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*Quick note - I'm not an amazing player by any means, and not really all that good. Also I haven't played SNGs in a little while, but I was decent at them when I played them. So whatever you read here, if anyone does, take it lightly until verified by other sources*
 Originally Posted by wonderland
So i get that i need to see the longer term bigger picture. I guess i should do it when i get a job to fund it until i can get consistent skills. I just never had any idea it would take more than a few solid months to be SOME profit, i literally can't make any. To date, i've won lost won lost and never made a penny overall. But, that said, my understanding is coming along.
Just a little info here. You don't have to start out with a massive roll to get to the higher stakes, it will obviously just take longer. The reasoning behind this is because, while poker involves a huge amount of skill there is also a certain amount of "luck". And while you can play amazing consistently, you can still lose over and over again for a good amount of time. This is called variance. And it happens and there is no way around it. You will go on a heater and win 90% of your last 20 sngs or something, then negative variance will hit and you will lose 80% of your next 20 sngs (obviously just pulling the numbers out of my ass).
So, whatever stakes you chose to play you MUST make sure you have a deep enough bankroll to sustain when variance hits. That is, you want to be able to keep playing the same level comfortably even when you get sucked out on in your last 5 SNGs because you have a deep enough BR. For SNGs, I think the general consensus is somewhere between 20-50 buyins. Less buyins for the lower levels, and more buyins and you get to higher buyin SNGs because the competition gets better.
To go of course really quick. Making a significant amount of money at poker will take time. There is a strong learning curve. Not to mention if you are building a roll correctly you just won't be getting into big enough games quick enough. You can essentially build a roll from nothing in poker. I have done it before going from $0 to $400 in SNGs, and my current roll went from $50 to $2600 in a little over 4 months. But you start out SLOOOOOOW. That is unless you have not only the money to play in the bigger games, but the skill as well.
I highly suggest that you look for a job, as I doubt you will be able to sustain yourself on poker at this time. And you probably won't be able to for a few months, maybe longer depending on how much time and effort you put into it.
So look at your BR and divide it by 20-30 and see what you get. My thoughts is you shouldn't be playing $5.50 SNGs until your BR is at least >$100, and that is cutting it close. And this is of course if you have the disipline to drop down when you go on a bad run. That is to say you play $5.50 with a $100 roll and if you lose a few and the roll is at say $80 you drop down to $1.20 or so SNGs until back up at $100 or higher.
I manipulate the length of time i take to bet in order to influence what another player might think i have. Checking quick when i hit trips and calling slowly when he raises my nut flush after the flop (then checking on the turn and river)
Not sure how to feel on the manipulating time thing. I know in some spots a quick bet is percieved one way and then at times another etc. So if you can be pretty sure you know how they will percieve it and then mislead them then that's okay. However, make sure you don't fall into doing the same thing everytime and developing a tell this way that better players will pick up on and then pick you off with.
As far as the "checking quick when I hit trips and calling slowly when he raises my nut flush after the flop (then checking on the turn and river)", I don't really like this at all, for easily explainable reasons. In general, without a read that a player will do the betting for you and fold if you do the betting yourself, then you should be betting your monsters (aka flushes, sets, etc) because you want to get value out of these hands. You don't want to flop a set of 8s and then check/call the flop, then check the turn and have him check behind, then you check the river again. You are getting only 1 street of value with what is most likely the best hand. Instead you want to take a line that gets the most money in when you have the goods, and this will differ depending on the preflop action, board, and player you are against.
I slow play reeeeal good. People often have no idea what's happened until i've gutted them (on the rare time i do get a good hand)
See above. The only thing I can add is telling you the reasons you bet. When you bet, you want to accomplish a few things, and in different situations your goal differs. In general you want to (1) get better hands to fold...(2) Get worse hands to call....(3) protect your hand. So this leads to the logic that you would be betting your monsters for value because so many worse hands call, while at the same time you are betting your complete air (only in good spots... Do NOT go bluff crazy thinking I have to bet here because it's total air) because you have no value if you get to a showdown and so many better hands fold. So with a monster that you consider worthy of a "slow play" be careful because this could be why you are getting drawn out on. You hit TPTK and decide to slowplay and your opponent turns two pair or whatever.
I've been calling all the way to the river with second highest pair a few times and won because i' m developing a sense for when my paired 9 is just probably the best hand even though a J hit on the river. You know those times when all you have is a pair of 3s and you just know you can call?
Be careful with this as well. I'm not saying never call without the absolute goods. However, your main goal in a SNG is to survive. You don't want to bleed off chips with second or third pair when your opponent is telling you that you are beat. And just because you call him down and he shows you the 10% of the time you aren't doesn't mean that it was a great play. As far as your paired 9s being good when a J hits on the river, that's fine if you feel the J didn't hit your opponents range. You will essentially put your opponent on a range of hands you think he might play in the instance he is playing. If you feel that in that range he doesn't show up with a J very often and you beat most the rest of his range then that's fine.
Getting out of a good hand because it's not the best hand. Not getting too attached to it. I think this has been huge in keeping me going in SNGs. That said, my issue then becomes other people raising me out of some very good hands.
One thing I would like to say here. You do not have to have a hand to bet. I know that sounded stupid and your like duh!! But seriously, alot of the times you will be making a play based on the board, your opponent's tendancies, how he has played the hand, etc. And you would do this no matter what cards you hold. And remember that this goes both ways. They won't always have a hand when they make a play. Doesn't mean call without anything, but don't be eager to toss away very strong hands just because your opponent is saying your beat. Take into consideration all the information available (state of SNG, board, opponent, etc) because making your decision.
Independent Chip Model? hmmm, don't know much about it.
You will need to read up about this. I also encourage you to go looking online this very moment for SNGWizard, and download the free trial. Then after every SNG you play load that SNG into SNGWiz, then review it. Essentially, what SNG wiz does is analyze your push/fold game (which btw should come into play when you have around 10bbs left. This doesn't mean you have to have 10 or less as I will sometimes shove a hand that I dont' want to play postflop with 12-13 etc).
Push/ fold. Umm... if my stack is piss and the other players are trying to force me out then i will go to push/ fold then. Before that i fold about 90% of hands. Sneak it, zap someone by slowplaying, then get back to folding. It's when fuck all comes down over and over that i find myself in a low stack and there's 5 of us left. They're all folding and no one dares to put money out there. In short, when the blinds get to about 50/100 and my stack is about 900 chips.
This is really close. The general rule is 10bb. So if blinds are 50/100 and your stack is 1,000 you should either push a hand preflop or fold preflop. Reason being is if you make, or call, a stand 3-4xbb raise you are pretty much committed to any flop, so you should increase your fold equity by raising more preflop. (ex. You have 10bb and standard raise to 3bb preflop with KQs. You get one caller. The pot is now 7.5bbs. The flop totally misses you. Well you are getting around 2:1 odds to call a shove from your opponent or shove at the pot yourself. However, that is gonna feel like shit when you miss. So just get in pre and see how it goes from there, like I said also increasing your fold equity.
That thing about the hand history sounds amazing. People will go through your whole game?! that sounds like a hell of a chore. I'd like to look into that though, sounds very useful.
Yeah. Whatever poker site you are using you should have an option to save the hand histories to your computer. Make sure you are doing this and know where you are saving to. Then go to the tourney trimmer and trim it and put it in a thread. And it really isn't that time-consuming, especially if you look over a few. You can post it in the SNG forum and plenty of good players will review. It's hands down the most helpful thing you can do as a SNG player imo. Also another good thing is to go find good SNG players trimmed tournies and review them yourself seeing if you would make the same play. Look for Taipan68, GatorJH, Bjsaust, and a few others.
Sorry if this post has gone on a bit, i appreciate your help!
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unlucky player syndrome
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