Strategy for early in low stakes ($1) PS sit-n-gos?

[dave134]

I've been playing the $1 sit-n-gos on Pokerstars and doing alright, finishing in the money about half the time. It can be difficult to get far sometimes though. It's an extemely high variance type situation early in the tournament. I will see players playing any 2 cards and basically adhering to the strategy of bet, raise, and pray! People will call all-in bets with absolutely nothing and just pray, I guess. These people of course never make it to the money, but they can make it a tricky situation. I sit back and play the hands I like, which amounts to about 25%, but if I don't hit my cards on a few shots, the blinds can eat you up quick. Also sometimes you get a situation where you are isolated with a player who bets everything! I had a situation like that today where I had top pair, but the board had a flush draw on it. It was impossible to know if they had the flush or not, and they did end up having it.

Does anybody have any strategies for surviving these high variance early rounds?

[biggle10]

Fold. Fold a lot. For the first 2-3 levels play extremely tight. Like 15% tight.

[bobcorn]

The early rounds should actually have very little variance because you aren't playing many hands. My advice is to tighten up and take advantage of your opponents' loose play. Don't put lots of chips in with marginal hands like AQ,KQ,TT,99 etc... Playing 25% of the hands is way too loose for the early levels. My VP$IP(voluntarily put money in pot) for the first 4 blind levels is 5-10%.

[crunny]

i have had way more success at MTT's than STT's, so i can actually have some input here. In the early rounds you need to play super mega tight!

I will usually only raise with AA,KK,QQ. And call AK,AQ.

Be prepared to fold on the flop if there is any sign of danger.

[ugignadl]

Yes. YES. One big chip-maker is to limp with low pp (TT-) (don't call a decent raise) and play for set value. None of them will believe you. Be smart about it however, and fold if you do not make your hand.

[fishdawg65]

I will usually only raise with AA,KK,QQ. And call AK,AQ.

I may read into this too much but I feel this is an incorrect philosophy. You should raise in late position with other hands also. Of course, this depends on any calls, raises and anyone behind you but you can push people out of hands in lp with less strong hands.

Take these 3 hands...
LP: jj, tt, 99 are excellent raising hands and if there are only a couple callers or less than this is almost a necessity.
mp: jj,tt,99 should be a mixture of raises and calls unless there is heavy raising action.
ep: jj,tt,99 fold/limp/raise these depending on who is behind you. If some loose cannons are behind you then these might be folding hands.

As you can see even with 3 hands there are so many options on how to play. As long as you put your money in when you have the best of it then don't worry about it in the long run. Also, if "variance" is getting to you then I'd suggest a higher buyin. I would think $1 sngs would be similar to play money.

[dave134]

The early rounds should actually have very little variance because you aren't playing many hands. My advice is to tighten up and take advantage of your opponents' loose play. Don't put lots of chips in with marginal hands like AQ,KQ,TT,99 etc... Playing 25% of the hands is way too loose for the early levels. My VP$IP(voluntarily put money in pot) for the first 4 blind levels is 5-10%.

How do you survive playing this way? I have tried playing super tight, but if you don't hit the few hands you play you can easily be at around $1000 with the BB at $150. It's so easy to get into a precarious situation and then if there's a big, aggressive stack at your table, you're pretty much already in all-in territory.

[bobcorn]

The early rounds should actually have very little variance because you aren't playing many hands. My advice is to tighten up and take advantage of your opponents' loose play. Don't put lots of chips in with marginal hands like AQ,KQ,TT,99 etc... Playing 25% of the hands is way too loose for the early levels. My VP$IP(voluntarily put money in pot) for the first 4 blind levels is 5-10%.

How do you survive playing this way? I have tried playing super tight, but if you don't hit the few hands you play you can easily be at around $1000 with the BB at $150. It's so easy to get into a precarious situation and then if there's a big, aggressive stack at your table, you're pretty much already in all-in territory.

I don't stay tight. I start stealing blinds from the sb,button and CO after level 4. By the time the blinds are 75/150, I usually have anywhere from 900-3000 chips. It's ok to be in all in mode at that point.

[biggle10]

I start stealing sooner. Usually 25-50 or 50-100.

[crunny]

I will usually only raise with AA,KK,QQ. And call AK,AQ.

I may read into this too much but I feel this is an incorrect philosophy. You should raise in late position with other hands also. Of course, this depends on any calls, raises and anyone behind you but you can push people out of hands in lp with less strong hands.

Take these 3 hands...
LP: jj, tt, 99 are excellent raising hands and if there are only a couple callers or less than this is almost a necessity.
mp: jj,tt,99 should be a mixture of raises and calls unless there is heavy raising action.
ep: jj,tt,99 fold/limp/raise these depending on who is behind you. If some loose cannons are behind you then these might be folding hands.

Of course you are correct. JJ,TT,99 and good hands. However, at the early blind levels i am in survivor mode. Therefore IMO, JJ,TT,99 are too risky.
Usually at level 4 blinds, half the field has already been wiped out. Then i switch from survivor mode into aggressive mode- stealing blinds, bluffing, all-in (if i have to) etc......

also, if "variance" is getting to you then I'd suggest a higher buyin. I would think $1 sngs would be similar to play money.

Another reason to play super tight at the start.

[bobcorn]

Of course you are correct. JJ,TT,99 and good hands. However, at the early blind levels i am in survivor mode. Therefore IMO, JJ,TT,99 are too risky. Usually at level 4 blinds, half the field has already been wiped out. Then i switch from survivor mode into aggressive mode- stealing blinds, bluffing, all-in (if i have to) etc......

So you just open-fold JJ,TT,99 for the first 3 levels or do you at least limp with them?

[crunny]

So you just open-fold JJ,TT,99 for the first 3 levels or do you at least limp with them?

I will fold in early and middle position. And limp in late position trying to catch a set. However, even with a favourable flop such as 2, 6, 8 i will be extremely wary of some maniac with two overcards calling my raise and getting lucky. I will still raise, but i'll be praying they fold, wishing i never got into this position in the first place. Remember my aim is solely to survive and make some chips if the opportunity exists.

[bobcorn]

So you just open-fold JJ,TT,99 for the first 3 levels or do you at least limp with them?

I will fold in early and middle position. And limp in late position trying to catch a set. However, even with a favourable flop such as 2, 6, 8 i will be extremely wary of some maniac with two overcards calling my raise and getting lucky. I will still raise, but i'll be praying they fold, wishing i never got into this position in the first place. Remember my aim is solely to survive and make some chips if the opportunity exists.

You are missing some opportunities if you aren't at least limping these hands from EP and MP. I raise AA-JJ, AK from any position and limp with TT-22 in EP and MP. AQ I fold in EP and raise in MP+LP.

[crunny]

You are missing some opportunities if you aren't at least limping these hands from EP and MP. I raise AA-JJ, AK from any position and limp with TT-22 in EP and MP. AQ I fold in EP and raise in MP+LP.

And how often do you actually get to limp in with TT-22? The MTT's i play at are usually raise, re-raise, all-in fests during the first few blind levels.

[bobcorn]

You are missing some opportunities if you aren't at least limping these hands from EP and MP. I raise AA-JJ, AK from any position and limp with TT-22 in EP and MP. AQ I fold in EP and raise in MP+LP.

And how often do you actually get to limp in with TT-22? The MTT's i play at are usually raise, re-raise, all-in fests during the first few blind levels.

I'm not sure. Probably get to see the flop around 50% of the time. Even if you have to fold, you've only risked 1/50th or less of your stack.