Here you have a very lovely well structured torny that I think FT should expand on a little more because it is just that much better at keeping the Donks from winning long run then anyother structure out there other then UBs structure for tornys. They take roughly 3 hours 30 mins to 4 hours and 10 mins.
Start of the torny:
Play tight stay right dont get cute and just try to get your chips in with QQ or better and hope it holds. Pot size bets are your best case senerio here as it builds the pot, promotes action but also keeps SOME of the any two card limpers out. Do not have the slightest worry of laying down a hand here because you can be beat very easy at this point. Also do not waste your time or money with followup betting. There are to many fancy play syndrome people and those that will call down with nothing to waste resources this early in the torny. It has been said and is worth repeating that a torny is not won in the first hour but can be lost with ease.
After about 10 minutes you will have lost 1/10 of the field or so rapidly. Its at this point you can generaly limp in with some higher suited connectors and J-10 off assuming your table is a bunch of chicken shits and limp in as well constantly. Do not value your top pair or in some cases your flush when playing suited connectors. Your main goal is to slam a straight right on the flop and punish AK or other high value hands that these people couldnt lay down if the cards where covered with anthrax. Do not call to high a raise because you may want to chase something after the flop and a pot size bet could cost dearly. J-10 is the most lovely hand here because if you make a str8 they have hit either high pair or high two pair meaning there stack is no doubt yours.
50 people left Blinds roughly 50/100:
This is where it starts to get fun people. Play your game and play it well tear up the felt however you see fit but dont get to crazy its still kind of early. The crazy comes in about one hour after this point.
30 people left:
Now its almost time for the crazy to begin. Test the waters here and there while paying close attention to your table. Are they loose? Are they tight? Or most important of all... Will they fold to a 2 or 3x the BB preflop raise. If so your in luck and about to final table this torny easier then wiping a fat mans ass. If its suited raise. If its connected raise... if its... cards...well theres a good chance you should raise. If they reraise... unless you have high suited connectors or a monster then just fold. You will pick up so many blinds and antes which equal about 1500 per steal you will soon climb to the top ten if your not there already. If you are you can bet atlest second or third is well within reach. Just keep it reasonable and if possible slightly under the radar. The longer you get away with it the better you will be.
Two to the money.
Now under the radar shit is out the window and its time to be the one to just rob these I wanna make the money people blind. Just take there chips... They dont want them anymore. They want to exchange there chips for $1.62 you dont. You want first place. Now and then you will run into another you stealing everything in sight and sometimes you just have to use position and take what you can. There is also the issues of limper callers at this point. They can help you or hurt you bigtime depending on if they are hitting or not. These folks are normaly quite weak and of no concern but non the lest you must watch out for them.
ITM:
Booooom... Thats the sound you will hear as all those little stacks are left with next to nothing and the table exploads into an all in fest. Suck it up and try to play decent once again. Soon enough you will be at the final table. You do not want to lose your chips now you want to grow. These pots still dont make you much money and you want to be in the top 4 of the SNG for the payout to really be noticed. I would limp if you have the stack with Suited connectors in MP and raise 3x the BB with them if its folded to you.
FT:
Now this is poker. If you look them up more then likely half your table or more has a winning ROI. These are generally good players but that is a weakness you can exploit if your careful. Just play the best game you can and survive as long as possible. I hear so many people talk about how they get there money in good and lose so its OK. Its not OK. Stop getting your money all in this is not a damn ring game and you dont get paid for getting your money in good you get paid for outlasting the next guy. Keep this in mind because its what seperates the SNG player from the cash game grinder.
You can check my progress here,
http://www.officialpokerrankings.com/fu ... D.html?t=2 and see that over all I currently have a 53% ROI and its much higher if I just included these SNGs and no MTTs. These things are a walk in the park for any halfway skilled pokerplayer and I suggest anyway play them who needs a BR boost. The main key to these an i myself fall pray to this more then I should is frustration. You have a chip you have a chair, you have a chance. DONT BLOW IT just because the cards are not running good right now. Im in one right now where I almost did such a thing with 33 players left. I was low stacked because of being outflopped every single hand. The table where calling stations and serial bluffers. It was hard to get ahead and I just had to ride it out until I moved tables. Now I went from second to last back up to six where I belong because I did not let the frustration get to me. I turned off my radio and focused even more to make sure I didnt screw up. Now im sitting pretty with only 5 more till the money.
I wish I could give you more info but somethings are best kept to myself and honestly I couldn't exactly tell you why I win so many of these things. I just play my game for the most part with some minor modifications to suit the structure and styles and are very common now it feels so easy to make the money where atfirst I was just skimming along hoping to make it. Now I expect to make it and Its a question of how deep not if.
