OK, I have now played 25 SNGs and I am ready to begin working on bettering my play here's my results so far:

25 SNGs
1 first
1 second
6 3rds
18 out
33 % IMT
-25% ROI

Yup I suck! I was wondering if I might humbly ask the SNG gurus in this forum for advice on where to look for 'leaks' to improve my play. At the moment I plan to look at:
1. My play at the varous blind levels to see where I am having the most problems (wasting chips, not getting maximum value for my hands, etc).
2. Look at each SNG I busted out of to determine whether it was the result of a mistake or just 'Poker' variance.
3. Notice the things I am doing right and continue to do them.

Any other suggestions, criticisms would be most welcome. At this stage I think it's time to be painfully honest with myself and accept responsiblity for improving my play instead of blaming poor results on bad luck/variance.

Thanks in advance!

-Shoesnatcher

"If I am playing a SNG here you can have my shoes!"

First, I think you need a lot more than 25 to have much of an idea where you are in your game. What I'd be looking at is where I'm bleeding chips. Your results indicate you aren't getting deep very often, which may be because you're playing too many hands early, taking too many coin flips early, and, very likely, don't understand how important position is. Not to worry, because most players early on don't, either. Position is like the old real estate addage--location, location, location.

NashVegas' strategy guide at the top of the page is a terrific place to start. Most find they suddenly have a great deal more success after reading it.

Keep us advised. We like to help.

CJ

Pre-flop poker shouldn't be about pot odds, unless you're both all-in. Pre-flop poker should be about implied odds. Still, in PS SNGs, I play similarly early on.

I always call up to 3x BB raises with ANY pair. Your implied odds with pairs are HUGE and they are easy to play. If there's a raiser and a couple callers and I'm not crippled, I may even call 4x raises with any pair.

You still haven't given enough specific information for us to help you out. What's your VP$IP for all the levels? After you've played 100s of SNGs, you should notice a trend. As I mentioned earlier, you start off tightest and gradually loosen up. And when you're loosening up, you should be raising and re-raising almost any hand you're going to play.

Post some hands where you lost a significant amount of chips or busted out.

That was what I was going to suggest. While your hand selection and strategy may be ok, there may be some specifics that are not working for you. You probably will find that with more games under your belt, you'll start to see improvement.

CJ

Thanks for all the replies, Escape 9 here's the info you requested:

10/20
VPIP 12.10% VPIPSB 32.14
15/30
VPIP 10.02% VPIPSB 21.21%
25/50
VPIP 12.28% VPIPSB 12.50%
50/100
VPIP 14.29 VPIPSB 20.45%
75/150
VPIP 19.74% VPIPSB 25.00%
100/200
VPIP 18.64% VPIPSB 28.57%

Any suggestions as to whether I played these two hands correctly or not?

Thanks!

Here's a couple of recent exits from two SNG's:
Meltdown #1

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (6 handed)

CO (t3760)
Button (t1795)
cfought29 (t2430)
BB (t765)
UTG (t1475)
MP (t3275)

Preflop: cfought29 is SB with , .
1 fold, MP calls t150, 2 folds, cfought29 completes, BB checks.

Flop: (t450) , , (3 players)
cfought29 bets t600, BB folds, MP calls t600.

Turn: (t1650) (2 players)
cfought29 bets t1680 (All-In), MP calls t1680.

River: (t5010) (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: t5010

cfought29: shows [7s 7d] (three of a kind, Sevens)
KCkidChet: shows [6d 5d] (a straight, Five to Nine)
KCkidChet collected 5010 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5010 | Rake 0
Board [Kc 8c 7h 9s Ac]
Seat 1: 5ace earl folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Ace_7Dust (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: cfought29 (small blind) showed [7s 7d] and lost with three of a kind, Sevens
Seat 5: Cub55 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: orb32 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: KCkidChet showed [6d 5d] and won (5010) with a straight, Five to Nine

Meltdown #2

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (8 handed)

cfought29 (t1520)
Button (t1350)

SB (t2160)
BB (t2780)
UTG (t1530)
UTG+1 (t880)
MP1 (t1610)
MP2 (t1670)

Preflop: cfought29 is CO with , .
UTG raises to t60, 1 fold, MP1 calls t60, 1 fold, cfought29 raises to t270, 3 folds, UTG calls t210, MP1 calls t210.

Flop: (t855) , , (3 players)
UTG checks, MP1 checks, cfought29 bets t450, UTG folds, MP1 calls t450.

Turn: (t1755) (2 players)
MP1 bets t890 (All-In), cfought29 calls t800 (All-In).

River: (t3445) (2 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: t3445

Total pot 3355 | Rake 0
Board [4h 2s 7d Jd 8c]
Seat 1: cfought29 showed [Ad Ac] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 3: slowwendy (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Ro Vaak (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: sharpie_top (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: DaOwner23 folded on the Flop
Seat 7: Cazium folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: PokerAlf showed [7s 7c] and won (3355) with three of a kind, Sevens
Seat 9: P Fresh folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Well, I only have 58 sessions in PT but here are my stats, all on UB.

ITM = 43.10% ........... My ITM for the year = 46% (only got PT in September)
ROI = 32.38%............ ROI for the year = 28%



VP$IP ............................ PFR
10/20 = 9.65%................ 3.03%
15/30 = 10.44%.............. 4.38%
20/40 = 11.4% ............... 6.13%
30/60 = 14.44%.............. 9.38%
50/100 = 16.21%............ 13.30%
75/150 = 20.13%............ 16.25%
100/200 = 33.39%.......... 25.78%
150/300 = 38.22%.......... 27.39%
200/400 = 35.66%.......... 27.97%
300/600 = 52.17%.......... 43.48%

I really don't even care if I play a hand before the blinds are 30/60 or even 50/100. I don't really care if I double up early because it doesn't mean you are even going to money. I want to be around when the blinds are higher and the pots bigger - with enough chips so that when I double up it means something.

Even then I admit that I probably play too tight but it seems to be working for me.

Post some more hands that aren't just bad luck and lets see if we can help you out.