Best book to bone up on SNG especially heads up? |
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Posted Thu May 27, 2004 3:40 am GMT by Blarg
Okay I don't know crap about hold'em. Not really. Well, not more than common sense would tell you really.
I think I know something about poker though, just from a while of playing 7-stud, and that carried me through sorta well so far. Sorta. But I don't want to do sorta well, I wanna win dang it.
I have played 10 SNG's so far. First 3 in a row were 2nd place, then a blank, then 4th, then 3rd, then 2nd, then 4th, then 2nd, then 3rd. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong, but I think I've had a certain amount of bad luck along the line. I've been heads up lots of times in only 10 tourneys, which I think is pretty friggin good for a real newbie to hold'em and a guy who really doesn't know anything about tourneys either, but I just can't seem to clinch the win. It's hovering somewhere between disappointing and aggravating, in between veering over to thoughts of what the hell am I complaining about, I should be losing every dang tourney at the bottom of the barrel because I'm still mostly flying on instinct.
I've been reading HEPFAP and read TOP years back, and ordered quite a few books from Amazon - Cloutier/MacEvoy books, the Sklansky book on tournaments, the psyche books from Schoonmaker and um...Feenberg I guess it is? and the Texas Hold'em Online book from Hilfinger I guess his name is. That's a helluva lotta reading, and it's slow going to say the least trying to get through those thousands of pages, which aren't exactly a quick read.
I notice that toward the end of the tourney, when it's down to 3 or 4, quite a few players start going all-in a lot, sometimes on really terrible cards(and I've been beaten that way a good number of times, too). I imagine they are executing some super duper strat when they suddenly move from quiet to frantic that way, but I don't know what it is yet. I read on another forum people advising to double up before doubling up doesn't matter, but....
I know there are advanced tourney concepts out there...and also concepts that would simply help a newbie like me stop coming in second and third all the time and book a few firsts once in a while. Honestly, I really don't think I've have played badly too often in tourneys(I think I make much worse decisions in ring games on the whole), though I've played a bad hand or two.
Still...assuming you have the boatload of books I just ordered, and can relate to my situation...is there any book you would recommend FIRST? Not a psyche book, please, I don't need to be told to cheer up or whatever. But would anyone recommend, say, deeper study or a hectic plunge into a Sklansky book in particular, or a MacEvoy/Cloutier book instead?
I have to admit that it's even harder for me to take the time after work to, umm, I dunno, devour a book and integrate it into my soul when I seem to be regularly at least placing into the money in these things. My weakness, I know. Entertainment value, I guess. But ... I kind of don't want to be second place forever.
Does anybody have any hints or book recommendations or such that they bumped into that helped bump them past a hitch in their tourney game? Or any heads-up hints for me?
I'm tired of coming in second so much. Pride, whatever. But it's money, too. I'm feeling there are cracks in my game, and I know there are tons of ideas out there...but for goodness sake which ones come recommended? If I can hit the good stuff on the first page instead of page 2000, I wouldn't mind.
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Posted Fri May 28, 2004 1:04 am GMT by Blarg
C'mon, no bites? Somebody's got to have some good recommendations on heads up tourney play -- or something to say about it.
I just came in second AGAIN today in a SNG.
I mean, I'm finishing in the money more often than not, and I've gotten second more than any other result, which I guess isn't theoretically that bad because money is money and you can't argue with that -- but...I'm actually starting to get a kind of secret dread of second place or something by now. Jeez, I'm getting spooked!
Posted Fri May 28, 2004 8:43 am GMT by jwrussell
Hmmm...not sure I can help. I've read (no hecklers please) Poker for Dummies which is a good book to get you grounded in the basics and just started reading Super System. If you have a SAMS Club near you it is on sale for under $17 dollars, a deal if I ever saw one.
I can't say if either would help you, what I really wanted to post is...sounds like you are doing pretty damn well. I would keep up with what you are doing. It's hard to offer advice without more info (Buy-in, chip count when you get down to heads up, etc). I mean, if you are playing low buy-in SNGs then you probably don't want to change much as those tend to attract novices who will mess with a good strat. If there higher dollar buy-ins, then that might be a different story. Your stratetgy at heads up should always change from where you started the tourney. My guess would be that you are carrying over a more conservative strat into the heads up part of the game and that might be hurting you, but like I said, without more info it's hard to say. I can say that is something that has hurt me. I'll get into a pretty tight method of play and make it to the final few and have trouble switching gears to a more loose style of play heads up.
Don't know if this helps...
Posted Fri May 28, 2004 4:24 pm GMT by Blarg
I agree that I am probably playing too tight or too mechanically in heads up play.
I think the only reason I'm really getting into the pay-off places in these SNG's is because I'm playing the players, which is something I learned to do reasonably well from 7-stud. That's why I am doing much better in tourneys than in regular games -- my mechanics and general game knowledge isn't very deep for hold'em yet, and that matters more in ring games than the tourneys, where you can get by a lot more on simple good judgment and letting others make mistakes.
But when I get down to heads-up, I think I'm hitting a wall, where I need some good advice.
Thanks for your input. I do have a lot of hold-em books and am going through them slowly. Personal recommendations of what works for you and others are much appreciated.
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