I’ve been playing a fair number of low-stakes ($10+1 - $20+2) SNGs lately, and have been meeting with a great deal of success. I can safely attribute much of that success to many of the great posts on SNG play written by other bloggers out there. As such, I wanted to give something back, but couldn’t really think of a topic that hadn’t been covered. Then I hit on the idea of discussing specifically 4 handed play (i.e. when the original 9 or 10 players have dwindled to 4, with only the final 3 being paid) not as in SNGs which start out with only 4 players). That’s where I feel my game is at its strongest, and If I last that long, I routinely go from 3rd-4th place to 1st-2nd place by the time the bubble pops.
Play on the bubble in any tournament, obviously, is a very different dynamic from play at any other point. Everyone is terrified of getting knocked out one off the money, and there are substantial advantages to be gained as a consequence of the simple fact that your opponents are cognizant of the potential to merely fold their way into the money. The last thing they want to do is take a risk which could knock them out in 4th after having spent close to an hour slogging it out in the trenches of a one table war.
The way to take advantage of this timidity is to constantly attack the blinds. You will be relentlessly punishing your opponents, beating them into submission, and leaving them in fear of your ludicrous levels of aggression. Terrorizing them, in other words.
I’ll now outline specifically how I deploy this attack. It has worked well for me. Obviously, others will have different approaches, modifications, or suggestions. I welcome them all–please feel free to leave comments. This method has worked great for me, though, and here I’m handing it to you, free of charge.
The basic philosophy is that by 4 handed play, the blinds are substantial enough that you want to be picking them up constantly. You don’t want callers, you don’t want action, you just want the blinds. Picking up the blinds at this point can increase your stack by 7-10% each and every time. Your goal is to have at least 50% of the chips in play by the time action gets 3 handed. In fact you benefit so much by stealing blinds during this phase that you’d just as soon NOT eliminate anyone until you’ve attained a big enough chip lead that you can run things over once the bubble has burst.
And how do you achieve this rampant blind theft? Simple. Raise.
How much to raise
The key to this whole strategy is constant pre-flop raising. How much you raise depends on your own chip stack and the stacks of any people still in the hand. (This assumes you’re not folding, which you will still do on occasion. I’ll discuss WHEN to raise later. This section is about HOW MUCH to raise).
If you are the short stack, you must push all-in. People will read anything less as a sign of weakness, and it may induce them to come over the top of you. That’s not your goal. Your goal is to get them to fold. Further, if you’re the short stack, the less you bet, the easier it is for someone to call you. You’re at your greatest risk of going out on the bubble when short stacked, and almost perfect execution is required. Don’t even think about anything less than pushing all-in.
Conversely, if you are a large stack and no one to act behind you has more than 50% as many chips as you, raise enough to put them all-in. It has been my experience that simply raising enough to put them all in, rather than pushing in all of your chips, is a bit more psychologically intimidating. When you have 5000 chips and the biggest stack behind you has only 1420 chips, the net result is the same whether you raise to 1500 or just shove in all 5000 of your chips, but I still think the 1500 number is a bit scarier. It says, “I’m looking to eliminate you,” rather than, “I’m trying to pick up the blinds with two random cards.”
Finally, if you’re a large stack but there’s another large stack behind you (in other words, you’re in 1st or 2nd, and the other guy is in 2nd or 1st) things are a bit trickier. This is a dangerous situation, and definitely the least favorable to be in during 4 handed play. Still, you can’t allow fear to interfere with execution. Try to remember that you’re the one guy at the table the other large stack is afraid of. By following through with your aggression you can continue to steal those essential blinds. All the same, you don’t want a big confrontation. Your goal is petty theft, not a mindless slugfest with the one guy who can hurt you.
What I like to do here is raise about a third of my stack. You want to raise enough that the other guy will be potentially crippled if he calls & loses. You need to scare him. At the same time, you don’t want to raise so much that you’re pot committed if the other guy pushes all-in. If the guy does push all-in, you’re probably going to have to drop unless you’ve got a genuine monster (we’re talking A-K, Q-Q, K-K, or A-A). Remember, you’re looking to chip up, not take a big risk (Taking coin flips is for earlier in a SNG. Having made it to 4 handed play, you’re looking to win).
When to raise
Under the Gun: You’re going to be least active when first to act. With three people yet to play behind you, you’re at your most worried that you’ll actually be called. Folding frequently here will also help to maintain the image that when you’re raising, you actually have cards. Maybe not great cards, but not complete rags.
Your goal here is to raise with a hand that has at least a chance of winning if you’re called. Ace-rag isn’t a good candidate, as you’re most likely to be called by someone with an ace. Two random big cards are generally not too great either, as you’re very likely to find yourself dominated and drawing at three outs the times you’re called. Your best chances are actually with suited connectors (including one gap connectors). Then at least you likely have two live cards and several ways to win. A-8 or better is good as well, along with any pair.
If your opponents are extremely passive, you can loosen up here, but still lay some hands down. For one thing, you want to give your opponents a chance to battle amongst themselves. For another thing, it makes it less likely that you’ll get called on your more aggressive hands from a better position.
On the button: The aggression level steps up strongly here. If the UTG player folds, you want to raise with about half of all starting hands. Your only real restriction is that you want to leave yourself with some sort of chance to win if you get called. Raise with any Ace, any King, any two cards 10 or higher, and any suited connector up to three gaps (i.e. 5-9 is ok, 5-10 is not). I’ll also raise with offsuit no-gap connectors.
If UTG limped, fold everything but the strongest of hands. Here is a VERY important lesson if you’re going to be employing this hyper-aggressive strategy. People will know that you’re raising with less-than great cards. While they’ll be too terrified to play against you with 95% of their hands, the 5% they WILL play, they’re going to be looking to trap you. Don’t raise a limper unless you have Q-Q, K-K, A-A, or A-K. If you’re positive the open-limper is a moron, you can increase your range a little here, but be aware that you’re much more likely to get called, which you don’t want–even if you’ve got by far the better hand.
If UTG raised, fold pretty much everything unless you’re ready to end 4 handed play (more on that later). A raise from UTG is actually less threatening than a limp in terms of the likely range of your opponent, but since a raise will probably pot-commit the UTG player, don’t plan on taking the pot away from him unless you’re looking to get all-in heads-up.
Small blind: I almost pity the people on my immediate left during 4 handed play. Almost. The small blind breaks down into several categories. The first is where either you or your opponent has less than 10X the big blind, and the first two players have folded. In that case, raise enough to put yourself or your opponent all-in with any two cards. Seriously. Any. Two. Cards.
If neither you nor the big blind has less than 10X the big blind, and no one limped or raised in front of you, make a normal (as defined above) raise with any two cards.
If either the UTG player or the button limped or raised in front of you, fold virtually any two cards. Yes, I know it’s only half a bet to complete, but you’re probably going to be donating that half bet to someone else. Your goal is to starve your enemies of chips, not to donate extra chips when you don’t have to.
Never limp unless you’re looking to end 4 handed play.
Big blind: Play here can be tricky. Ideally, you get a walk. Raise enough, and you’ll find action folding around to you with surprising frequency. Fear limpers. Respect raises. You’ll find yourself checking behind a lot from the big blind.
If action folds to the small blind, and the small blind just calls, you have a tough decision to make. Some people will call here with any two cards (a standard and usually correct heads-up strategy). If your opponent will do that, then raise him and thank him for donating the extra half-bet. Once you’ve battered the small blind enough that he’s folding his blind, then watch out if he completes in the future. It’s a trap. Generally, after a few orbits, you should have a good enough feel for the behavior of the guy on your right to out-play the small blind.
If anyone raises in front of you, fold all but the best of hands–push those all-in, assuming you’re ready to end 4 handed play.
If the UTG or button player limps in front of you, check behind. Then look to take things away on the flop or the turn (depending on how likely you think it is that you’re being trapped, and how likely it is that the flop completely missed your opponents). Taking down pots on later streets is riskier, and requires a bit of finesse. You’ll make mistakes here quite often if you’re not careful. Furthermore, you’re not in a rush. You’re only really looking to steal the blinds about 35-50% of the time, and check-folding from the big blind is not a disaster at all.
End play
Fun as being a ruthless poker terrorist is, eventually the bubble has to burst. Someone has to get knocked out at some point. Ideally, you’ll be the one doing the knocking, and ideally you’ll have > 50% of the chips in play by that point. 75% is reasonably attainable. Once you’re ready to knock someone out, there are several ways to go about it. One is limping from the blinds and setting a trap. Another is, when dealt a monster in first or second position to limp in, letting your opponents see a flop, hoping they catch a piece, and getting the money in then.
My favorite, though, is trapping the trappers. You’ll see this happen all the time: a player who has folded 20 hands straight open-limps for 20% of his stack. You’ll want to limp behind with virtually any two cards, hoping to catch a piece of the flop and break the guy. A lot of the time, you’ll wind up doubling up a player. It doesn’t really matter. Just keep attacking the blinds, chipping back up, and then making a stand again a few hands down the road. You’ll most likely be getting all-in against a short stack with an inferior hand. But you can afford to do this. You can double up short stacks multiple times. You’ll recover in just a couple orbits. But a short stack can’t afford to lose even once. And he inevitably will given sufficient time.
A story to illustrate: I had been beating the stuffing out of three passive, weak players who were all looking to fold into the money. I had accumulated perhaps 75-80% of the chips in play, and was looking for a chance to end things. The button open-limped, an extremely suspicious move. The small blind completed, also a suspicious move. I figured they were both looking to trap me, in a rather entertaining turn of events. I just checked my 6-9 offsuit from the big blind. The flop was 6-6-3, and all the chips went in. The button had Q-Q, and the small blind had a suited ace for a flush draw. Neither improved, and I knocked out two players at once. Wheeee.
Really, the most important aspect of ending bubble play isn’t so much the cards as it is the timing. You want to prolong bubble play as long as possible, taking the blinds at will and never giving any chips back if you can at all avoid it. That’s why I advise being ludicrously tight any time someone opens the pot in front of you. You’re always looking to be the first one putting extra chips in the pot. Let me go ahead and repeat that just to make sure you remember it:
You always want to be the first one putting extra chips in the pot.
Adjustments
Obviously, things won’t always work as perfectly as you would like. As such, you may have to make adjustments to maximize the likelihood of a good outcome.
When someone else is playing pretty much this exact same strategy as you, the key is to be the first one into the pot. If the player is on your right, that may mean that you have to open from UTG more often.
Sometimes you’ll have a big stack who got that way via luck and calling way too much. Beware of that guy, especially if he’s on your left. You’ll have to test the waters to find out if you can steal through him. You could potentially have to change to stealing on the flop, if he’ll lay down when he misses. This adds to your volatility, and you’ll be hoping for a chance to break the guy pretty quickly. You also might run into a bigger stack who figures you out and re-raises all-in every time you open raise in front of him. In that case, you have to tighten up for a while, and look to trap him, hoping he hasn’t realized that you’ve shifted gears back to tight play. If you do manage to trap him & double through, switch right back to punishing him every chance you can get.
A final word
Once action gets down to three handed, you need to shift gears a little. Now that people are in the money, they’ll be MUCH more liberal with the hands they’ll call with. As such, you want to focus more on hands that run good both “hot and cold.” I.e. hands that play well all-in. Any ace and any king are your friends, along with pocket pairs.
Finally, I definitely welcome people’s comments, questions, and results with employing this strategy. I’ve used it successfully over perhaps 100 SNGs, but that’s a relatively small sample size. Some people play that many SNGs in a single day. Furthermore, don’t forget that I’m employing this strategy in $10-$20 buy-in SNGs. You run into a lot of players at that level who are weak-tight. At higher levels you’ll run into better, more aggressive players, and at lower levels you’ll run into looser players more likely to call. So tweak and change the basic strategy I’ve outlined to mesh with your own personal style and situation. And let me know how it goes.
Posted by Beck in Poker, Poker Strategy, Tournament Poker
