Attempting to squeeze out any type of living by becoming a hardcore member of the SNG community can be stressful and extremely frustrating as the margin of acceptable error is so small that it makes staying profitable in the long run very difficult.
If you are not aware of some of the easiest ways to needlessly give up chips, you’ll find yourself struggling constantly to make it into the money, win, and stay in the black financially.
Here are two common SNG mistakes to avoid:
1. Getting Over-invested
Since the pace of an SNG is elevated far beyond that of a standard tournament, players have a tendency to want and try to get ultra aggressive with any decent hand.
While you should always play favourable hands strongly, don’t allow yourself to commit more chips than what is needed, as you could always be dominated. Stick to intelligent bet amounts to ensure that if you do lose, you lose the minimum.
2. Relying on “All-in” Tactics
This kind of goes hand in hand with getting over-invested, but to an even greater extent. SNG players like to shove all-in in a much wider variety of scenarios than what is necessary, either in an attempt to try and draw an opponent to go all-in as well, or to bully other players out of a pot.
The problem with this tactic is that you’re not protecting yourself or your stack whatsoever by making hasty shoves. In the majority of all-in situations where you knowingly hold less than a monster hand, you’ll get called only by players that have a dominating hand of their own, while the rest will fold.
What you need to know here is that the same effect (attempting to extract chips or get opponents to fold) can be executed for far less than your entire stack – see a previous article I wrote ‘Maximising Value: Slow Playing Big Hands‘. Going all-in constantly is not a viable technique employed by top SNG specialists, so don’t take the easy way out when it comes to making the tough decisions.
Chris
- Chris Laquinta is a magazine editor, content specialist and poker fanatic with 10+ years writing experience and over 1,500 published articles. Chris is a naitive of Southern California, where he spent his entire life learning gaming concepts and theories from relatives that had been former professional gamblers. He currently resides in Torrance, CA where he works as a professional content writer and part-time SNG professional.
