how to be a consistent winner on low stakes sng's?

[Evenflown 0]

I've been playing a lot of $5 and $10 Sit and Goes on PokerStars, needless to say the players are horrible, and when my cards are running good it's incredibly easy to win them, but lately I've been running into a major problem, not getting good cards.I've read a lot of different strategies about how to win at these levels, and they always say play tight, straight forward poker. But against these guys, they are willing to put in their whole stack if they have any piece of it, even bottom pair.So my question, if any one can help me out is, how can I be a consistent winner at these sit and goes if I continually am running into not being dealt a playable hand round after round, and the crap that I am getting dealt doesn't hit anyway?Thanks in advance.-Evenflow

[Swift_Psycho 1]

There really isn't a way. Sorry. You will be able to hold off a bad rush of cards from hurting you too much by picking out players that you can steal blinds off of and which players you can bluff at post-flop. Eventually however, you will need the cards to start hitting you at least a little. As blinds go up, play more aggressively. Your tight image from early in the tourney (I hope you have a tight image, technically you should unless you got a sick rush of cards early on) should help you gain respect for when the blinds are huge and stealing them becomes more important.

[Pudge714 0]

If what you are saying is true how come I am able to cash in over 50% of the 5+5 sng's i play on Pokerpages, I don't think my results are particullay uncommon. Unless the levels on Pokerstars go up quicker. I have two big tips.1. Limit the amount of hands that are difficult to play after the flop. Examples are generally ax or small to mid pp. With ax what do you do on an ace high flop? Bet and hope everyone folds, bet and fold to reraise, check call, check raise, how do you play the turn if soneone calls on the flop. These are tricky decisions and since your stack is so small you always need to make the right decision or you will end up busting out or losing a lot of chips. The same can be said for small to mid pocket pairs, what do you do on a flop with one overcard. Again you will be forced to make a tough decision. If you want to play these hands, wait untill the blinds are so big you have to make a move or wait untill your in position.2. Don't play drawing hands, the problem with drawing hands is when you flop a draw, not a big draw, like nutflush draw, outstide straight flush draw, gutshot straight flush draw, or pair and flush draw. Then you are racing anbd might want to put all your chips in. However if you have a regular draw you will often miss, and just bleed off chips, and in SNG's chips are your most valuable commodity and they must be protected.

[Swift_Psycho 1]

If what you are saying is true how come I am able to cash in over 50% of the 5+5 sng's i play on Pokerpages, I don't think my results are particullay uncommon. I'm guessing this is a response to my own post, though you don't specify. The OP asked how to win consistently when you are card dead. I answered truthfully that you can't. Eventually, you will need the cards to hit you a little. You can't win a tourney when you are getting no cards. I didn't say you couldn't win a tourney with average cards, but you can't win one with crap cards.

[Rocketwadster 0]

I don't entirely agree that you can't win with a run of bad cards. A lot of times the cards don't even come into play (ie. you caused the player to fold by your betting/raising). Well timed blind steals and flop steals will go far towards keeping you in the hunt until you do get those "good" cards. Pay attention to the playing style of your opponents and it can only help you. Seeing someone who doesn't defend their big blind to a raise is a good spot to do a steal for example. You also can't play scared (being afraid that they will call your bet/raise), as you will have given up befor eyou even started. :wink:

[Swift_Psycho 1]

I don't entirely agree that you can't win with a run of bad cards.  A lot of times the cards don't even come into play (ie. you caused the player to fold by your betting/raising).  Well timed blind steals and flop steals will go far towards keeping you in the hunt until you do get those "good" cards.  Pay attention to the playing style of your opponents and it can only help you.  Seeing someone who doesn't defend their big blind to a raise is a good spot to do a steal for example.  You also can't play scared (being afraid that they will call your bet/raise), as you will have given up befor eyou even started.   :wink:

In $5 sit & go's? Are you kidding? At some point, you are going to need cards. You aren't going to be able to bluff these guys out continuously, someone is eventually going to call you down with bottom pair out of frustration.I didn't say you would need better cards than your opposition. But they need to break even, or close at least. You won't win a sit & go when you're card dead. Period.

[Rocketwadster 0]

In $5 sit & go's? Are you kidding? At some point, you are going to need cards. You aren't going to be able to bluff these guys out continuously, someone is eventually going to call you down with bottom pair out of frustration.I didn't say you would need better cards than your opposition. But they need to break even, or close at least. You won't win a sit & go when you're card dead. Period.I didn't say the steals would win, I said they would help you stay afloat until you did get some cards...you can't play "Let's wait until I have the best hand" poker online and expect to win...you have to make things happen, and well timed steals help you to do that. :wink:

[SavageHenry 0]

Showdown does have a lot do with winning at those low limit SnGs. In my experience your getting called down with a ton of hands you would never see someone calling with in live play. I call more online. I call more big bets and all ins online with TPTK because id say more than half the time it is the best hand because the person making the bet has taken Mike Sexton's famous " In order to win this pot Vince, he must bluff at it" to heart. My advice is to play straight forward poker until the bubble - bet when you have a hand, fold when you dont, if someone offers you the right price to hit your draw take it, if they don't fold. When you hit the bubble and ITM you can dust off your bag of tricks and start playing poker. Most of the time the players on the bubble and ITM know how to play. They understand you need a bigger hand to call with then you do to push - the gap concept - and its more likely big bluffs and steals will work. The skill level at the lower level SnGs has gone up in the past year. There are some cookie cutter strategies for SnGs right now that will get you at least to the bubble with minimal effort. When i first started playing 10 and 20 +2s i could breeze to ITM because 2-3 people would go all-in on hand one or two and the rest were weak passive. Now im fairly certain i can make the bubble but when i get there ...there are 4-5 other people who know just as much or more than i do and its a dogfight. Its fun but it is no longer the easy money i was accustomed to. If you want to make some money take up O8B The level of play is still atrocious.

[NortonFan 0]

I play alot of Low Buy-in Sng's on Party and all I do is watch the table and wait for big hands until they bust each other out which does not take long at all. When it gets down to about 5 people I will start playing and I almost always make the money this way.

[MasterLJ 0]

I've been playing a lot of $5 and $10 Sit and Goes on PokerStars, needless to say the players are horrible, and when my cards are running good it's incredibly easy to win them, but lately I've been running into a major problem, not getting good cards.I've read a lot of different strategies about how to win at these levels, and they always say play tight, straight forward poker. But against these guys, they are willing to put in their whole stack if they have any piece of it, even bottom pair.So my question, if any one can help me out is, how can I be a consistent winner at these sit and goes if I continually am running into not being dealt a playable hand round after round, and the crap that I am getting dealt doesn't hit anyway?Thanks in advance.-Evenflow

I've had success with getting my money in pre-flop with good hands. I'm seeing something like 18% of the flops until I get down to 4 players. I'm a very strong short-handed player, and a mediocre full table p layer. I can place about 75-80% of the time by just being patient. When the table gets short handed you have to make decisions on your hands. Is this hand better than the other 3 player's hands? Things like A10 or even KQ and any pocket pair are statistically going to be stronger hands than what your opponents are holding. So raise 'em up. Bet again to the uncoordinated flop if they call, and the pot's yours. Aggressive play usually scares away bad players.

[Underbelly 0]

I think the bottom line to all this is there are little things you can do (steal blinds and such) to help stay afloat during the dry spells but . . . the problem is, there are so many horrible players in these tourneys that it makes it hard. The lower the level, the more you get people who call no matter what they have.

[AceOfSpaiDs 0]

All SnG's are the same no matter how big or small the buy-in...usually the top 3 get paid and the rest get nothing. The payout is somewhere around 40% 35% 25% of the total buy-ins so you are playing to at least make top 3...I recommend playing tight in the early stages (the blind levels are relatively small compared to stack size so there is no real reason to put ur stack in jeopardy unless you think you have the best hand or you have a real solid hand). Win what the cards allow you to safely and as the blinds/antes go up and players start dropping out, start to gamble more and build your stack. The biggest problem players make is they gamble to early when the blinds/antes dont justify that they do so. Players build their stacks early and slowly go down from there, actually why you should do the opposite because the payout rewards the players who last longer. Tight first, then loosen up when more opponents drop out.Peace