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latter stages
Hi all thanks in advance for (hopefully) any advice given. my problem is in my opinion im a fairly decent player in the early and middle stages of sit and goes and tournaments, however in the final stages i seem to struggle. should i be more aggressive and play more hands or should i be fairly tight and wait for decent spots? i have tried a mixture of tactics but more often than not i am beaten either by poor play on my part or pure bad luck!
Comments
I will give it a bash...
There are so many factors and variables that it is impossible to give a comprehensive answer; even more so as I havn't seen your hand histories etc so can only offer general pointers. I will try and mention a few areas that may help a bit.
#1: When the number of players sat at the table reduces in a SNG then the number of people and possible hand variations you face also reduces. You need to adjust for this. If you are being overly selective then the blinds will just eat your stack. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to start shoving 72o (although there are situations when this is appropriated). You have to take on board the fact that A9 for example is so much more valuable 4 handed with bigger blinds than it is 6 handed early on with small blinds. Hands like KJ that might be troublesome early on are more valuable in the latter stages too. Basically just make sure you are fine tuning the range of cards you think opponents will be playing.
#2: Having said everything above it is important that we are not just waiting on anything semi playable and snap calling in the latter stages. There will be plenty occasions when you think you may be flipping, or can't be in too bad shape, but that doesn't make it an instacall. If you are on the bubble and you are calling for flip situations then you are potentially giving the other players an open path into the payouts. There will be times when you are calling though and when you call and hold you will have a decent equity advantage to pressure other players and push for 1st. In general though I would rather be shoving QKo in the correct spots than cold calling with A9. When you are shoving or betting at the later stages you have a chance of picking up chips uncontested that you do not have when cold calling and this has to be factored into your assessment of each hand you play/consider playing. It's just about finding the right balance and selecting the correct players to pressure after considering their playing style, their stack size and your table position etc.
#3: Regarding the "running bad"...
This may be a mix of bad luck and your stack being overly dwindled so that you end up 'all in' very often. If you can strike the balance in the points above then you may find you maintain your stack more and are a more awkward proposition for anyone thinking about tangling with your stack. You will also find yourself with a stack often that you can pressure in all the correct spots and pick up even more chips uncontested and often not be all in for your entire stack at all. You may well be getting some 'run bad' but this will even out in SNG's far quicker than it will on average playing MTT's so try not to get too hung up on the bad beats and just play for the long run.
There are so many caveats to the above advice, they just a few general pointers.
P.S. apologies if parts of this are basic stuff you are well familiar with as I have no idea what your game is like or how long you have played etc. Having said that it never hurts to consider the basics, every time I feel I am going off track which happens regularly I try and ground myself back in the basics and ask myself if I have nitted up or turned into a crazed maniac and make any necessary adjustments.
Hope this helps a bit & GL @ the tables!