Starting stats at $20+2

After reaching my goal at the $10+1 SNG level, I decided I was going to climb to the $20+2 level and give that a whirl. So far, its not going so stellar.

So far I've clocked thirty $20+2 sit and go tournaments and I am down $120. In The Money a disappointing 23.33% of the time with the following finishes: 4 first, 1 second, 2 third, and 5 fourth place finishes (only the top three pay). The only bright side so far is my very solid heads-up and 3-way play - if not for finishing the majority of those ITM places with overall wins I'd be in much worse shape overall.

I'm continuing to find that my strongest play is that of table captain (aka playing as the agressor with one of the larger stacks), and I'm having the most trouble finishing in the middle of the pack - in 40% so far I've finished in positions 4-6. Generally, i think I'm carrying over too-tight play from the $10+1 level and I'm getting blinded down to the small stack with 5-7 players remaining and then ending up getting too aggressive all-in and ending up in coinfliip scenarios.

I'm finding that there definately seems to be a massive gap in player ability between $10 and $20. Mostly in player tightness - at the $10+1 level it paid off dramatically to be extremly tight - the donkeys there are wild and crazy and you generally see five people eliminated in the first 20 minutes with crazy all-in play. I had developed what I feel is a strong methodology for attacking the $10 tables (one of these days, I'll do a nice archived write-up on that methodology, to help fulfil my role as a contributing member of the KCpoker.org team) and I find that the same methodology from the $10 game is NOT working as well at the $20 level...

More specifically, at the $20+2 level I'm consistently seeing 4-5 decent, tight players making up the final portion of the table. There's still the occasional donkey early going for sure, willing to re-raise all-in early on with a medium pocket pair, but its no where near the donkey level of the $10+1 (where I'd estimate only one or two in ten are reliably solid players). Ultimately this means, unlike the $10+1 level, you can't just play very tight, execute selective aggression using the gap concept, and basically fold your way in to the money with a single double-up along the way. Players here (talking about that group of final four or five at the $20 level) are positionally aware, are appropriately tight, and generally play decent tight aggressive poker. Playing my usual "final table" strategy, its exceedingly hard to build a big chiplead without getting majorly lucky: generally you see the final four or five with near-identical stacks of chips around 1500-2000 each. Generally you see the final three with near-equal chipstacks as well. Everyone is generally playing decent, tight poker and you're only seeing two big hands go up against each other pre-flop. Sure, I'm only 30 SNGs across three days, but I'm getting a sense that the play is genuinely better here.

I've certainly had my share of beats across thirty games, for sure. I'm not winning a lot of coinflips - and i'm finding myself in a lot of coinflips, often being the small stack around 4-5 players and getting an all-in with overcards called by a small pocket pair or vice-versa.

I did better with my play today, in the green for today with 33% ITM (a first and a third out of six played) for a small return. I do believe I can beat this game at the 40%+ ITM rate that I was consistently beating the $10+1 - I just believe its going to take me some time. Ultimately, I believe that it will make me a better, more well rounded player. I've got a good methodology for beating a freeze-out full of donkeys - now its time to build a methodology to reliably win freeze-outs consisting of mostly solid players.

Overall, the strategy changes I feel I need to make:

1. see more flops cheaply from late position, especially early. Its probably worth limping decent suited connectors almost every time in the first two orbits with a decent chipstack just to see if you can get in cheap and catch a big piece. Of course, just like playing a NL cash game, you've got the have the discipline to back down if you don't solidly connect.
2. stop overplaying medium pairs pre-flop and especially post-flop. At the $10+1 level you'd get called by mediocre hands and could generally take down the pot with a continuation bet on a scary flop (and often really have the best hand). At the $20+2 level, its seems 90% of the time when I'm raising 3x the blinds early with 77, i'm only going to get called by a better hand or overcards. So pay more attention to the texture of the flop - when the big cards hit, someone who called you probably connected so don't just automatically continuation bet from out of position. Which brings me to my next point
3. Respect position, especially post-flop. Quit pre-flop raising with mediocre hands out of position, then making a continuation bet in to a decent field with an underpair. I'm getting re-raised too often and those times I do call-down its almost always a mistake. Play more hands aggressively in late position and take advantage of the fact that the rest of the table acts before you do.
4. complete more often from the small blind - if three or more people are limping, complete with any sort of decent hand (high 1 gap connectors for sure, suited cards for sure). Have the discipline to get away if you don't connect with an OESD or better, but its not a good habit to go routinely turning down 7-1 pot odds preflop (or often better) in a situation where there's a real need to accumulate chips quickly. The few times that the BB raises in to the limpers and you have to fold are offset by the numerous times that doesn't happen and you get to see three cards for very cheap.
5. Limp in to more pots. At the $10+1 level if I was coming in to a pot, even with suited connectors or small pocket pairs I was at least raising 2x the blinds, trying not to give the blinds a cheap/free flop. If you play smarter post-flop, you can limp more hands especially early and connect-or-forget. I've thrown away too much money recently raising 3x blinds with medium pairs in early position: raising 1/5 your stack with 77 with four or five people left is not +EV. And finally:
6. Don't automatically continuation bet. $10+1 people are calling pre-flop raises with any sort of drawing hand, so a continuation bet is much more effective as its much easier to assume that the flop missed them if you're representing strength pre-flop. However at the $20+2 level if your raises are getting called pre-flop at the $20 level, its generally by overcards or a medium pair or better, so a continuation bet from early position is NOT always a good idea.