The early stage of an SNG tournament is where you’re playing on a full table, with the blinds still relatively small compared to your total stack size. This stage will usually continue until 2 or 3 players (on a single table SNG) are eliminated and the blinds start to rise. Throughout this stage, you should play tight, and never risk your entire stack preflop without a premium hand, such as a big pocket pair or AK. A big hand after the flop usually depends on the number of opponents. If 5 players see the flop and there is a lot of action, chances are that your top pair is no good. If only two players see the flop, however, TPTK can be played more aggressively. You don’t need to be a total nit, but playing a tight and somewhat fit/fold style in certain spots is perfectly fine early on.
PLAYING DRAWING HANDS EARLY ON
Tight is right during this stage, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t see cheap flops with marginal hands. You can often over-call small raises when in late position with a small pocket pair or suited connectors because you will generally have the implied odds to see a flop. If you miss your hand, it’s an easy fold but you will probably get paid off should you hit. For example, you have 66 in LP. The player UTG raises to 3bb, MP calls, you call, and the BB calls. If the flop comes AQ8, you’re done with the hand. When the UTG player bets the flop, it’s an easy fold. Maybe he is bluffing but it really doesn’t matter. This is not a deep-stacked cash game where you have room to make plays like floating the flop or raising as a bluff. Sure, there may be times where you’re ahead here, but it’s simply not worth it to find out. On the other hand, if the flop was AK6, you’d now have a set and will probably get paid off. In the early stages, just remember this – go big or go home.
OUR GOAL IN THE EARLY STAGES
You will often win at least one good sized pot at this stage of the tournament. If not, do NOT force it. Wait for your spot! There is absolutely no reason to make fancy plays early on or go all-in with minimal equity. If you do, you will either be crippled early on or out of the tournament completely, which means no money for you. Sometimes though we can do everything right and still wind up in this spot, but that’s beside the point. As a good rule of thumb, just remember that your number one goal for the early stage of an SNG is to survive through to the middle stage of the tournament with at least 2,000 chips in your stack. If you wind up having less, you know that you will have to make a move at some point, and that’s fine – as long as it’s a calculated move.
WANT TO REVIEW PREVIOUS LESSONS?
If you’re just jumping into this 60-Minute Master series for SNGs or would like to review what you’ve learned so far, here are the links to all previous lessons. If you have questions or comments, please feel free to do so in the comments section below.
