No limit tournament betting

Introduction:

So you've been playing low limit ring games and finally decide to give a NL SNG a try. Your first hand in your first SNG is AA. Two limpers in front of you and now its your turn to act. Now what? In the limit ring games you click the "raise" button with little thought. But in a NL SNG, you actually have to decide how much to raise. I can remember quite clearly the first time I played in a NL tourney and without a doubt, figuring out how much to bet or raise was the most difficult adjustment I had to make. Let me just say at the outset, I despise a minimum bet or minimum raise in a NL SNG (unless its very late in the SNG and the limits are up to 300-600 or so, then the minimum raise can put you all-in!). Whenever its your turn to act you always have the option to click the "bet" button if you're first to act or its checked to you (other than preflop where your option is to ca ll), or the "raise" button if someone has bet in front of you. The default bet will be just the minimum bet you must make given the current limit. If its checked to you and you click "bet," your bet wi ll be the minimum bet you can make or exactly the same bet you would be making if you were playing a limit game instead of a NL game. Similarly, if its bet in front of you and you just click the "raise" button, your raise will be the minimum raise you can possibly make. If that's the way you want to play you should consider playing in limit SNG's. If you're going to play NL SNG's, however, you must develop some idea of how much you want to bet or raise in various situations. Also pay very close attention to the amounts of your opponents bets. Take note of which bets are getting callers and which are not. These things will change from SNG to SNG so you must always pay close attention to the betting patterns for each SNG you play. It shouldn't take more than a few hands to begin getting a feel of the table betting patterns. When choosing your bet you must have some idea what you wish to accomplish with the bet. Do you want callers or not? Do you have a strong hand or is it vulnerable? Are you drawing? Can you get a worse hand to fold? These are just some of the considerations. Also, understand that there is no right way to bet or magic number of chips to bet to always accomplish what you wish. Different betting patterns work for different people and if you play enough NL SNG's you will develop your own ideas. With that in mind, here are some of mine, of course, your mileage may vary.Betting Strategies:I'm generally not looking for big confrontations in the first few rounds. If I limp in the first round with AJs and a player raises it to 500, I'll dump the hand. I have no interest in risking my tournament in the first round. But lets say I limp with AJs and a few players limp after me and four of us see a flop of A74 rainbow. Its checked to me and I have two players to act behind me. The first thing I look at is the current pot size, in this case we'll say its 80 chips. I feel I likely have the best hand so I will bet at least the pot in this spot, and probably more like 100 to 150. My goal isn't necessarily to have everyone fold, but I don't want to bet 20 (the minimum) because I want the guy with 54 to fold. If I bet 20 or 40, anyone with the smallest piece of the board will call and I won't have a clue about their probable holdings. If I make a larger bet, I can get a better idea what they might be playing. If I get one caller and the turn appears to be a brick I may bet 120 again. If he calls again whether I bet the river or not will depend on my position against him and the texture of the final board. If he has to act first and he checks it again, I may well check behind him. I will not value bet the river nearly as much in tourneys as I do in cash games (especially in the early rounds). At that point, the pot is plenty big enough given the limits and I'm not interested in walking into a bizarre two pair, hidden straight or some other like hand. Besides, if he has nothing, he's not going to call my river bet and I will lose the chance to grab the hand history to see what he was calling with.Same situation, same flop, only this time I have AT. I make a bet of about 100, late position player raises it to 700. What would you do? I can tell you that just about all your opponents would call in this spot if they were holding AT. My advice is to be very wary of calling massive raises when you hold just a pair, even if its aces. Again, I'm talking about the early rounds. Sure its possible your opponent has a worse hand . Sure he could be bluffing. But why risk over half your chips (and what will likely be all your chips because once you call that raise, how do you expect to get away from the hand on the turn or river?) when you've got 1300 or so in front of you and the limits are 10-20? If you want to risk your chips because you just like action and don't really care whether you cash in the SNG or not, then go for it. Otherwise try to avoid busting out of the tourney in the first round with just top pair.When you have a raising hand (and only you can decide what a preflop raising hand is. Mine vary SNG to SNG and hand to hand, the purpose here is not to discuss which hands to raise, but how much to raise when you plan on raising). Make a raise relative to the BB. For instance, 3x the BB or 5x the BB. That will help you decide quickly on a specific amount to raise. I generally raise at least 3x the BB but can raise as much as 8 or 10x the BB in certain situations. Specifically if I'm the chip leader and am trying to force people to commit all their chips.Common Plays Your Opponents Will Make:My favorite is the early position player who calls your big preflop raise and then bets the minimum on the flop. There's just something funny about a guy who calls a 120 raise (so the pot now has around 300 chips in it) and then leads out a 20 chip bet on the flop. Come back over the top of that paltry flop bet and he'll fold almost every time. Minimum increment raises. Many of your opponents will just make the minimum raise. If you have a premium hand, come back over the top of those minimum raises by at least 3x. Players who make minimum bets and raises are probably not used to NL and you will be able to push them around. Of course its certainly possible that a tricky player would bet or raise the minimum in an attempt to get you to play back at them but that isn 't going to happen often. Most players in the low limit SNG's are anything but tricky.Going all-in. If you read poker newsgroups and other websites, you will often see the argument that going all-in is the sign of a weak player who doesn't have the ability to manage his chips and therefore has to go all-in as his only big move. What a bunch of bullshit. Going all-in can be extremely effective, especially if you have an opponent covered. There are times when I think your only choice preflop is fold or all-in. For example, mid to late rounds, you're an average sized stack, big stack makes a medium sized raise and you look down at JJ. Calling is terrible. First, just calling is probably going to eat half your stack. Whats your play when the flop comes AQ5 and your opponent bets enough to put you all-in? No thanks, I'd rather fold the hand preflop before just calling and praying for no overcards . Lets back up. You look down and see JJ. You have 1200 chips left and your opponent has 2500. Limits 100-200. He raises it to 700. All-in is a no brainer here. Force your opponent to have to call 500 more preflop as that gives him a chance to fold (although that isn't likely unless he's on a complete steal). Even if he calls, you aren't faced with what to do if over-cards flop and he bets into you. Another time all-in raises can be effective is after a large number of limpers. You're on the button with AKs, limits 75-150, 5 limpers to you. Pound those limpers with a huge raise. If there are that many limpers, chances are that no single player has a huge stack so the only really effective raise you may have is all-in. Watch the limpers drop one by one. In other words, going all-in can and should be a tool in your betting arsenal. When you're short-stacked, its pretty much your only tool. When you have a huge stack, its not necessary since you can simply make bets which are big enough to put your opponent all-in. I once read something from a guy who was criticizing players who go all-in by writing something to the effect of, "going all-in is for losers who don't want to make difficult decisions later in the hand." He's exactly right concerning difficult decisions. I don't want to make any difficult decisions at all if I can help it. I want to be putting my opponents into positions where they are making difficult decisions. Moving all your chips in is one way to accomplish that.
Conclusion:
Remember, pay close attention to your opponents betting and calling habits. Think about what you want to accomplish with your bet before just throwing a random amount of chips out there. Avoid minimum increment bets and raises unless you think by doing so an opponent will raise and you are looking to re-raise. Don't be afraid to go all-in, even in the face of a raise from an opponent. And keep playing the NL SNG's as the more you play, the easier betting will become.