[johnf]

Im not the pro but here is a conversation between someone who knows what he is doing and someone who doesent. The advice is very good.

Last night I was playing a 5 dollar sng. Im fairly new and my friend was observing me giving me advice. I assume he knows what hes doing but figured I would ask you guys what you think about his advice.

Its not really in order, but this is a basic summary of what he said


My brother won that sit and go last night btw. Gotta be aggressive or you can't win. All the moneys at the top. Sit and gos are not about survival. Go for 1st or don't play

"me" Ya i watched him play. Raise or fold. I am not as skilled as you 2 so i play to stay.

Trying to warn ya, you will lose money over time with that strategy. Learn from my mistakes.

When less then 6 people still in - Almost never be the first one into the pot without raising. Very important. You want to be the one in charge. You have more of a chance of winning chips. I'll explain.

1. Could win blinds right there if all fold.
2. If called, everyone in could miss the flop. 90% of the time the flop is checked to the raiser. You bet, you win.
3. If called you could hit the flop and take down a nice pot.
4. If called you could miss the flop and others hit. Resulting in loss of chips.

As you can see. The advantages out weigh the disadvantages 3 to 1.

[chris]

well I have been playing the weak/tight style as you described and am up 57 dollars in my first week of online play... I play 2+.50 no limit holdem SNGs

I tend to limp alot and really hate to make a preflop raise but when I do raise its 3XBB. I find that playing this strategy allows me to take advantage of the players who constantly try to steal from me b/c they never know when I have the cards as I like to mix up my play.

I never play ring games, but the weak/tight strategy at least in the early stages of tournament play I find is the best way to go for most.

This article is somewhat right but in my experience if you play the weak/tight strategy right, it can work.

[razor]

I agree with the aggressive style... but what if theres another player at the table who is extremely aggressive and will raise your 4Xbb, to 10Xbb... and often! how do u play aggressive when theres an even more aggressive player at the table who knows how to play players, and not necasarily his cards... basically a very skilled and successful no limit aggressive player. how do you play him? play the flop and then if you miss lay it? cause if you play at him and he has a piece of the board hell play back... trust me i know

[chris]

Well i have been placing first consistently and I only play the supertight style early on...

Once I get shorstacked or it gets down to 5ppl I loosen up a lot and try to put myself in the money.

[pritz]

It all depends on how the weak player is playing weak. If hes scared to bet with his own money then thats better for you. He may have something of value bot not want to bet a lot of money because hes scared of the flop turning out nothing. Best way to play weak players is to bully them. Steal blinds here and there, but dont do it all the time because eventually they are just going to call you anyways. What im saying is try not to buy the pot with a hand like 2 4 because then if they call or raise your most likely going to have to fold

Lets say you get 9 10.
Weak players gets K J

Blinds are 10/20 so lets say you bet 60. Weak player either folds or calls. Now since he called you know he has something of value in his hand, but lets find out how much of value his hand really is worth after the flop.

Flop is 3 6 8. You have nothing but he has been playing weak all day. To find out if he has a strong pair you bet. You bet 100. Weak player will fold 8 out of 10 times to a fair sized bet if he didnt make his pair on the flop.


"If i playes 2/4 or something I'd be fine but if it was 20/40 thats different, so as you move up, can bad habits come back?"

First of all if we are talking 20/40$ blinds im guessing most people at the table will know how to play fairly well or are very rich. To play at this limit you need a fairly good sized bankroll. Either way...no matter the stakes you cant be afraid to bet with your money, but like I said you should have a big enough bank roll to be able to bet "correctly" and play your hand the way it should be played. If your scared to bet or lose your money then you shouldnt be playing these stakes anyway


"Personally I see a lot of a table limping in on a regular basis and I play a lot tighter and wait for solid start hands and bet them off. If there are many limpers often is that considered loose play to most? To me i think it is, or do you think there are some good players just fishing for cards cuz it's cheap?"

Im not saying not to limp in at times. By all means if you get a 6 8 in your hand and everyone allows you to limp in..do it. No sense in betting a hand like this unless you can see the flop for cheap. Thats where people make their first mistake. They have a A J and they check. They should be betting to push out the weak hands from getting a hand on the flop. So they let you see the flop for free/cheap and flop is 6 8 9. Now their A J they were holding is useless because they didnt bet pre flop.

Like I said tight is good. But there are times when you want to limp in...that you have to judge for yourself. If you are shortstacked, that is also a good time to start playing tight but also limping in to see flops for free.

[ThomasR]

His advice is good, but perhaps a little loose for the absolute beginners - there is always a risk involved when trying to command a game. You run into someone of the same mindset and you can quickly find yourself challenged - if you're against someone that knows what they're doing, blind stealing can quickly become an expensive hobby.

Play reasonably aggressively, as he said in a tournament it's 1st or nothing (nearly), but at a regular ring game I would slow things down a bit.