After listening to the Nick Rainey interview, I felt like I had to try multi-tabling SNGs. I’ve played a good number of SNGs in the past, but never en masse and never with a particular strategy. Nick made me a believer that if you’re smart and deliberate, you can make a good deal of money this way. I have never been a great cash game player simply because my native lack of aggressiveness leads to me folding too much in marginal situations. I think that in SNGs, this is less of an issue–you are putting yourself into less marginal situations in the first place, and even when there is one, it is correct to fold more often than in cash games, since losing the hand also means busting out of the tournament. Given the stacks and blind structures at FTP, the decisions are pretty cut-and-dry. And a strength of mine is being patient and meticulous in sticking to the prescribed strategy.
So far, so good. I’m doing well getting to the end of the tournament, but probably not quite as well with my end-game play (although it’s gotten better). Of the last 25 SNGs I’ve played, I’ve made the money in about 15, including 9 of my last 12 (despite a stretch of 7 early bust outs). Not statistically significant, but still feels good, especially considering there was only perhaps one time when I busted out before the money when I didn’t get my chips in good. I’m pleased. We’ll see what happens.
One Response to “A transition”
After listening to that interview, I felt the exact same way – that if I seriously dedicated myself to playing S&G’s vs the cash games I’ve been struggling with, I’d be able to do well. I played 35 events with 10 places and several very deep cashes which netted me more in a week than I was able to grind out in a the first 3 weeks of the year playing cash games.