"Away" players

unknown_username

When playing "sit&goes" i notice some players click "away" waiting for two other players to get knocked out before sitting back in, particularly on "double your money" tables.

What is the correct way to play these "players" ?

MereNovice

If you're fortunate enough to have the correct table position, always minimum raise when they are in the big blind. In this way you can steal their blinds without risking much of your stack (in case they "click back in").
You should also be aware of other players doing this so it may set up situations where you can re-raise them because they are raising "light".
On a six seater DYM table it increases your odds of making the money from 3 in 6 to 3 in 5 with sensible play so you should look upon it as a good thing.

unknown_username

 Just raise and take their blinds but watch for the cheeky beggers jumping back in!
 Edit:  I was beat to it by the donkey!

acebarry10

In Response to "Away" players:

When playing "sit&goes" i notice some players click "away" waiting for two other players to get knocked out before sitting back in, particularly on "double your money" tables. What is the correct way to play these "players" ?
Posted by retriever1

Hi

The way I play is by betting, the software folds the cards of the away person, but said above, be careful

unknown_username

In Response to Re: "Away" players:

If you're fortunate enough to have the correct table position, always minimum raise when they are in the big blind. In this way you can steal their blinds without risking much of your stack (in case they "click back in"). You should also be aware of other players doing this so it may set up situations where you can re-raise them because they are raising "light". On a six seater DYM table it increases your odds of making the money from 3 in 6 to 3 in 5 with sensible play so you should look upon it as a good thing.
Posted by MereNovice

I do but it seems "dishonest" as 5 are playing & 1 sits there waiting to jump in.  had a guy do it yesterday on a table and just didnt like the strategy of watching us knock each other out ! fortunately the other 2 people playing spotted his ploy so we hoovered up his chips !

MereNovice

It's not "dishonest" at all.
Just think of it as a player sitting there and passing every hand early on which is a strategy that many experienced and successful SnG players adopt.

"Hoovering up" his chips is definitely the best approach!

lozgo

good for you m8

GaryQQQ

Yesterday evening I was playing in the League Stars Freeroll when I watched a fairly well known and respected Sky MTT specialist use the 'pretend to be away technique'. But it back-fired spectacularly......much to my amusement.

The tournament had been running for 41 minutes, the player I've named 'away' in the HH below had been just that, showing as 'away' from the very start, their blinds being gradually picked up by the rest of the table, but still holding a playable 2085 chips from the 3000 starting stack. Meanwhile p3 was struggling a bit, he had been pushed around by some aggresive players, nearly always folding to the frequent re-raises.

In this particular hand p3 put in the 500 chip pre-flop raise, then away player suddenly came out of hiding and shoved all-in over the top. I was thinking 'here we go, it's bound to be AA', p3 probably was too, but he decided to call with his 4s anyway and you can see what happened next. The supposedly away player was eliminated in the very next hand. 

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
p1	Small blind		50.00	50.00	5703.75
p2	Big blind		100.00	150.00	2105.00
	Your hole cards	J 2
p3	Raise		500.00	650.00	1305.00
GaryQQQ	Fold
away	All-in		2085.00	2735.00	0.00
p4	Fold
p1	Fold
p2	Fold
p3	All-in		1305.00	4040.00	0.00
away	Unmatched bet		280.00	3760.00	280.00
p3	Show	4 4
away	Show	Q A
Flop
		4 3 3
Turn
		5
River
		10
p3	Win	Full House, 4s and 3s	3760.00		3760.00

DOHHHHHHH

I dont think that would have been his intended strategy Gary??

I was in this and forgot all about it, had a kip in the afternoon after a heavy saturday session, logged in at 7-30 and to my surprise a table popped up!

Rekon the guy in the hand above must have done  something similar?

Frustrating tourny this for me yest had 2.5k when I logged on got it in as a big favourite (in NLHE) terms twice, QQ v KT, and 5 diamonds flopped, so split.

Then AQ v AT - rest is history.

Really wanted to have a go at this league thing too - but have a plan B to make it for free !

GaryQQQ

What makes me it was deliberate is the away players hole cards and the table dynamics the time of the sudden return. I doubt very much he/she was watching for the whole 41 minutes, but I think he/she had been observing for at least a few hands.

I know I might be wrong, but I think the away player decided to play it safe and sit out of the early exchanges (many weak/inexperienced MTT players qualify for this tournament via the STT league, including me). p3 had been crumbling to all aggression until then, the moment of return looked like it was carefully selected to me, not just a randomly timed shove.