Win at SnG's at Party Poker

Introduction - $10 to $30 Sit'n Go (SnG) Guide, Single Table Tournaments at Party Poker.

This guide will be relevant for $10+1 buy-in tournaments on Party Poker and up to the $30+3 games as well. At the $50+5 buy-in level, the tournaments tend to change in skill quite a bit and require more than just solid poker in order to win. This guide might be applicable for $5+1 single table tournaments as well, but I never recommend readers play at that level due to the 20% rake.

Overview - What it takes to win low limit SnGs

For the most part, what I'm going to recommend in this guide is very straight forward, solid poker. At the low limit tournament games, the game texture will be very similiar to low limit cash games, where you will be facing a table of mostly inexperienced players. What this means is that you will be required to adjust your game to accomodate players that make frequent calls, all-in bluffs and other bad plays.

Straight forward poker is essentially summed up in the phrase: the best hand wins.

When you will have players that will call you to the river, it is essential to play strong hands and make minimal 'moves' or trick plays against your opponents.

Level 1, 2 and 3: Blinds 10/15, 15/30 and 25/50

In the early levels, you'll be tempted to play many hands because it doesn't cost much to play in relevance to your bankroll. First rule - don't do it. The reason you want to be rather careful in the early rounds is because many of your weaker opponents will be doing exactly that - playing too many hands. When you get a flop with half the table calling, you are going to need a very strong hand in order to win most of the time. By playing premium hands, you stand a better chance of making top pair w/ strong kicker, nut straights and flushes.

Pre-flop hand selection
Same hand selection you would play in a regular cash / ring game on Party Poker. If you need to know what are good poker hands, read the poker hands page to see the rankings of different texas hold'em hands. But basically, any two face cards or cards above 87 suited.

Play very tight on the flop and don't get involved too often
The reason you need to play tight on the flop is because you'll have all sorts of bad players calling you down, regardless of how much you bet. The times you do want to bet is when you have a strong hand in context to what the table shows. Top pair with Ace kicker is nice, as are two pair, high straits (not ignorant straights), high flushes (Ace/King high) and trips with high kicker or sets.

Part of the reason you need such power is because when you do bet, you need to bet big. Don't bet over the pot amount unless it's very small, but you should always be betting at least half the pot to deter your opponents from calling you down. When the flop is not threatening, I usually will bet half the pot with top pair, but if there are two suits or two connectors on the table, I will usually bet the entire pot.

One move that you may wish to add to your arsenal is the all-in bet on the turn when you are in the lead on the turn. I only use this move when I am faced off against weak callers who are most likely on draws. The reason I bet all-in here is because I simply don't want to give them the chance to draw on me and want to punish their bad play as much as possible. Use this only when you are against players who constantly are drawing however, as you don't want to move all-in vs a slow-playing two pair, set or other big hand.

Pre-flop raising hands
This is my own strategy here, but in the first few levels, I almost never pre-flop raise. The reason is because at the low levels, a bet of 3x the BB isn't going to deter most players from calling here. An example would be holding AK and not wanting the SB or BB limping in with junk and flopping two pair on you. If it's Level 1 and you raise to 45 with 4 callers in the pot, I can guarantee you all of them will call. Even a pot sized bet of 60 isn't going to help here.

The only kind of bet that will deter players from calling are large bets in context of stack size instead of pot size. A bet of 100 for instance in Level 1 will stop people from calling however. The only problem is that a lot of people just won't call with that kind of raise, except for those people actually holding something.

So, in most situations, my goal is to simply see the flop and then play as needed. The only hands I usually bother pre-flop raising with are AA, KK and QQ in any position or AK from early position. With AA, KK and QQ, my goal is to sucker bad players into heads-up match, so I'll usually bet big and hope for a caller or someone to go over the top. If I get a caller, if the flop isn't too scary with overcards, then I'll pretty much move all-in and hope for them to call and not have made a set. With AK, I usually just raise 3x the BB to deter the tight players from calling.

Don't bother with bluffing or tricks at this level
The worst move you can make at the early levels is to try and bluff your opponents at the early levels in a game. Anyone playing at Party Poker single table tournaments will know that people play crazy in the early levels. Bad players will call you down because they don't know better and good players will call you down because they think you're another crazy player. You'll get away with it a few times of course, but in the long run it's a losing proposition to play tricks early on.

Observe your opponents early-on and take notes
During the first two orbits, observation is critical, because bad players will let themselves be known by making noticeable mistakes. They will overbet before the flop, make horrendous calls and otherwise broadcast to the rest of the table that they are wild or clueless. Your job as a poker player should be observing these players and taking notes on these players during that time. You should also note down who isn't playing as these will be the tight players that will probably give you trouble later in the game.

The weak players can make or break you early on
In the $10+1 SnG games especially, you will often see a players bust out very early, moving all-in during the pre-flop stages with hands like Ace/Ten, small pocket pairs or other mediocre hands. These players are what I refer to as the 'WPT' players, who know only the poker they see on TV. As a result of this, they only know how to raise with pocket pairs and Ace/King; or bet all-in after the flop.

Playing against these guys is a high-risk, high-reward scenario because they'll be willing to go all-in against you with a bunch of small pockets and Ace/x hands, but you will be gambling with a coin toss if you are calling with hands like AK, AQ or AJ vs these players. This is why I only recommend playing JJ+ hands vs these guys, because you want a good chance of winning anytime you need to commit your chips.

Advanced Strategy: Loosening up your pre-flop game
If you are able to get away from your hand (fold when necessary), then it can be profitable to play small (54) or medium connectors (65-87) in the first two levels. The only reason to play these hands here is to try to make a straight or draw to one (if the odds call for it). In the first few levels, you have a good chance of getting paid out by weak players if you hit your hand. Just remember that you must be able to get away from these hands however, since you can easily be sucked into a bad draw if you get too lax. Also remember to not put money in on the ignorant draw (the lower end of the straight).

Level 4 and 5: Blinds 50/100 and 100/200

These are the levels where your true skill as a poker player will come through. When the blinds are at these levels, there is very little room for error since each bet will represent a significant portion of your stack size. Over-aggression or timid play will cost you bets at this stage, so solid play is required here.

At this level, you will often find yourself with a stack of around 600-800 chips if you play tight through the first three levels. Normally there will also be about 5-6 players left at this point in the game. The change to a short-handed game with higher stakes will force you to change gears if you want to survive.

Tighten up your starting hand selection to premium hands
Since every bet is important here, you want hands that will make top pair when the flop comes. You want to be playing hands like AK, AQ, AJ, AT, A9 (six or less players), Ace/x (4 or less players), KQ, KJ (late position), and pocket pairs. More often than not though, you want to be raising these hands instead of simply calling.

Constantly be aware of your position and number of limpers
I feel like I shouldn't have to mention this, because it's a basic fundamental about your game, but position is critically important at this level. If you have many players calling in front of you on a hand for example, you need to tighten your calling requirements, since it likely means your opponents are all holding pretty big hands of some kind. If there are no callers in front of you and your are in late position, then you can loosen up your hand requirements and play lesser premium hands.

If you are ever in a position to call a pre-flop raise and it looks like you're going to be heads-up, look to see if you are first to act on the flop or last to act. If you have a hand like AK, AQ or any hand that isn't a pocket pair, you are much better acting first and leading out with a bet, than calling a flop with no pair after your opponent bets. It all goes along the poker rule of thumb: put your opponent on the decision.

Look for opportunities to steal the blinds
Stealing the blinds is critical at the level 5 stage, since blinds are 100/200 apiece. Stealing is all about trying to take down the blinds without a fight, so timing and position are very important.

A good time to make a steal is when you are on the button or cut off (one off from the button) and everyone folds in front of you while you hold Ace/X, King/Face (King/X for aggressive players) or pocket pair. A raise of 2BB or 2.5BB is usually good enough to steal with in the later levels, although a 3BB bet is generally more effective since it reduces your opponents pot odds. Also, if you are ever short-stacked to the point that you will be needing to raise with over 40% of your chips, then you might as well go all-in, since you will practically be pot committed on the flop.

Sometimes, even when you aren't short stacked, you may consider going all-in when stealing the blinds. If you are holding a weak hand, an all-in bet is a risky, but effective tool at making your opponents fold. However, the only time this is usually effective is when your all-in bet would take a good chunk of your opponent's stack in order to call. If your opponent has 5k in chips for example and you have 1k, your bet isn't going to scare him away. Thus, your timing needs to be important on these risky steals, because you need to set yourself up in the right situation vs similar stack sizes and preferrably weak players.

Advanced Steal Strategy: When you can, try to put pressure on the short stacks by stealing their blinds, even when you are not in late position. If you have a large stack, you can try stealing even from early position, but should otherwise attempt from mid position. The reason to steal from short stacks is because they are afraid of being knocked out and will be the least likely to put up a fight. Another tactic is to target very tight or timid players who are unlikely to defend their blind. The reason this is an advanced tactic is because you'll be putting yourself out for attack more often and will see more flops or raises as a result. You need to be somewhat comfortable playing flops at this level to not lose money with this tactic. Too many players simply play over-aggressive at this point and end up losing more money than they could have hoped to gain with their steals.

Getting called or raised on a steal - things to consider
Stealing would be easy if it worked all the time, but life is never that easy. Many times you'll get called and see the flop as a result. If the flop misses, you're in a tricky situation - and this is where position really comes into play. Because you are last to act and will most likely be stealing on hands like Ace/x, it will be difficult to play back against aggressive opponents who swing out on the flop, unless you hit a pair yourself. Against timid or tight opponents, you'll want to bet out if checked to you, but want to slow down if you get called or raised of course. Managing your way in these situations is one of the hardest skills in poker, so it will simply take experience to read these situations.

If you get raised during a steal, if you are only raised one BB more - it's usually ok to call in this situation, since you are looking at at least 5:1 pot odds, even though your opponent may have a better hand. The hard part about this of course, is that if you hold a dominated hand like AK vs A9 and an Ace flops, you'll most likely end up being cracked here, since it's quite hard to lay this down unless you have an excellent read.

Don't go on tilt and give up
Often after a player has lost a good portion of their stack, whether through a bad beat or bad play, they'll usually say to themselves 'This is hopeless' or 'I give up!' and go all-in the next hand. I see this too often with bad players and you should never do it yourself. Always stay in control of your emotions and keep fighting tooth and nail until the fat lady stops singing.

On the other side of this advice, you can also exploit your opponents who have just lost a chunk of their chips by raising immediately after their hand (provided you're holding a semi-decent hand yourself). There is a good chance they will re-raise you or call and you'll hopefully end up playing heads-up with a much stronger hand.

Don't worry about folding into oblivion
A lot of players are worried about playing too tight in the later levels and folding all their hands away. This isn't always a bad thing. If you aren't getting good hands, that doesn't mean it's time to play more hands. That means it's time to hunker down and minimize your losses while you can. Stay calm and don't panic. If you must make a move soon due to the blinds, then so be it.

Watch the levels carefully and when the button is coming
When the big blind gets to the point of being a third of your stack, that's the point when you will be forced to make a move soon, because when the big blind and small blind pass you, your stack will have been reduced by half. In addition, you will only have enough chips to raise half a BB, so you'll have no chance of driving someone out with a raise like that.

So, the important point is to watch at the bottom left of the screen how many hands you have left until the next blind level and to also watch how many spots away you are from posting the big blind. When you have about 4-6 hands left and the BB is a third of your stack, you absolutely need to be pre-flop raising if you have an Ace/X, King/X, Queen/X or even Jack/X. You don't have the luxury of waiting around for a better hand unfortunately. If you still get bad hands however, there's nothing you can do, so just play on through and don't worry about it.

Defend your blinds when you can
If you aren't terribly short stacked and hold a decent hand (not necessarily premium hand), it may be worthwhile to defend your blind from a raise. The majority of the time after calling a steal, you will probably be tossing your hand away after checking the flop and having your opponent bet behind you. The reason is they probably do have a better hand and you just won't pair. However, the thing to keep in mind that when you defend your blind, you are getting 3.5:1 pot odds (if your opponent only raises 2BB), which means that you need to only win 1 out of 4.5 times to make your money back. If they raise 3BB, then you are a getting 2.3:1 pot odds, which is a much harder defend to make.

The best thing about defending is that most players on the steal will go into hyper-aggressive mode, so they will bet the flop and turn automatically even if they haven't paired. If you have made top pair on the flop vs one of these aggressive opponents, you might consider slow playing and calling their bet on the flop then check-raise them on the turn to maximize your earnings. If you only have low pair, it's much better to simply lead-out with a bet and see where you stand. If you are playing vs a standard tight player however, it's much better to lead out period with any hand, since you don't want to give them the chance of a free card.

Also, be sure that you play carefully if an Ace or King flops however, since these are the most likely cards to be pre-flop raising with, so your mid-pair or low-pair might as well be useless if they have top pair. Of course, the other problem is if your opponent is holding a monster like AA/KK/QQ/JJ/TT, but that will just happen sometimes. Most of the time though, your opponent will have just been raising with Ace/X, King/X or small pocket pair.

Level 6+ or Heads-up: Blinds 150/300+

In the majority of no limit SnG games on Party Poker, Level 5 and 6 is usually the point where the game will become heads-up or end with a winner. At this point in the game, stack size is critically important because of the fast pace and blinds, so your style of play will definitely depend on your stack size and of course opponents.

Short stack vs aggressive player with big stack
Aggressive play is your only option here. The reason you need to get aggressive is because you simply can't afford to keep folding to raises from the big stack. While this isn't a green light to duke it out with trash hands, you need to aggressively bet/raise when you have paired your hand and even when you're holding Ace high (if you think you've got the best hand, which is another one of those things that you just develop over time).
The problem with this play of course is that it is high variance play, so with a short stack, this means you are going to be knocked out of a tournament often doing this, so expect it to happen when you enter this mode.

Short stack vs tight player with big stack
If the big stack is tight, you want to get aggressive here as well and try to steal as many blinds as you can. Start raising with just about any hand short of trash until he starts to pick up on you. At that point, if you've gathered enough chips, you want to switch gears IMMEDIATELY and go into a more tight/aggressive mode rather than loose/aggressive stance. This is because the tight player will start calling you more often and you will end up paying him off when you overplay your hand. By changing gears, he will have lowered his starting hand requirements while you will have increased yours, so you have a better chance of dominating his hand.

Overplaying your hand vs a tight player is probably the easiest way to knock yourself out. If the tight player is calling you down, you should actively try to put him on a hand and figure out what he's calling you with. If you have absolutely nothing, then it's a very hard choice to continue betting or not. More often than not, I won't bet the turn or river if a tight player is trailing along. This obviously forces the problem of inducing your opponent to bluff you out, but most weak/tight players won't try this, so if they do bet, you're most likely beat.

Short stack vs loose/passive player with big stack
Against a loose/passive player, you want to lay off the aggression and see as many flops as you can with decent hands. A passive player will want to call you down and force you to show the best hand, so pre-flop raising with anything but the most premium hands is putting extra money into the pot that you can't afford. After you see the flop, you just want to bet if you have it and check if you don't. Basically, think of it as value betting - where you want to put money in the pot only if you're ahead. Trying to bluff out this type of player will only backfire.

Most of the time, you're not going to encounter a loose/passive player at the end of the game because these types are weak players and will have only gotten here by luck. However, luck can go a long way in poker, so you will inevitably encounter these players who call anything.

Medium stack vs aggressive, tight or loose player
With a medium stack, you'll want to play more or less the same as you would with a short stack vs the different types of players. The one big difference is that vs the aggressive stack, you will want to be less hyper-aggressive than with a short stack. With a short-stack, you're half gambling anyways since losing a hand pretty much leaves you with nothing, so you need to commit when you can. When you have a medium sized stack, you aren't in such a bad shape that it needs to resort to all-in plays. You want to check-call more with mediocre hands vs aggressive players and raise only with strong hands.

Against a tight player with a medium stack as well, you want to be more aggressive than they are to win more blinds, but as mentioned before, don't get too aggressive that you run into a trap.

Against a loose player, you still only want to value bet when you think you're ahead. You can probably be a bit more lenient betting out hands like Ace high when the flop misses, but it's still a risky proposition - but at least you can afford a mistake, if not two.

Big stack vs aggressive, tight or loose players
When up against an aggressive player, you almost want to turn into the loose/caller player, and check-call all hands with moderate strength and setup traps with hands of big strength. You essentially want the aggressive player to hang himself with his own betting, so having the big stack gives you time to wait and setup a big trap.

Bullying will be one of your most effective plays vs a tight player, who will be very reluctant to go toe-to-toe with you unless they have a big hand. Your pre-flop raises should scare him out of enough hands that you'll chip away at his stack and force him into a hyper-aggressive mode soon enough. At that point, you probably want to re-adjust your game and play premium hands, then let him play back against you with weaker hands to take him down.

Against a loose player, you're still going to find them calling crap even with a short stack often enough, but at this time, it's apropriate to pre-flop raise them with good hands and just force them all-in when you can. The reason is that you're most likely going to be the favorite with a premium hand vs a random hand that the loose player players, so this is a good situation to have your hand all-in vs his.

Personal late game strategies
The best tactic I have late game is simply trapping my opponents. Most players you'll meet heads-up are going to be at least somewhat good poker players. Maybe they've read a book or two or have at least had some experience playing heads-up. They will know that aggressive play is rewarded at the end of the game, so they will usually change their gears as well. You must be able to spot this in your opponents and get ready for it.

When your opponent does start being aggressive, I often draw back a little and let them win some hands off me if I don't catch anything on the flop. It takes a bit of luck, but my hope is to catch a hand and then have them continue their aggression. I just call on the flop, then check-raise or just raise on the river when I do make my hand. This works as a semi-bluff if I actually have the lesser hand, since a check-raise is very powerful this late in the game. If I do have the best hand, then I've getting a lot of value here if they end up calling thinking I'm trying to outplay them.

Another tactic I use fairly well is follow-up play, which is a term I coin for trying to play off someone's emotions after a play. For example, if I win a showdown with a big hand, I am much more likely to pre-flop raise the next hand, because my thinking is that my opponent will give me more respect. At the same time, I'm careful not to pre-flop raise a medicore hand after a loss, because my opponent might call me thinking I'm angry or on tilt after losing. However, if I really do have a good hand like JJ - AA, I will play my hand very aggressively as if I were really on tilt and bet very fast. This can induce a call from a mediocre hand and possibly pay me off. Your own mileage may vary with this type of play, so I don't recommend it for everyone.

Conclusion - Single table tournament strategy wrap-up

Now that you've finished this article, you have a better understanding of the general direction you should be taking in the single table tournament games on Party Poker. Here is a recap of the main strategy pointers:

Early Levels:
• Play tight, solid poker
• Only bet when you have a hand
• Don't try to bluff
• Don't get involved in the crazy all-in hands
• Take notes and observe all the players at the table

Mid Levels:
• Tighten up even more
• Steal the blinds when you can
• Pay close attention to your position
• Watch your stack size in relation to the button
• Know when the next level is approaching
• Bluffing is now an option
• Don't go on tilt

Late Levels:
• Loosen up and become more aggressive
• Focus on stealing the blinds
• Play according to your stack size
• Try to trap your opponents