[Closed] Couple of beginner questions.

Hi Calky444,

first of all wlcome to pokerstrategy! And about the questions...
1) No. You are only first in if everyone before you folded. I don't know what the charts say because I never really used them. They are designed to give you a little bit of an edge over your opponents but if you really want to crush them you need to start learning the ICM. If you don't know what it is yet you can ask about it in one of the coachings or just wait untill the silver article about it is available to you. Then download the ICM trainer and start working.
2)1$ TURBOs are OK but the nonTURBOs are better for a beginner IMO. The slow ones have 6 minute blinds if i remember correctly and there should be these at 1$ level..
3)Yes, you absolutely have to! Usually in a SNG you have to win an all in once to get to the bubble and then at least twice more to win the SNG so you should not be afraid to get your chips in when the situation is right.
4)You can only steal when everybody before you folded. That does not mean that you can't play at all with limpers before you. You can still paly the hands according to the starting hands chart obviously.
Resteal you can even with a few limpers IMO since you only do that with the premium hands and should be in an ok shape even if you get called.

On the lowest levels nobody knows how to play these SNGs so you will very often get flamed by the other players. That is usually an indication that you are playing it right. It is kind of hard to learn SNGs as a beginner but all the information you need is here at this site. Use it and you will be winning in no time.

Good Luck,
Lubor

P.S. If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask!

Thx for responce Lubor,

Isn't the ICM trainer, based off of the charts anyway? so like if you follow the charts you should get all the Qs in ICM trainer correct?

And howoften do you have to make top 3 in the long run to make profit? What positions should you aim at for, let say every ten games.

And lastly the $1 games had a 25c rake, so is it ok for me to play the $2 games because they also have 25c rake. (note, i currently have $30BR, but my losses so far are from SSS not from SnG.)

1) No. The thing about ICM is that it is too complex to fit in any chart. The charts are simply something to play by before you can learn the ICM and these two differ a lot very often.

2) I get ITM around 40% of the times and make a nice profit. You should always aim to win every tourney so I don't really get the question. You should try to get in the money more than those 40%, and have at least the same number of firsts seconds and thirds with way less fourths (bubble finishes). Preferably you want to have most first palces of all the ITM finishes.

3) This is really tough. If you had all your bankroll I would say you could take a shot at 2$s and move down if you lose like 5 buyins but your BR is just too low now IMO. So I would stick to the 1$s because the chance of going broke really fast is just too high on the 2$s. You might go broke even on the 1$s but at least you can play more SNGs before that happens and have more time to learn and improve and actually start beating the limit..

EDIT: I thought you were playing at Full Tilt but you are at Party, aren't you? If that is the case then there are no slow 1$s so you have to try your luck at the turbos. They are beatable but you have to learn really fast because it's really tough to beat them as a beginner IMO.

No I am at full tilt poker

And one more question, on the starting hand chart, in the "raises in front of you" column for some of the cards it has 'no', and 'more than one', but it does not tell you what to do if there is one raise.
What do you do if there is one raise? raise or fold?

Hi Calky

I agree with what LuborC has said up until now... The charts are generally a guide but ICM becomes very complex and ultimately you need to learn to play without the charts and adjust on your own...

My advice if you really wanna get good at SNGs and ICM is download ICM trainer lite and do all the lessons... this will give you a great understanding of all the "what's" and "why's" in ICM... next downlaod the ICM trainer and practice... When practicing, aim for 95% and up... use the charts when practicing and see some of the differences...

When playing, take note of the hands that you are not sure of and post them in the hand-posting section... just convert the hands and post them and you will get different opinions and advice about different situations... This is probably your single most important tool to accelerating your progress...

With regards to your other questions... on the micro limits in push or fold mode I treat limpers as all-ins because if you push they will generally call A LOT of the time... so play hands that are OK to call...

$30 bankroll is not enough to play the $2.25 games yet... it's far too easy to go bust with >14 buy-ins so either deposit some extra, use the TAF program or grind the $1.25 til you have enough...

And for your final question (I think)... when there is one raiser in front of you it can be complicated... for example with pocket pairs you can call some raises when you have the implied odds... Hands like AJ, AQ, KQ should be folded.... with AK sometimes it's a call sometimes it's a push.... but you learn all of this in the hand-posting section...

Ooooh... I wrote a lot... hope this helps and gluck...

hi calky

dont play to get in the money in sngs , always play for the win as winning makes a big difference to your roi. also dont play $1 sngs on fulltilt as the fee of 25 cents is too high,try to play $2 ones instead

Originally posted by raydoyle
hi calky

dont play to get in the money in sngs , always play for the win as winning makes a big difference to your roi. also dont play $1 sngs on fulltilt as the fee of 25 cents is too high,try to play $2 ones instead

I firmly believe that making profit in SNGs all comes down to decision making... If you consistently make good (+EV) decisions you will make a profit....

And paying less rake is good... sticking to BRM is better... $2 games with a $30 roll is going to be a short expedition without a good bit of luck....