I don't think many of us fully understand how important position is during a sitngo. It is "the" most important factor throughout the game , especially when the game reaches the late stages and everyone is fighting for the money.
Understanding the power of position and how to use it effectively is a very important part of sitngo strategy. There are a lot of players who say "I had position on you". And they dont even know what it means. You must understand position, to become a successful sitngo player. PERIOD.
There are 3 different points of position you will have.They are Early, Middle, and Late position. Understanding positition is crucial at the beginning stages of a sitngo. (see post on sitngo strategy). Using position wisely at the beginning will save you valuable chips, and also earn you chips that you need to make it thru to the final stages.
Early Position
Being in early position is a very dangerous part of the game for most sitngo players. If you are one of the first 3 of the nine players to act then you are in "EARLY POSITION". Because you are one of the first to act then that puts you in a spot where you have no idea what kind of hands everyone else at the table has or (what your betting into).Making bets at the beginning stages of a sitngo is a very dangerous and usually costly thing. Many players make bets from early position, only to be called and re-raised and since they have no clue where they are at in the hand then, they are forced to fold, and therefore valuable chips are wasted. An even worse situation occurs when they call the reraise and end up all in by the end of the hand with cards that should have been folded.
Middle Position
Players 4-6 to the left of the dealer in a 9 player sitngo are in "Middle Position". From the middle position you can pick up some information on how strong your hand is, compared to early position, but there are still a few players left after you to act. Being in middle position is better than early, but you definitely don't want to be limping in with sub-par hands here during the early stages.
Late Position
Once your one of the last 3 players left to act, now you are in "late position". This is the position you want to be in. Now it becomes much more easier to get away with bluffs and stealing some blinds. It also becomes way less risky to limp in, because the odds of seeing the flop are greater because there or only 1 or 2 people who can make a raise at this point.
Bottom Line
Understanding position is key in being a successful sitngo player. If your a new sitngo player who has made it to the final stages of a sitngo and you start to become a little confused by everyone taking turns going all in or making big raises. What your seeing is everyone using position to take the blinds for that hand to stay alive. More often than not the person going all in doesn't have the best hand , they just have POSITION! Unless you have a HUGE chip lead at the final stage, you cannot afford to wait for the right hand. If you do not use position to take down pots, YOU WILL BE BLINDED OUT. But remember position will only keep you alive for so long. At some point there will be a Showdown because somebody has to win.
For more underground tactics and strategies on mastering position, check out this post
Showing posts with label sit-and-go strategy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sit-and-go strategy. Show all posts
Sit And Go Strategy : Exploit Your Opponents by Taking Notes On Them
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Taking notes on your opponents is a very easy but not often used tactic by Sit and go players. All you have to do is right click on some player you have noticed doing something worth remembering , and make a note of it. Anyone who puts in enough hours playing in sitngo's at a certain buy in level will frequently encounter the same players. You can give yourself and instant edge over these players by making note of their tendencies. The G.I JOE theme comes to mind - "knowing is half the battle" . LOL
Here are a list of "habits" worth taking note of and using to exploit your opponent , or to avoid them and give yourself an advantage over that player when you meet them at the next sit and go.
#1- How They play Big Hands - Pay attention to what players do when they have a monster hand like AA, KK, AK.etc.... How did they bet it before the flop ? And how did they play it after the flop? Take note of anything that stood out to you about how that player played the hand so when you get into a confrontation with them you know what to look for to determine whether or not you are up against a monster.
#2 - Bluffers - Make a note on someone you notice bluffing a lot. Also make a note of how much they are betting on their bluffs. If you can put someone on a bluff, a re-raise will take down the pot almost every time.
# 3 - Chasers - If you notice a player constantly calling bets all the way to the river on a draw, Take note. If you later find yourself in a situation where you thought you had the best hand until the 3rd diamond came on the river, and your against a player that you have noted will call you down on the flush draw may make it a little easier to answer your own question "did he hit his flush?" Being able to make a good decision here will often times save your tournament life!
# 4 - Dangerous Players - If you find yourself in a confrontation with a player who totally outplays you or traps you on a number of occasions. Take note . You will want to simply avoid that player if at all possible. If they've gotten you twice, why let them get you a third time. Eventually by watching and taking notes on this player it will make it easier for you to deal with them in the future, when a confrontation is inevitable.
# 5 - Anything You Think is Valuable Information - There are so many sit and go strategies out there right now , its hard to keep track of all the odd things some players are doing. Make a note of anything that stands out to you about the play of any certain player. When this player tries to use these tactics on you. You will already have a good idea what your up against.
# 6 - Tight / Aggressive Players - If you notice that a player is tight, and is folding unless they have a monster or hit top pair . Take advantage of that player when you fell that they didn't hit. But, be very cautious if this player raises or re-raises you. On the other side of this , if you notice that a player is super aggressive, take note, and use this info to trap that player when you have a BIG hand , by using their aggressiveness against them.
Start profiling your opponents as a way to become a more profitable sitngo player. If you want info on how to have your opponents profiled automatically CLICK HERE. Good luck at the tables.
Here are a list of "habits" worth taking note of and using to exploit your opponent , or to avoid them and give yourself an advantage over that player when you meet them at the next sit and go.
#1- How They play Big Hands - Pay attention to what players do when they have a monster hand like AA, KK, AK.etc.... How did they bet it before the flop ? And how did they play it after the flop? Take note of anything that stood out to you about how that player played the hand so when you get into a confrontation with them you know what to look for to determine whether or not you are up against a monster.
#2 - Bluffers - Make a note on someone you notice bluffing a lot. Also make a note of how much they are betting on their bluffs. If you can put someone on a bluff, a re-raise will take down the pot almost every time.
# 3 - Chasers - If you notice a player constantly calling bets all the way to the river on a draw, Take note. If you later find yourself in a situation where you thought you had the best hand until the 3rd diamond came on the river, and your against a player that you have noted will call you down on the flush draw may make it a little easier to answer your own question "did he hit his flush?" Being able to make a good decision here will often times save your tournament life!
# 4 - Dangerous Players - If you find yourself in a confrontation with a player who totally outplays you or traps you on a number of occasions. Take note . You will want to simply avoid that player if at all possible. If they've gotten you twice, why let them get you a third time. Eventually by watching and taking notes on this player it will make it easier for you to deal with them in the future, when a confrontation is inevitable.
# 5 - Anything You Think is Valuable Information - There are so many sit and go strategies out there right now , its hard to keep track of all the odd things some players are doing. Make a note of anything that stands out to you about the play of any certain player. When this player tries to use these tactics on you. You will already have a good idea what your up against.
# 6 - Tight / Aggressive Players - If you notice that a player is tight, and is folding unless they have a monster or hit top pair . Take advantage of that player when you fell that they didn't hit. But, be very cautious if this player raises or re-raises you. On the other side of this , if you notice that a player is super aggressive, take note, and use this info to trap that player when you have a BIG hand , by using their aggressiveness against them.
Start profiling your opponents as a way to become a more profitable sitngo player. If you want info on how to have your opponents profiled automatically CLICK HERE. Good luck at the tables.
Sit and Go Strategy - Why Not To Fold Your Small Pocket Pair So Quickly
Sunday, April 4, 2010
If you look at any sitngo strategy guide or read some advice from the pros they are going to tell you to fold your small pocket pairs in the beginning stages of the game, and tell you to only play premium hands, such as AA, KK, QQ, and AK. This may be a proven strategy, but they may be overlooking the reward of making the call with a pocket pair and flopping "trips", opposed to losing the amount of chips it cost me to make the call. Doubling your chip stack in the beginning stages of a sitngo, will almost double your odds of making it into the money.
Small pocket pairs are one of the toughest hands to put your opponent on, so when you limp in or call a raise, they will normally think that you have big cards. What your hoping to do is catch a set on the flop. When you do flop "trips", it is almost hard not to smile because now you know that you are not only about to take this pot down, but many times take ALL of someones chips and double your stack. You are hoping that your opponent hit their ace or king, and they believe they have you beat. You may have risked a small portion of your stack to make the call , but the reward was worth it.
If you don't flop a set, dont give up on the pot . Your hand still may be best. If the flop comes and there aren't any scary cards out there and my opponent checks . I make a bet the size of the pot. A very high percentage of the time , that bet will take down the pot. If someone does call here , it may be because they are drawing, and hoping to hit on the turn. If you get reraised , fold! Do not waste any more chips at this point because are probably beat. But it is also possible , that the rest of the hand will be checked down, and your small pair is still best.
Anytime you are dealt a pocket pair, make sure you evaluate your chipstack and how much it will cost you to see a flop. If you can afford the risk , then you may want to make the call in hopes of getting the reward of doubling your chip stack . Doubling up early in a sitngo will definately increase your odds of making it into the money. Although it isnt necessary, it sure beats fighting for your life on the bubble.
Small pocket pairs are one of the toughest hands to put your opponent on, so when you limp in or call a raise, they will normally think that you have big cards. What your hoping to do is catch a set on the flop. When you do flop "trips", it is almost hard not to smile because now you know that you are not only about to take this pot down, but many times take ALL of someones chips and double your stack. You are hoping that your opponent hit their ace or king, and they believe they have you beat. You may have risked a small portion of your stack to make the call , but the reward was worth it.
If you don't flop a set, dont give up on the pot . Your hand still may be best. If the flop comes and there aren't any scary cards out there and my opponent checks . I make a bet the size of the pot. A very high percentage of the time , that bet will take down the pot. If someone does call here , it may be because they are drawing, and hoping to hit on the turn. If you get reraised , fold! Do not waste any more chips at this point because are probably beat. But it is also possible , that the rest of the hand will be checked down, and your small pair is still best.
Anytime you are dealt a pocket pair, make sure you evaluate your chipstack and how much it will cost you to see a flop. If you can afford the risk , then you may want to make the call in hopes of getting the reward of doubling your chip stack . Doubling up early in a sitngo will definately increase your odds of making it into the money. Although it isnt necessary, it sure beats fighting for your life on the bubble.
The Best Way To Play Ace King
Monday, March 29, 2010
Here you are ,the average SitngoJoe in the middle of a sitngo , and u wake up to Ace King. What do you do?. Not knowing the answer to that question can cost you a boatload of chips. Many of us look at that hand, and fall in love with it. What we dont realize is that Big Slick is a drawing hand. Dont get me wrong, it is a very strong hand PREFLOP. The problem that most of us have is that we cant let it go after the flop, even when we are just DRAWING. When the flop doesnt bring an ace or a king, its like we refuse to believe that our opponent has us beat, and too many times we will call big bets, or even worse, call someones all in, and just like that Big Slick has cost you all your chips.Hopefully you find the following post by Stuart Raffeld as helpful as i did. Please read on.
What Is Big Slick?
The name 'Big Slick' is a nickname for Ace King. Hopefully you knew that. Also Ace king is the 9th best starting hand but is the 7th best starting hand if you get A,K suited!
How To Play Preflop
I know that its a very nice thing to look down at A,K and get pretty happy, but just remember that it is a drawing hand. Because it is as drawing hand, it isn't as strong yet as having a pair.You definately want to make a raise pre-flop with Ace King. Your going to want to use your position to determine the size of the raise. If you are first act then you want to make a raise or around 3 times the big blind. If you find yourself last to act or even next to last to act with Ace King , you want to raise about 5 times the big blind to get all the limpers out. You want to show you have a big hand , but not set yourself up to bust out after the flop if you dont hit.
What To Do After The Flop
After you make your pre flop raise there should technically only be players left with big cards or pocket pairs. The flop will determine your next move. If you dont hit anything on the flop, then dont bet, unless it is checked to you or there is only a small raise made ahead of you. If you are in position and all players have either checked or just limped, then make a big raise. You have the 2 highest cards in the deck, and your most likely up against a weaker hand or a small pocket pair. Do not forget that you still only have a drawing hand. At this point you want to figure out where your at and react accordingly. If the flop is all low cards, you have nothing but high card. If you end up with a flop that gives you a straight possiblity, than your looking at having about 4 outs at best. If you find yourself needing 1 card for the nut flush after the flop, your looking at about 9 outs.
The Bottom Line
Dont fall in love with ACE KING . Its a great starting hand, but if you dont hit on the flip, then you are beat by any pair.(even a stinky pair of 2's). Alot of players just cant let it go. I know you see it happening out there. Remember that if you dont hit on the flop, you are just drawing, and at best only have high card. So analyze the situation and your outs, and adjust accordingly.(its ok to fold A,K somtimes)..lol.... I hope this was helpful. Good luck at the table.
for more information on how to instantly get your odds of winning a hand please read this post.
What Is Big Slick?
The name 'Big Slick' is a nickname for Ace King. Hopefully you knew that. Also Ace king is the 9th best starting hand but is the 7th best starting hand if you get A,K suited!
How To Play Preflop
I know that its a very nice thing to look down at A,K and get pretty happy, but just remember that it is a drawing hand. Because it is as drawing hand, it isn't as strong yet as having a pair.You definately want to make a raise pre-flop with Ace King. Your going to want to use your position to determine the size of the raise. If you are first act then you want to make a raise or around 3 times the big blind. If you find yourself last to act or even next to last to act with Ace King , you want to raise about 5 times the big blind to get all the limpers out. You want to show you have a big hand , but not set yourself up to bust out after the flop if you dont hit.
What To Do After The Flop
After you make your pre flop raise there should technically only be players left with big cards or pocket pairs. The flop will determine your next move. If you dont hit anything on the flop, then dont bet, unless it is checked to you or there is only a small raise made ahead of you. If you are in position and all players have either checked or just limped, then make a big raise. You have the 2 highest cards in the deck, and your most likely up against a weaker hand or a small pocket pair. Do not forget that you still only have a drawing hand. At this point you want to figure out where your at and react accordingly. If the flop is all low cards, you have nothing but high card. If you end up with a flop that gives you a straight possiblity, than your looking at having about 4 outs at best. If you find yourself needing 1 card for the nut flush after the flop, your looking at about 9 outs.
The Bottom Line
Dont fall in love with ACE KING . Its a great starting hand, but if you dont hit on the flip, then you are beat by any pair.(even a stinky pair of 2's). Alot of players just cant let it go. I know you see it happening out there. Remember that if you dont hit on the flop, you are just drawing, and at best only have high card. So analyze the situation and your outs, and adjust accordingly.(its ok to fold A,K somtimes)..lol.... I hope this was helpful. Good luck at the table.
for more information on how to instantly get your odds of winning a hand please read this post.
10 Common Opponent Errors to Start Exploiting Today
Saturday, March 27, 2010
We All can improve our poker game. The best thing we can do to improve is to evaluate our own play and figure out what our weaknesses are and become more disciplined. There are many common mistakes that most of us make and we dont even realize it. For example ,how many times have you lost a big pot and said to yourself "i never should have been in this hand". The funny part is we will make the same mistake the very next game. Please check out the following article by Mark Holland, and hopefully it sheds a little bit of light on what im talking about.
Single table online poker tournaments, popularly known as 'Sit N Go' tournaments are an increasingly popular form of online poker. Usually lasting around 1 hour and playing 3 places these tournaments are available at buy-in levels ranging from just $1 up to $1000! This article focuses on the lower buy-in Sit N Go poker tournaments and examines common errors made by the players you will find there.
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #1 - Playing Too Loose Early
Many opponents will play far to many hands at the start of a Sit N Go - when the blinds are low. The most common error is to play 'easily dominated' hands such as an Ace with a small kicker. Playing only the best starting hands early conserves chips for the more important later stages. If your opponents are playing too loose early make sure you raise strongly when dealt a premium hand - they will be a great source of chips.
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #2 - Multi-Way Pots and Position
Many opponents will enter a multi-way pot by calling a raise pre-flop with a medium strength hand during the early blind levels. This is a dangerous play with a medium pair (for example), these players will have no idea where they stand after the flop and may be out of position relative to the original raiser. Playing for set-value for a small pre-flop investment is one thing - but calling raises in multi-way pots is usually asking to lose a lot of chips.
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #3 - Adjusting to Increasing Blinds
As the blinds increase and the number of players go down then adjustments to your starting hands are required. In the middle stages of a Sit N Go Poker Tournament your raising requirements need to go down the hands with which you can call a raise need to tighten up considerably. A common error would be calling a raise with a small pair - when the blinds reach 10% of your stack implied odds for this play disappear!
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #4 - Bad Play From The Blinds
If you never defend your big blind your will quickly become short stacked in Sit N Go Poker. Conversely always defending will lead to being 'trapped' for a large pot sooner or later. Watch for opponents making errors at the extremes and balance your own play from the blinds - you need to put enough doubt in opponents minds as to whether they can steal from you without going over the top.
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #5 - Understanding the Bubble
Many opponents will not understand the dynamic of bubble play in Sit N Go poker strategy. Errors come in various forms and include not being aware of stack size adjustments and calling all-in bets without premium holdings. Most of the profit in Sit N Go tournaments comes from correct bubble strategy. Make sure you check out resources such as the comprehensive strategy articles at 'Sit and Go Planet' to get a profitable edge in this area.
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #6 - Understanding Chip Equity Models
The Independent Chip Model (ICM) is a key component of good Sit N Go poker strategy. This converts your chip stack into a dollar 'prize pool equity' figure. This figure is then used to compare your risk against reward for all-in confrontations at the bubble. Understanding ICM and adjusting correctly will give you a huge advantage in Sit N Go poker tournaments.
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #7 - Playing 'In The Money'
Once the bubble is burst in a Sit N Go poker tournament your opponents raising and calling ranges will also change dramatically. This in turn will affect how many hands you raise yourself. Correctly understanding the 'In the Money' strategy change will allow you to exploit your opponents weaknesses and move up the payout ladder.
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #8 - Heads Up Battles
Once the blinds are more than 10% of your stack it is possible to play in such a way as to become 'mathematically unexploitable'. Of course it is still possible to adjust to your opponents play, but using 'Nash Equilibrium' models will ensure you can not lose more than your share over time. Readers interested in this can search for the freely available Sit N Go strategy eBook 'A Comedy of Errors'.
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #9 - Playing Trap Hands
There are many adjustments in Sit N Go poker strategy that do not seem obvious to inexperienced players. One such area is 'trap hands'. As the blinds increase and the number of players shrinks some hands become more or less playable. Examples include AK, Suited Connectors and Small Pairs. Make sure you understand the correct strategy adjustments for various levels and see those results improve.
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #1 - Never Stop Learning!
Many of your opponents will get into routine of playing Sit N Go poker using the same old ideas and strategies. The real winners in these games are people who take the time to study, find the weakest sites and opponents and look for their own 'leaks' in addition to those of opponents.
Single table online poker tournaments, popularly known as 'Sit N Go' tournaments are an increasingly popular form of online poker. Usually lasting around 1 hour and playing 3 places these tournaments are available at buy-in levels ranging from just $1 up to $1000! This article focuses on the lower buy-in Sit N Go poker tournaments and examines common errors made by the players you will find there.
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #1 - Playing Too Loose Early
Many opponents will play far to many hands at the start of a Sit N Go - when the blinds are low. The most common error is to play 'easily dominated' hands such as an Ace with a small kicker. Playing only the best starting hands early conserves chips for the more important later stages. If your opponents are playing too loose early make sure you raise strongly when dealt a premium hand - they will be a great source of chips.
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #2 - Multi-Way Pots and Position
Many opponents will enter a multi-way pot by calling a raise pre-flop with a medium strength hand during the early blind levels. This is a dangerous play with a medium pair (for example), these players will have no idea where they stand after the flop and may be out of position relative to the original raiser. Playing for set-value for a small pre-flop investment is one thing - but calling raises in multi-way pots is usually asking to lose a lot of chips.
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #3 - Adjusting to Increasing Blinds
As the blinds increase and the number of players go down then adjustments to your starting hands are required. In the middle stages of a Sit N Go Poker Tournament your raising requirements need to go down the hands with which you can call a raise need to tighten up considerably. A common error would be calling a raise with a small pair - when the blinds reach 10% of your stack implied odds for this play disappear!
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #4 - Bad Play From The Blinds
If you never defend your big blind your will quickly become short stacked in Sit N Go Poker. Conversely always defending will lead to being 'trapped' for a large pot sooner or later. Watch for opponents making errors at the extremes and balance your own play from the blinds - you need to put enough doubt in opponents minds as to whether they can steal from you without going over the top.
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #5 - Understanding the Bubble
Many opponents will not understand the dynamic of bubble play in Sit N Go poker strategy. Errors come in various forms and include not being aware of stack size adjustments and calling all-in bets without premium holdings. Most of the profit in Sit N Go tournaments comes from correct bubble strategy. Make sure you check out resources such as the comprehensive strategy articles at 'Sit and Go Planet' to get a profitable edge in this area.
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #6 - Understanding Chip Equity Models
The Independent Chip Model (ICM) is a key component of good Sit N Go poker strategy. This converts your chip stack into a dollar 'prize pool equity' figure. This figure is then used to compare your risk against reward for all-in confrontations at the bubble. Understanding ICM and adjusting correctly will give you a huge advantage in Sit N Go poker tournaments.
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #7 - Playing 'In The Money'
Once the bubble is burst in a Sit N Go poker tournament your opponents raising and calling ranges will also change dramatically. This in turn will affect how many hands you raise yourself. Correctly understanding the 'In the Money' strategy change will allow you to exploit your opponents weaknesses and move up the payout ladder.
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #8 - Heads Up Battles
Once the blinds are more than 10% of your stack it is possible to play in such a way as to become 'mathematically unexploitable'. Of course it is still possible to adjust to your opponents play, but using 'Nash Equilibrium' models will ensure you can not lose more than your share over time. Readers interested in this can search for the freely available Sit N Go strategy eBook 'A Comedy of Errors'.
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #9 - Playing Trap Hands
There are many adjustments in Sit N Go poker strategy that do not seem obvious to inexperienced players. One such area is 'trap hands'. As the blinds increase and the number of players shrinks some hands become more or less playable. Examples include AK, Suited Connectors and Small Pairs. Make sure you understand the correct strategy adjustments for various levels and see those results improve.
Sit N Go Poker Strategy - Opponent Error #1 - Never Stop Learning!
Many of your opponents will get into routine of playing Sit N Go poker using the same old ideas and strategies. The real winners in these games are people who take the time to study, find the weakest sites and opponents and look for their own 'leaks' in addition to those of opponents.
Pocket Aces..... The Best Hand To Go Broke With !!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
I know we all sit there playing in every sitngo hoping every hand we get dealt is pocket aces, even though we all know that this very hand , even though it is the BEST hand in poker is the hand that has gotten us busted out of a game more times than we would like to think possible. Please read the following post which was written by Michael Neilson and hopefully can give a better way to play the aces , by avoiding busting out with it and maximizing its potential.
Anyone who is familiar with poker, especially texas holdem, knows that pocket aces is the best starting hand you can have out of a total of 169 possible starting hands. Why? Because before the flop this hand is way ahead of every other combination. A pair of aces beats everything else. However, once the flop comes, aces can be way behind very quickly.
Lets cover some odds. Pocket kings through pocket twos all have about an 11% chance of flopping trips against pocket aces. This number has been rounded up slightly. It also has about an 8% chance of catching by the river if trips don't happen on the flop. So roughly 20% of the time pocket aces is going to lose to any other pocket pair. So what happens if we introduce another pocket pair into the equation? For this example we have pocket aces up against pocket kings and pocket sixes. For those of you who are very detail oriented the aces are of clubs and diamonds, the kings are spades and hearts, and the sixes are clubs and spades. Guess what happened to the winning percentage for the aces? It went down of course! The pocket aces before the flop are now only about 65% to win with a 0.25% chance of a split pot. The king before the flop is about 19% to win and the sixes are about 16%. So what happens if someone spikes that 11% for trips? Aces now only have about a 14% chance to win.
Now let's examine a 6 handed table. The percentages may surprise you. Pocket aces against the following hands is only about 33% to win - king queen suited of spades (16% to win), seven two offsuit (8%), three four of hearts (18%), jack ten offsuit (10%), and eight ten suited of diamonds (13%). I'm sure those numbers don't add up to 100%, its all roughly rounded. Three four suited is the surprising one. Then again the aces don't share a suit with it, but the same applies for king queen suited, which has a lower chance of hitting. This has to do with the fact that three four suited can be both an up or down straight draw (2-6 or 3-7 or even 4-8), whereas the odds against the up straight draw happening for king queen has diminished due to two aces being missing from the odds.
Imagine what happens if you throw in another 3 or four players for a full table. Those odds go down even more. You have to push out your opponents when you're holding pocket aces or you will more than likely go broke. That's just how the hand plays out. Less players in the hand means better odds for you. Truth be told you could be holding 72 offsuit and your odds of winning increase when you only have 1 opponent, especially when you figure in bluffing, table image, etc.
The problem with pocket aces, especially online, is when you raise a lot of players know that you're holding something good and they want to crack it. Online players know that aces get cracked more often in online poker so they're willing to try it. The reason behind this is simple, it's not a completely random shuffle as it's a computer program trying to randomly shuffle. Most people can't do a perfect shuffle so imagine trying to get a computer program that understands only 1's and 0's (on off) as commands trying to do it. With so many variables that come into play it would be very difficult to include every possible variable. People mess up shuffling, computers can't mess up, thus probabilities are slightly different online than at your local home game. At your home game cards typically don't go 1,2,1,2 so yeah, odds vary from place to place. Sad but true. This doesn't change the fact that you must push out as many opponents as possible when holding aces. Even if the odds change 20% in favor of your opponent due to a bad shuffle you still stand a better chance of beating one opponent than nine.
Anyone who is familiar with poker, especially texas holdem, knows that pocket aces is the best starting hand you can have out of a total of 169 possible starting hands. Why? Because before the flop this hand is way ahead of every other combination. A pair of aces beats everything else. However, once the flop comes, aces can be way behind very quickly.
Lets cover some odds. Pocket kings through pocket twos all have about an 11% chance of flopping trips against pocket aces. This number has been rounded up slightly. It also has about an 8% chance of catching by the river if trips don't happen on the flop. So roughly 20% of the time pocket aces is going to lose to any other pocket pair. So what happens if we introduce another pocket pair into the equation? For this example we have pocket aces up against pocket kings and pocket sixes. For those of you who are very detail oriented the aces are of clubs and diamonds, the kings are spades and hearts, and the sixes are clubs and spades. Guess what happened to the winning percentage for the aces? It went down of course! The pocket aces before the flop are now only about 65% to win with a 0.25% chance of a split pot. The king before the flop is about 19% to win and the sixes are about 16%. So what happens if someone spikes that 11% for trips? Aces now only have about a 14% chance to win.
Now let's examine a 6 handed table. The percentages may surprise you. Pocket aces against the following hands is only about 33% to win - king queen suited of spades (16% to win), seven two offsuit (8%), three four of hearts (18%), jack ten offsuit (10%), and eight ten suited of diamonds (13%). I'm sure those numbers don't add up to 100%, its all roughly rounded. Three four suited is the surprising one. Then again the aces don't share a suit with it, but the same applies for king queen suited, which has a lower chance of hitting. This has to do with the fact that three four suited can be both an up or down straight draw (2-6 or 3-7 or even 4-8), whereas the odds against the up straight draw happening for king queen has diminished due to two aces being missing from the odds.
Imagine what happens if you throw in another 3 or four players for a full table. Those odds go down even more. You have to push out your opponents when you're holding pocket aces or you will more than likely go broke. That's just how the hand plays out. Less players in the hand means better odds for you. Truth be told you could be holding 72 offsuit and your odds of winning increase when you only have 1 opponent, especially when you figure in bluffing, table image, etc.
The problem with pocket aces, especially online, is when you raise a lot of players know that you're holding something good and they want to crack it. Online players know that aces get cracked more often in online poker so they're willing to try it. The reason behind this is simple, it's not a completely random shuffle as it's a computer program trying to randomly shuffle. Most people can't do a perfect shuffle so imagine trying to get a computer program that understands only 1's and 0's (on off) as commands trying to do it. With so many variables that come into play it would be very difficult to include every possible variable. People mess up shuffling, computers can't mess up, thus probabilities are slightly different online than at your local home game. At your home game cards typically don't go 1,2,1,2 so yeah, odds vary from place to place. Sad but true. This doesn't change the fact that you must push out as many opponents as possible when holding aces. Even if the odds change 20% in favor of your opponent due to a bad shuffle you still stand a better chance of beating one opponent than nine.
Basic Sitngo Strategy.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Here is the Basic Sitngo Strategy that i have learned over many hours of playing and doing a lot of research online, and purchasing a few different strategy guides. The game starts with 9 players , all starting with 1500 chips. The top 3 finishers win a portion of the prize pool. These 3 players are also known as being In The Money. First place will take down 50 percent of the prize pool, 2nd place takes 30%, and 3rd place 20%. Sitngo's are the cash cow of online poker. There is virtually no wait to get into a sitngo , regardless of the buyin level. A game will be starting at the level you want to play approximately every 2 minutes, and they average about an hour in duration. There are three stages to a sitngo, which i will explain to you as we go on.
Stage one of the sitngo is the Early Stage. During this stage , you want to sit back and watch the action and play nothing but level one , or premium hands. These hands are basically, aces, kings , queens, or ace king, and jacks*(be careful with jacks). With hands jack queen , 10s, 9s, ace queen, king queen, or ace jack, you only want to call if you are almost last to act and there has not been a considerable raise. I know its hard to fold if you have one of these good non-premium hands, but trust me , for the most part you will only get yourself in trouble. Here is one example you will often see in the early stages of a sitngo. Someone makes a large raise, and one player calls. The flop brings out a Queen as the high card. The original raiser makes a pot sized bet , and the other player reraises. The next thing you know there are 2 players all in. Then you see that the original raiser has ace queen , up against king queen. Needless to say , the guy who thought his king queen was way ahead , finds himself trying to find the next sitngo to register into. It has happened to me countless times, and probably you too. When you do find yourself with a premium hand , make sure you raise at least 5 times the big blind. You may think that you want to get a lot of action with kings or aces. But the reality is you dont. You would rather be heads up against one caller, and take all that players chips. You may have learned this lesson already by having your aces or kings cracked by something like 9,10 suited. You want to bet that person out of the hand and hope the guy with Ace queen calls and you can get all their chips, and when stage 2 of the sitngo starts, you have more chips to make moves with. Remember to play tight and watch players knock themselves out, and hopefully you can get a premium hand and knock someone out yourself, but if not its ok. Most often then not , stage 2 will start and you will have less chips then you started with.
This brings us to the Middle Stage of the sitngo. This stage begins when there are either 3 players out , or the big blind has reached 100 chips. Ideally, there will be 3 players gone once the blinds reach 100 , but that is not always the case. During the middle stage, it is ok to call a raise or raise with hands like ace queen or ace jack or a pair like 9s, or 10s. One thing that ive learned from my personal experience, after making a raise preflop, getting a caller , and then hitting the high card on the flop. Of course you are going to make a large bet to get the person off their hand. If that person , reraises all in or even reraises at all, chances are you need to get out of the hand regardless of how much you have in the pot or how good you think your top pair is . The odds are that you have run into trips or 2 pair and your high card with a great kicker is now trash. A big part of becoming a GREAT poker player, is the ability to make a good lay down. It takes time to learn this , but it is very true. During this Middle Stage , position is key. You want to be raising with decent hands with only a couple players left to act, and hopefully taking the pot down preflop. You want to be going all in with premium hands no matter what position you are in. Taking down blinds is very crucial, because you dont want to enter the late stage shortstacked if at all possible.
You have finally made it to the Final Stage of the sitngo. At this point , there are 4 players left. Remember that the final 3 players are IN THE MONEY. Everyone left is on the bubble. Because the amount of the big blind is huge compared the the chipstack at this point, most players are either all in or folding. Be careful if someone just calls the big blind which happens to be one third of their chipstack, because most likely , they are setting a trap for you to raise the pot so they can go all in. You should probably just fold your decent hand in that situation. Also remember that you want to be the person making the raise or going all in and taking the blinds , and not the person calling (unless you have a premium hand of course). While on the bubble, be aggressive with decent hands in position, because NOBODY wants to go out in 4th. I know it will get annoying because you will realize that people are raising in position to take the blinds. Let them! eventually you will have a good enough hand to call them and either take them out or double up. Once you get into heads up play , the basic rule of thumb is going all in with any ace or any king, and only calling an all in with a pair or a medium ace or medium king. When you make your pushes you want to primarily be first to act. Your opponent will be more likely to go all in , than to call your all in. (be aware that someone having a large chip advantage will play a role in this as well). Play smart , and hopefully you can take down first place, But the main objective when you are playing in sitngos is to cash, or make it in the money. A successful sitngo player will cash in at least 75% of sitngos played.
What i have just explained to you is just the BASIC sitngo strategy, for more in depth strategies i recommend you get a strategy guide as well as read the other posts on this blog , which i will be updating daily to help you get the edge on your sitngo opponents. If you have any questions or requests please contact me directly or leave a comment, and i will give you a quick response. Good luck at the tables. There is a sitngo starting in 2 minutes waiting for you to register in.
Stage one of the sitngo is the Early Stage. During this stage , you want to sit back and watch the action and play nothing but level one , or premium hands. These hands are basically, aces, kings , queens, or ace king, and jacks*(be careful with jacks). With hands jack queen , 10s, 9s, ace queen, king queen, or ace jack, you only want to call if you are almost last to act and there has not been a considerable raise. I know its hard to fold if you have one of these good non-premium hands, but trust me , for the most part you will only get yourself in trouble. Here is one example you will often see in the early stages of a sitngo. Someone makes a large raise, and one player calls. The flop brings out a Queen as the high card. The original raiser makes a pot sized bet , and the other player reraises. The next thing you know there are 2 players all in. Then you see that the original raiser has ace queen , up against king queen. Needless to say , the guy who thought his king queen was way ahead , finds himself trying to find the next sitngo to register into. It has happened to me countless times, and probably you too. When you do find yourself with a premium hand , make sure you raise at least 5 times the big blind. You may think that you want to get a lot of action with kings or aces. But the reality is you dont. You would rather be heads up against one caller, and take all that players chips. You may have learned this lesson already by having your aces or kings cracked by something like 9,10 suited. You want to bet that person out of the hand and hope the guy with Ace queen calls and you can get all their chips, and when stage 2 of the sitngo starts, you have more chips to make moves with. Remember to play tight and watch players knock themselves out, and hopefully you can get a premium hand and knock someone out yourself, but if not its ok. Most often then not , stage 2 will start and you will have less chips then you started with.
This brings us to the Middle Stage of the sitngo. This stage begins when there are either 3 players out , or the big blind has reached 100 chips. Ideally, there will be 3 players gone once the blinds reach 100 , but that is not always the case. During the middle stage, it is ok to call a raise or raise with hands like ace queen or ace jack or a pair like 9s, or 10s. One thing that ive learned from my personal experience, after making a raise preflop, getting a caller , and then hitting the high card on the flop. Of course you are going to make a large bet to get the person off their hand. If that person , reraises all in or even reraises at all, chances are you need to get out of the hand regardless of how much you have in the pot or how good you think your top pair is . The odds are that you have run into trips or 2 pair and your high card with a great kicker is now trash. A big part of becoming a GREAT poker player, is the ability to make a good lay down. It takes time to learn this , but it is very true. During this Middle Stage , position is key. You want to be raising with decent hands with only a couple players left to act, and hopefully taking the pot down preflop. You want to be going all in with premium hands no matter what position you are in. Taking down blinds is very crucial, because you dont want to enter the late stage shortstacked if at all possible.
You have finally made it to the Final Stage of the sitngo. At this point , there are 4 players left. Remember that the final 3 players are IN THE MONEY. Everyone left is on the bubble. Because the amount of the big blind is huge compared the the chipstack at this point, most players are either all in or folding. Be careful if someone just calls the big blind which happens to be one third of their chipstack, because most likely , they are setting a trap for you to raise the pot so they can go all in. You should probably just fold your decent hand in that situation. Also remember that you want to be the person making the raise or going all in and taking the blinds , and not the person calling (unless you have a premium hand of course). While on the bubble, be aggressive with decent hands in position, because NOBODY wants to go out in 4th. I know it will get annoying because you will realize that people are raising in position to take the blinds. Let them! eventually you will have a good enough hand to call them and either take them out or double up. Once you get into heads up play , the basic rule of thumb is going all in with any ace or any king, and only calling an all in with a pair or a medium ace or medium king. When you make your pushes you want to primarily be first to act. Your opponent will be more likely to go all in , than to call your all in. (be aware that someone having a large chip advantage will play a role in this as well). Play smart , and hopefully you can take down first place, But the main objective when you are playing in sitngos is to cash, or make it in the money. A successful sitngo player will cash in at least 75% of sitngos played.
What i have just explained to you is just the BASIC sitngo strategy, for more in depth strategies i recommend you get a strategy guide as well as read the other posts on this blog , which i will be updating daily to help you get the edge on your sitngo opponents. If you have any questions or requests please contact me directly or leave a comment, and i will give you a quick response. Good luck at the tables. There is a sitngo starting in 2 minutes waiting for you to register in.
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