Get Scared Sometimes...

[RMajury]

First of all, hello to everyone at FTR. I am probably one of the newest members to this site, and I intend to frequent FTR into the future. My first concern right now with online low-limit poker, is the fact that I can get nervous/antsy when there are 3-4 players left in an SnG.. and people of all stack sizes are betting quite aggressively.

I am, for the most part, pretty tight; and I find the high blinds at this point in the SnG is eating my chip stack away.

How should I adjust to remedy this, and not be so intimidated by the aggressive betting?

Thanks in advance for the help.
Cheers!

[TLR]

Play much more agressively, loosen up your starting hands requirements a bit, play position - thats the technical part.

On the mental part it is tougher. Think about it that the payout for 1st place is 2.5 the payout to 3rd. So try not to think about 'getting in money' but try to think of getting first place, and first place only. In this state of mind you will have no choice but to play more agressively.

Remember that as the number of players decrease you need less of a hand to win.

One more important thing is where you play. I play at pokerstars where the blind structure is such that the blinds are pretty low relative to stack size compared to most other sites. Shop around the sites and pick one in which you get a lot of starting chips and the blinds advance relatively slow, this will give more time to play tight before the blinds eat you alive.

[RMajury]

I am playing at PokerStars, as well.

I enjoy it much better here than other pokersites I have tried in the past.

[Staresy]

To run an example, sit down with a pack of cards and deal out series after series of hole cards, face-up, for four players and see what kind of hands are being dealt up and which look the best. Then start dealing the flops to work out which hands work out better at this stage. You will soon get a much better idea of which hands are playable 4 handed. Most of the hands you will find are Ace Hi, pocket pairs and two paint/face but the difference being that, at this stage, calling is not really used very often at all, you will find it is raise or fold.

Alternatively, log in to PokerStars and go to one of the higher buy-in tables and just watch the bubble period and see what people are doing there. It will show you that a lot of hands are simple raises and blind steals but also show you the type of hands that are getting played out. However, it will also provide you with the chance to work out what hands people are playing (providing you with the opportunity to practise reading other players).

Being fearless is a must, but essentially, this all comes with experience and is one of the toughest facets to SnG play because there are so many different features to it.

Hope this helps

[Gatlin Dan]

Check out the Stickies at the top of the Sit N Go forum. They will help you immensely.

[drmcboy]

Make sure you're playing within your BR.

[WhooFleuryScores]

Anytime you have an Ace(esp suited),King/high card(esp suited) or a PP you need to put the pressure on.DON'T FEAR THE BUBBLE.Phil Helmuth once said "does your life change if you finish 26th and only 25 get paid?" Play for first or don't play as much(since you're not going to place ITM all the time anyways.Come for the $15 top prize for the $3 SNG,the $25 first for the $5 SNG etc.