2+2’s Collin Moshman’s SNG Strategy Reviewed
Expert Advice For Beating One-Table Poker Tournaments?
Collin Moshman’s SNG Strategy was set out in his acclaimed 2007 book ‘Sit ‘N Go Strategy – Expert Advice For Winning One Table Poker Tournaments’. This article looks at Moshman’s Sit and Go Strategy, summarizing the main aspects of this, and asking whether this is a viable approach to the lower and mid-stakes online SNGs found today.
Before we start – Collin’s book is actually excellent and for a reasonable price makes a great introduction to SNG strategy for beginning and intermediate players. We recommend this book and suggest ordering a copy from Amazon (or whichever bookstore you use) today.
Like most SNG Tournament Strategies Collin Moshman divides his ideas up into the early, middle and late games based on blind levels – with a separate section for in the money play and career play too. When we look at the summary, the strategy appears remarkably similar to the one we have been advising in our acclaimed 4-part free SNG course “The $16 Per Hour SNG Blueprint” – tight early, selective stealing in the mid-stages and super-aggressive late!
Collin Moshman’s SNG Strategy – The Early Stages
The key factor here is to avoid big pots without very strong hands. While small pairs and suited connectors are playable (in addition to high pairs and premiums), these should be played to minimize risk / chip expenditure – since they will miss the majority of the time. Chips are more useful in the mid to end stages of SNG tournaments and Moshman advises extreme caution early to preserve them.
Collin Moshman’s SNG Strategy – The Middle Stages
Stealing blinds with solid hands would sum up this strategy section. While this is opponent dependant, there will be numerous situations in which no player has much of a hand either before the flop or afterwards. Players can take advantage by raising those solid hands which would have been folded in the earlier portion of the game.
Collin Moshman’s SNG Strategy – The Late Stages
While Poker ICM is covered this section of the book is largely concerned with aggressive and positive play. SNG Bubble concepts involving equity are simple to understand in terms of one player not wanting to bust out while there is a micro-stack at the table. One nicely presented late-game idea is to push (all-in) with any 2-cards before losing your fold equity. Moshman also recommends raising ‘light’ when there are players who constantly limp when the blinds get high – coining the phrase ‘high blind limpers’ to explain this situation.
Collin Moshman’s SNG Strategy – In The Money Play
Both 3 handed and heads-up play at the end of SNG tournaments will usually involve very high blind levels compared to stack sizes. Moshman’s book recommends an aggressive yet exploitative strategy. Here the default play should be the aggressive one, raising and re-raising (with a hand or fold-equity). However, when you spot weaknesses in your opponents then adapting to exploit these should be worked into your game. For example if your opponent bluffs too much then let them drive the action when you have a monster hand.
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