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January 17th 2008
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Poker Lessons)
Poker Lesson: Playing Six-Handed
SNGs
Author: Scott Fischman
Most people are familiar with the differences between
one-table Sit & Go tournaments (SNGs) and other forms of poker.
Because these tournaments only pay the top three finishers at
a nine-handed table, the standard strategy is to play conservatively
until the tournament becomes short-handed and then become more
aggressive during short-handed play.
Many newer SNG players favor these nine-handed tournaments
because the blinds only increase every six minutes, providing
a good amount of play. While these are great tournaments, I also
encourage people to try other types of SNGs, including turbos
where the blinds increase every three minutes, and six-handed
games where you start off playing short-handed and only the top-two
finishers are paid.
For really fast-paced excitement, however, I play
six-handed turbo SNGs where I'm facing both short tables and quick
blinds. The structure of these SNGs forces me to play each hand
more carefully as the combination of fast blinds and short-handed
play means one mistake can be crippling or even fatal. They also
let me finish in time for dinner.
Succeeding in these tournaments requires making
some adjustments to your standard SNG strategy. As with any short-handed
table, one of the most important things you need to do is open
up your starting hand requirements - but not too much. You shouldn't
be playing trash, especially in early position, but you should
be willing to see more flops in hopes of hitting a big hand. That
said, you shouldn't play with the intention of stealing blinds
- especially in the early going - as there's just not enough value
in that play to make it worthwhile.
This leads me to the biggest mistake I see many
people make in these kinds of games, which is playing too loose.
For some reason, people think they have to go crazy at short-handed
tables in an effort to pick up chips early on. Generally, one
or two players go broke right away and, all of a sudden, you have
four people left at the table with only two spots getting paid.
Once you've lost a couple players, there's usually
one person who's built up a big chip stack and plays too aggressively
in an effort to bully the rest of the table. You have to hang
tough in this situation, even if you're sitting on just around
1,000 chips. The bully wants to double you up, so you might as
well let him.
If you are lucky enough to double up or accumulate
chips early on, don't give them up easily. Instead of siphoning
off your chips by calling raises out of position or trying to
steal too much, pick your spots carefully and continue to play
tight, aggressive poker.
Because these short-handed tournaments only pay
out two places, you should begin applying more pressure on your
competition as you approach the bubble. Your goal should be to
finish first, as you'll earn three times your buy-in as opposed
to just doubling your buy-in for second place. Look for the player
who is just seeking to squeeze their way into the money and attack
their stack as much as possible in order to force their hand and
hopefully, induce a mistake. At this point, the quickly rising
blinds should force the bubble boy to push all-in with a less
than stellar hand.
Overall, it's a simple but effective strategy. Play
relatively tight and put yourself in a position to double up through
the table bully in the early to middle stages, and then attack
when you reach the bubble. This will put you in position to make
the money and play heads-up for the win.
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