is effective because the relative hand value which is required to raise is lower than the hand value which is required to call. Especially when other players have few chips left. They will then not be tempted to rapidly call with average hands.
Because there are at this stage generally less players at the table, it can sometimes also be a good idea to slow play top hands such as AA, KK and QQ in the early position, in the hope that another player after you will raise. You can then go all-in at your turn. If someone before you goes all-in, it is justified to fold a QQ, except if the opponent is a very aggressive player or in case the player has very few chips. But if someone goes all-in before you and one or more other players call before you as well, you should consider to also fold an AA or KK. This is because when that happens, the chance of winning the round is considerably smaller. Of course it is obvious that this also depends on the quantity of chips that the other players have. In case someone has re-raised, you can take into account that the person has an average or strong hand. For this reason it is (at this stage) the best to only call or raise in case you have a good hand too.

The high levels (blinds $1/$2 and higher)

The game will change completely when playing at high levels. At this stage everything happens before the flop. Someone will raise and the rest will fold, or two players will go all-in before the flop...
Below we give you an overview of what we suggest you should do in certain situations:

- In case you have only a few chips left (less than five times the blind), the blinds will become expensive. When you're in that situation you'll have to try to steal the blinds, otherwise you will be defeated in the end by the blinds. Just raising will not make any sense anymore so in case you want to raise you will have to go all-in. Each hand with an a or a pair is sufficient to go all-in, except in case someone else has re-raised before you. In late position you can go all-in with every average hand (for example K9 or Q10) when everyone else has folded before you. At this stage it is a matter of eat or be eaten! You really need more chips to reach the third place minimum...

- The situation is different in case you have an average quantity of chips in the last stage (5-10 times the blind). In this case you have to try to avoid large confrontations, with the exception of when you obviously have the best hand. Now the aim is to not finish at the top three but to actually win the SNG. Keep in mind that becoming first once is more profitable then becoming third two times.

- In case you have many chips (more than ten times the blind) and there is no other player with such a large stack, you can use your supremacy to put the other players under pressure. It is almost always the bests to play super-aggressive when you are in this position. It is stupid to not do this because you should not give your opponents the chance to steal the blinds and therefore increase their chance to win the SNG. This is especially a good strategy when there are more then three players left, because they will then all be frightened to finish as fourth. In case you have, for example, 5000 chips and there are still five other players who all have around 1000 chips and the blinds are $1/$2, you should try very aggressively to steal the blinds. That will be the best way to protect your position and to try to win the SNG already!

loose aggressive strategy la Gus Hanson

Gus Hansen, one of the best poker players at the moment (check the high stakes poker footage in our video link... It is about someone loosing $300,000 in one hand!!! And guess who wins...), has come up with a very easy basic strategy for advanced players who want to get known with the loose aggressive playing style. Please keep in mind that this is definitely not a strategy for the beginning player! You need to have a certain basic feeling about the game in order to use this strategy successfully!!!

Gus gives every card a certain value. The total value of your hand (two cards so the sum of two values) determines which hand you should play in which position.

Gus gives the following values to the cards below:

Ace = 14 points
King = 13 points
Queen = 12 points
Jack = 11 points
Ten = 10 points
Nine = 9 points

early position

Gus says that you can only play hands with a minimum value of 25 points in early position. For example Ace with a King (14+13=27) or Queen with a King (12+13=25) but, for example NOT King with a Jack (13+11=24). BESIDES THAT you should also play all big pairs, namely everything from AA till 9-9.

Middle position

Gus says that in middle position you can only play hands with a minimum value of 21 points. For example Jack with a Ten (11+10=21) or Nine with Ace (9+14=23). In case the cards are suited or connectors you can add an additional 1 or 2 points.

Late position

In general every hand is playable in late position as long as it hasn't been raised yet. Especially suited cards or connectors can be pretty profitable in late position, of course given that you play them in the right way.

In this Article we lay out how to start playing poker online. The best way to start is by playing longhand limit Texas Holdem (Tables with 7 - 10 players are named "longhand", whereas tables with 6 players or less are named "shorthand"). We highly recommend that you first read our article about the basic strategy, so that you can start with earning money as soon as possible! Also our articles on tips for beginners and examples for beginners are highly recommended!

Due to the enormous popularity of poker you can find a lot of poker sites on the Internet. New poker sites are arising on a weekly basis. It is sensible to start at a large site which is known as good and save. Poker sites earn their money with the rake (= a small amount taken from the pot), therefore a good reputation is extremely important for them. Sophisticated and thoroughly checked software ensures that the cards are always shared honestly and the software is also able to pick out possible cheaters.
All online poker sites mentioned on this site are safe sites. As soon as we find out that a site is not safe we will let you know immediately and we will obviously also remove the poker site in question from our list. When you start, it might be a good idea to first read our reviews of all the poker sites available and then choose a site which is appropriate for you. Please do not forget to use the offered bonuses for free, extra playing money!

When starting to play poker online you first need to download the free software from the pokersite of your choice. After that you have to choose a name under which you will play on the site (= screen name) and you have to mention your e-mail address. Once you've done this you have your own poker-account, enabling you to play poker online whenever you want!

If you like, you can choose to first start playing with fake money (= play money) to practice. When playing with "play money", you can always go back to the cashier to get some more. Poker sites always supply unlimited "play money" to practice and this is all for free! The disadvantage of playing with "play money" is that, because fake money is unlimited and free, most players play really bad and different compared to when they would play with real money. Therefore, practicing with "play money" has only limited value when it comes to preparing for the real deal.

When you have practiced enough or in case you want to start immediately with playing for real money, you have to deposit an amount on your poker-account. The easiest and fastest way to deposit money on a poker-account is by using a credit card. Besides that, many poker players also have a Neteller-account (this is an online bank account). For more information about this you can check our article on Neteller-account.

When it's your first time we recommend that you do not deposit more than $25 or $50. This is enough when you start playing at the tables with the lowest limits. We recommend you to only participate on tables with higher limits once your money (your initial deposit) has doubled and once you're used to the game!
Bonus money!!

All online poker sites mentioned on this site offer a bonus for all new players coming from Pokertips.NL. So if you go from this site to one of the online poker sites we mention and you sign up for a new poker account, that poker site will give you an additional bonus to the deposit you've made! For example, if you deposit $50 most sites will give you at least another $25 (50% extra)! You then have straight away $75 on your bankroll! Some poker sites give more bonuses than others. For more information about this please check our overview of the poker sites we recommend.

In this Article we lay out how to start playing poker online. The best way to start is by playing longhand limit Texas Holdem (Tables with 7 - 10 players are named "longhand", whereas tables with 6 players or less are named "shorthand"). We highly recommend that you first read our article about the basic strategy, so that you can start with earning money as soon as possible! Also our articles on tips for beginners and examples for beginners are highly recommended!

Due to the enormous popularity of poker you can find a lot of poker sites on the Internet. New poker sites are arising on a weekly basis. It is sensible to start at a large site which is known as good and save. Poker sites earn their money with the rake (= a small amount taken from the pot), therefore a good reputation is extremely important for them. Sophisticated and thoroughly checked software ensures that the cards are always shared honestly and the software is also able to pick out possible cheaters.
All online poker sites mentioned on this site are safe sites. As soon as we find out that a site is not safe we will let you know immediately and we will obviously also remove the poker site in question from our list. When you start, it might be a good idea to first read our reviews of all the poker sites available and then choose a site which is appropriate for you. Please do not forget to use the offered bonuses for free, extra playing money!

When starting to play poker online you first need to download the free software from the pokersite of your choice. After that you have to choose a name under which you will play on the site (= screen name) and you have to mention your e-mail address. Once you've done this you have your own poker-account, enabling you to play poker online whenever you want!

If you like, you can choose to first start playing with fake money (= play money) to practice. When playing with "play money", you can always go back to the cashier to get some more. Poker sites always supply unlimited "play money" to practice and this is all for free! The disadvantage of playing with "play money" is that, because fake money is unlimited and free, most players play really bad and different compared to when they would play with real money. Therefore, practicing with "play money" has only limited value when it comes to preparing for the real deal.

When you have practiced enough or in case you want to start immediately with playing for real money, you have to deposit an amount on your poker-account. The easiest and fastest way to deposit money on a poker-account is by using a credit card. Besides that, many poker players also have a Neteller-account (this is an online bank account). For more information about this you can check our article on Neteller-account.

When it's your first time we recommend that you do not deposit more than $25 or $50. This is enough when you start playing at the tables with the lowest limits. We recommend you to only participate on tables with higher limits once your money (your initial deposit) has doubled and once you're used to the game!
Bonus money!!

All online poker sites mentioned on this site offer a bonus for all new players coming from Pokertips.nl. So if you go from this site to one of the online poker sites we mention and you sign up for a new poker account, that poker site will give you an additional bonus to the deposit you've made! For example, if you deposit $50 most sites will give you at least another $25 (50% extra)! You then have straight away $75 on your bankroll! Some poker sites give more bonuses than others. For more information about this please check our overview of the poker sites we recommend.

Make up to a $100.000 a year!

Here we'll show you how to make $100.000 in a year, just by playing NL — 6 (No Limit, 6 Players Max).
This only works for the more experienced player, 4 tables at once, NL 100 or higher and at least a couple of hours a day playing.

1. Play tight, aggressive poker! (TAG).

a good TAG player should have a VPIP, between 15 to 25% and a PFR, between 7 to 15%.
You can find that data in your poker tracker database.

2. Make good use of your table position.

Play tight in early position and raise most hands when you're in a late position.

3. re-raise strong hands pre-flop.

Hands to raise are AQ, AK and 1010 trough to AA, when someone raises before you.

4. Make continuous bets.

When you're positioned heads up after the flop and other players check, you should go in at least 85% of the time, make a continuous bet of about ?? of the pot.

5. Fold on a raise on the flop.

When someone raises on the flop, you should fold, unless you have a pretty good lead of at least aces.

6. raise/re-raise two pair + sets + combo draws on the flop.

Don't slow play!

7. In a raised pot, when you can beat a pair of aces, you've got something!

Assume you have the best hand and fold only if you encounter a lot of opposition.

8. Never drop strong hands.

When the times comes, you are sure you've been beaten, your odds will
have improved so much you can't afford to drop. So never drop a set.

If you apply these rules, you could make up to a $100.000 a year playing online poker.

HU SNG Strategy for starters
Heads-Up poker is the most complex form of Poker. At 9-max and 6-max tables it is more likely that you will maintain certain “guide lines” to play your game. However Heads-Up depends more on reads and there aren’t that many guide lines to play with.

The Starting-phase: 50-30 BB
This is at the beginning of the SNG. Most of the time you will get an impression of your opponent during this phase. Does he or she plays a lot of hands? Are there a lot of 3-bets? Does he or she c-bets every flop?It’s important that you take the initiative in the hand. A lot of times we fold suited-connectors during a 6-max game, during a Heads-Up we standard open it. Hands like Ax, Kx, Q9 and J8 are being played the same way. Many players make the decision to bet 3 BB pre-flop. My advice is: don’t. I’d choose to make it 2 BB. We do this because we want to increase our edge. Edge basically means “how much we are better than our opponent”. If we have for instance a big edge it means we are much better. Because we have an edge we want to keep the poker as deepstack as possible. This is pure logic. If a person plays for the first time, and he or she plays against Phil Ivey and they both have 3 BB then that person would regularly win from Ivey. If that same person plays a Heads-Up SNG against Phil Ivey and they both have 1000 BB then Ivey would win almost every time, he doesn’t have to take that much risk and he could just wait and grab his chance. By opening 2BB you will keep the pots small and increase your edge. If your opponent 3-bets you, you will just lose 2 BB instead of 3 BB. That takes us to our next point. How are we supposed to play flops? In 6-max games it’s quite easy to fold bottom pairs (the lowest pair) but in a Heads-Up game it is quite a strong hand. You’ll only hit a flop 1 out of 3 times, keep this is mind. If your opponent c-bets every flop you can conclude that he has been bluffing for sure. A reaction to this could be to raise his c-bet. On the flop you should keep the pots small, just like pre-flop, bet ½ pot. You might think that if you have a strong hand that you would like to get as much value as you can? That’s right, but you can’t bet a lot if you have a strong hand and make very tiny bets when you have a weak hand. If you do this people will most likely figure out how you play and that’s just the thing that you don’t want. However you could look at this from another perspective. By betting ½ pot you are investing a small amount of chips to win relatively a lot. Your opponent won’t be able to figure out if you have a strong or a weak hand by analyzing your betting patterns.

Mid-phase 15-30BB
By the time we reach this phase we have an image of our opponent. We both have a 1500 stacksize and the blinds are 30/60, which gives us 25 BB. The difference is that from now on there will be a lot more action pre-flop and a lot less post-flop. Don’t try to look at too much flops. You only have 25 BB and there isn’t much space left to take a peak at those flops. Before you know it you’ll lose some and your stack is all messed up. During this phase you have played quite some hands with your opponent and you’ll probably have some reads as well. If you have the idea that Villian plays a lot of flops then c-bet every flop. Do you notice that Villian 3-bets a lot? Show some guts and 4-bet it (even if you have a hand which isn’t as good as his) This deters a lot.

The ending phase: 15-1BB
So this is it, the absolute endphase. Forget flops, it’s push or fold from now on. We both have a 1500 stack and the blinds are 75/150. In the begin and midphase you’ll use quite some reads but those aren’t going to help you now. You only have 10 BB left and you can’t afford to fold your button and BB 4 times in a row. If you have less than 10 BB you should always push. If you have between 11 and 15 BB then it depends on your opponents playing style. If you are playing against a loose player you can choose to push because often at a normal raise he will choose to 3-bet it. With a tight player you could try to cheaply steels his blinds.


This was my article about basic Heads-Up SNG poker. It’s extremely important to cherish your edge. You shouldn’t make weird pot bet bluffs because if you do this you are taking too much risk and you are making the pots way too big and because of this you are decreasing your edge. You are better than your opponent so why take the risk? Always keep this in mind:
Edge + Volume = $

Written by Bonno

Mostly I play 6-max sng’s and because there is a lot of interest in the question: “How do I play them?” I decided to write an article about it including hand histories. I’ll also give some tips about how to play shorthanded sng’s.

Starting fase

We assume that we play a standard turbo SNG on PokerStars The blindlevels are 5 minutes and our beginstack is 1.5k. The first two levels are 10/20 and 15/30, that means that we play between 75 and 50 BB Enough room to play our game and it isn’t necessary at all to set our minds to stealing blinds. Most of the time this are the two blindlevels in which you can easily discover who the donkeys are at the table. You can recognize bad players (in general) by seeing them open huge pre-flop, limp when they have the button or play by extreme weird guidelines. Obviously you can also see who they players play their hands. Someone who slowplays a set in the starting fase will most likely also do this in the ending fase. Here is my first hand, QJs a nice hand to open while you are on the button


This is only the fourth hand in the sng so I don’t have stats or any reads. Sergei calls here in the SB It is kinda difficult to give Sergei here a good range but I try anyways. A5-AJ,22-TT(JJ+ I always see him 3bet) and suited connectors.

This is an akward situation. Sergei flats preflop out of position(OOP) and donkbet almost the pot on a A rainbow flop I think it’s good to raise here because I rarely see him donkbet an entire pot, Ax is a possibility but I appear very strong by raising and he’ll fold it a lot in this fase. Pocketpairs, suited connectors could never have hit this flop because there aren’t any draws so he’ll fold So I decide to raise and it turns out good.



Normally I play extremely tight during the beginphase, because I mainly play extremely aggressive in the push/fold fase and my image from the begin fase helps me with it. This spot was so obvious for me that I couldn’t let it get away so I discourage bluffing in the begin fase of a sng

Mid fase 25/50 and 50/100

Now there are starting to appear differences in stacksizes and mostly the field holds around 4 to 5 players. Shortstacks are getting a hard time here and that is why the push/fold game begins. It is kind of difficult to name a standard situation by push/fold because every situation is one of its own. However, there are a couple of fistrules.

The opening with 2,5 BB

I still see a lot of players opening 3 BB Personally I think this is bad and I would start from 25/50 or 50/100 by opening 2,5 BB The reason is simple, you increase your edge and edge equals money. I have written this before in my previous articles and it is extremely important. You create a big pot while that is unnecessary. Because you will appear less deepstack and less deepstack means that fishes will increase their chances of winning. As I have previously said in an HU article: if someone who just knows the rules of poker is playing HU against Phil Ivey with both 3BB then he will win a slightly bit more than 50% of the times. But opening with 2,5BB has also another reason: you’ll bring yourself in easier spots, you will commit yourself a lot less which means that you can fold more easily to a shove. You might think those 50 points... it doesn’t matter. Thats right you aren’t a bad player if you open with 3BB but by doing something simple you can raise your ROI (return of investment).

Push/Fold

Most of the time this fase occurs by the 3 last remaining players 100-200 level. I see a lot of players making the mistake that they have a small stack and still open normally. This is a bad thing. I would a fistrule: by less than 13BB it is push or fold Opening with 2,5BB while having 13BB left is a thing you could do (you don’t have to be commited yet) but your stack is way too valuable to raise/fold during that fase. When the blinds are 50/100 and you make 250 and you fold eventually that will cost you 1/6 of your stack and ofcourse 250 points. But if you double it up it’ll become 500 etc. Also you don’t want your opponents to think that you have fold equity and that they’ll reshove you lightly

Some hands:

We are down to the 3 last players and both Villians are pretty tight/solid. I have seen Murmel stealing all my BB in the last 3 SB>BB situations with a small raise



I do find this a good reshove spot because like I earlier said Murmel is doing this a lot and I haven’t defended my SB yet. Murmel still has got fold equity, my hand is living against a optional call and you still have to look at the stack of the other Villian, Residence. Murmel would fold sooner when he knows that there is still a shorter stack next to him who’ll get the BB in a short time and the blindlevel will become 200/400.
HERO: raises 3270 to 3720 and is all-in
Murmel1904: folds

So I shove and Murmel folds. This situation also shows why Murmel could better shove. He still has got fold equity but this spot is ideal for me to reshove and I would stack him very tight here. I have got the table under control, I am the bigstack and I wouldn’t call with just a hand, I am just saying something, like AT.

Last hand:



I decide here to shove, you may wonder why? You just said that if you end up below 33BB you need to shove and you are shoving here with 18BB? You don’t need to look at that in this situation, I am the bigstack, the other stacks are both 14BB. The reason why I shove here is because I don’t think that I will get called light here. Most of the time you see that two smaller stacks are “choking” eachother to end up in the money. So I don’t think that villain would stack me here with anything below AT. And there is another reason to shove: by opening I am creating the ideal reshove spot for the two villains. I have got fold equity and I wouldn’t call light here because I have got the sng under my control and I want to keep the chiplead, both villains are tight and I will end up crippled with 4,5BB.

Eventually you’ll end up heads up Most of the time that is the 200/400 level in a 6max sng and the average will be around 11BB. The Sage System is very important here so my advise is to read that as well.

This is it for now, hope you learned something and up to my next arcticle.

Introduction

A lot of poker players wonder: "How do I become a good PLO 6max player?". NL Holdem players tend to find the transition very challenging. This series is intended as a guide for these players.
Some basic knowledge about NL Holdem, PLO and poker statistics is required to fully understand the concepts in this article. If you don`t know much about these subjects yet we suggest that you read the basic material on this site first.

Preflop

In PLO, position is more important than your actual hand. That doesn`t mean you should play any four off course, but the player in position controls the hand, more so than in a Holdem game. This is because much more scare cards can come down, which creates a lot of good bluff spots.
As a consequence, its very important to take advantage of your position when you`re on the button (or the cut-off). But even more importantly, you should never play marginal hands out of position! Low pocket pairs, bad suited aces etc. should be folded! They look nice, but its impossible to play these type of hands out of position. Tighten up in the blinds!

Because position is so important, you should choose your seat on the table accordingly. You don`t want to have a descent player to your left. If you can`t avoid this, adjust your game by raising a tighter range and by limping the small blind. This will prevent you from getting into a lot of tricky situations when called or reraised. Against tight or weak players, you can open 40% on the button (open every double suited hand for example). Against opponents who 3bet a lot you should play tighter or limp more hands.

As opposed to NL Holdem, its hard to say what the optimal VPIP/PFR percentages are. Instead, take a look at the following guidelines:

VPIP

< 15 too tight
15-25 tight
25-35 normal
35-45 loose
> 45 too loose

A VPIP outside the 15-50 range is not playable. You can (and should) play more hands compared to NL Holdem.

PFR

< 5 passive
5-10 normal
10-15 loose
> 15 loose aggressive

In NL Holdem its very important that the gap between your VPIP and PFR is very small. This is not true in PLO. Some winning players hardly raise at all! Its ok to play 20/10, but 45/5 is possible as well.

Holdem Manager is currently the only software that supports Omaha. It can be purchased separately or as add-on.

3betting

You should never 3bet bluff, as your opponents will always get the odds to call your 3bet. There are three valid reasons to 3bet: value, isolation and deception.
PLayers tend to disagree on whether you should 3bet out of position at all. Some say its never profitable to do so, others say you should do it a lot. In any case its better to 3bet out of position with a marginal hand than to call, as this gives you initiative.
When you`re up against a bunch of short stacks, its obviously a bad idea to 3bet other than for value.

Postflop

In general, postflop play is more difficult than in NL Holdem, because your opponents ranges are much wider. We recommend this site to get an idea of your equity in certain common postflop situations.
Its very important to pay attention to the way your opponents are playing and to make notes! For example: Does the betsize correspond to the strength of the hand? Does a player bluff missed draws on the river?

You can bluff occasionally, but most of the time you should bet with the nuts and with strong nut-draws. If you have a weak draw to the nuts, you should generally call. Occasionally you should call with a very strong nut hand. Fold everything else!
Note that this means you should never draw to a non-nut hand, especially multiway!

One last bit of advice: a nut flush draw is a very strong semi-bluff hand in PLO, because you have more equity than almost any combo!

Good luck!

Basic info about sng’s

The benefits and disadvantages of sng’s

Every game has its benefits and his disadvantages. The variance by sng’s is pretty high. At cashgames you are able to sit with 100BB constantly and by sng’s that is not the case. Because of that you cannot exploit your edge a lot. The result of that is that the variance will get higher. Another disadvantage is that you will need an hour (at minimum) for a sng. Most of the time a STT takes about 50 min, calculate the time which it takes to start too that and you are over an hour. You can play a cashgame for 30 minutes if you want to. Another one is that you can’t grow that much with playing sng’s. The biggest online winners are all cashgamers. Ofcourse sng’s do have their benefits. If you master a solid standard then it is quite easy to beat. You can learn this very quick and in cashgames you won’t. In cashgames you will come across a lot more difficult spots and therefore it takes more time to learn it. Most of the time the players who are good at sng’s are also good in MTT’s and also the end game of it. Sng-players are used to play with stacks who aren’t deep and therefore they are experienced in it. If you can’t decide what to play then just make some decision. Choose for the thing that pulls at you the most.

Bankroll management

A frequently asked question is: “what kind of bankroll management do I need to maintain?” If you are playing cashgames then that’s an easy question. You only have to look at the limit. If you are playing sng’s then it is a different story. You need to keep the ITMER, buy-in, if it is a turbo or not all in mind. You can imagine that you need less buy ins for a deepstack 9-players sng then for a 180 players turbo sng. If you keep yourself to the below scheme you can are able to play pretty safe.







Volume

It’s important to play with a lot of volume because the variance is high. If you beat $16 (9 players) sng’s with a ROI (return of investment) of 20% (which is good) then you still only win $3,6 for every sng you play. Assume that one sng takes about an hour you still only earn $3,6 an hour and that is not an hourly salary which will make you rich. It is important to attempt to reach the maximum from your profit(highest possible hourly salary). Let’s take another example. If you have a 15% ROI at $3,25 while playing 10 tables at the same time that will earn you more money. You, yourself need to figure out what is the highest profitable point. You need to learn to play a lot of volume, it is a process that everyone has to go through. If you are only able to play 2 tables at the same time then that is also a sign of level. You still have to think a lot about situations and that takes time. If it takes time the result is that you aren’t able to play a lot of tables. As you grow in your skill a lot more “standard situations” will occur and that allows you to play more tables. A commonly used method to play at more tables is to constantly add one table to your amount. For instance you keep yourself to it that you will add one table each week. At PokerStars you are able to choose between tiled and cascade. The benefit of tiled is that you will see a lot of showdowns and it gives you a good overview. The disadvantage of it is that you cannot play that much tables (12+). The benefit of cascade is that you are able to play a lot of tables. The disadvantage is that if you respond too late you will wind up siting out which can lead to a loss in stack and you are completely unaware of it. Also you don’t have a lot reads and it’s not the best option for a nice overviews. There is also a difference between playing constantly or playing sets. The benefit of playing sets is that you are constantly in the same fase from your sng(early stage, midstage and endgame). The disadvantage is that you are playing a lot less sng’s then if you were playing constantly. The disadvantage from playing constantly is that you are different blind levels all the time. If this doesn’t bother to you then it’s recommended to play constantly. You will play more games an hour which means that your hourly salary is also higher.

The use of Holdem Manager and PokerTracker in sng’s
HM(Holdem Manager) or PT(PokerTracker) were actually designed for cashgames. During these days it is also used in a lot in sng’s. An important thing to keep in mind is your HUD(which is aimed at cashgames). You won’t have that much on the 4bet percentage in sng’s because it is rare. Look at the VPIP and PFR percentages for a guess at the level of your opponent. A BIG disadvantage is that stats are able to deceive you. Your opponent will always play a lot more aggressively in a HU then at the beginning of a 9-max sng. 36/26 looks like a donk to you then maybe but 40 hands could possibly be played in a HU sng.

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