Tip #8: The Best Poker Softwares For SNGs

If you want to go serious about playing SNGs, you have to use poker softwares.

You can read books, surf the Internet for information, and read each and every one of our tips. By doing that, you will probably become a good player of Sit and Gos, and make a good profit. But if you want to take the next step and go for a bigger profit, you will need poker softwares. In this tip we discuss three of them, and how they can help your game.

Poker Crusher

For me, this is the best poker tool available for SNG players. It pays itself in less than one day of use, and works for cash games too. Basically, Poker Crusher is a HUD – a software that provides information about your players based on previous action. It gathers hand histories from most poker sites and uses them to generate statistics like “pre-flop raise percentage”, “voluntarily puts money in the pot”, “flops seen”, etc.

Poker Crusher is very easy to install and run, requiring no particular knowledge and no manual operation from the user. When started, it attaches to the game and places its transparent “poker HUD” over the table area, with stats and icons clearly visible without interfering with the game.

You can have a free trial to see what I am talking about. Use this link for more information: Poker Crusher trial. This tool works with most poker sites, like Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker, Ultimate Bet, Party Poker, Pacific Poker, Titan Poker, Mansion Poker.

Sit and Go Shark

Sit and Go Shark is a different software than the crusher. This one opens a window that sits by your poker table giving you advice on what to do next based on your holdings, position and action so far.

It’s recommended to novice and beginners, and gives great advice on those basic topics. You would be surprised on how this software can help if you are starting on SNGs and poker. Sit and Go Shark works on many poker rooms: Party Poker, Red Kings, Hollywood Poker.

SNG Wizard

If you want to be even ahead, you should look at this software. It is a little more expensive than the others, but its advanced features are very useful in average and high stakes SNGs. The program uses advanced statistics to help you calculate if a certain move is +EV or not, considering what you know about your opponents.

If you already have some experience in poker and SNGs, you should take their free trial to learn more about the program.

SNG Wiz is compatible with Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker, Ultimate Bet, Party Poker, Pacific Poker and many others.

So in this tip we gave you three options of poker tools that can help a lot on your SNG games. Comment below after you try the softwares and tell us what you think.

Daniel Negreanu launches Poker VT – with SNG advice

Daniel Negreanu and a group of pros launched a poker training website called PokerVT.

Basically, the site features video lessons, coaching, articles and discussion about many poker topics, including Sit and Gos. They also have scheduled tournaments restricted to members.

I have just become a member, and I am impressed so far with the quality of their service. One of their users won a Sunday Million at Poker Stars, so the advice should be good

One of their interesting features is a poker table with pros, everyone discussing their actions when they are involved in the hand. Pretty good to learn how they think before acting.

If you want to give it a try, check their site here: Pover VT and watch their sample videos.

Tip #7: Double or Nothing SNGs: the essential tip

It’s all about finishing in the money. Avoid taking unnecessary risks.

Many players think the difference between payments of a regular SnG of 50%/30%/20% to the top 3 players and a Double or Nothing Sit and Go (DoN SnG) isn’t that big of a deal. But this belief could be very expensive. While it is usually correct to play for first place in a regular SitnGo, the DoNs need a whole other strategy.

Double or Nothing Sit and Gos can be seen as qualification tournaments, meaning that there are a certain number of places that win the same prize. For example a satellite tournament for the World Series of Poker: Let’s say 1000 Players started the satellite and the best 5 of them will win a ticket worth $10.000. In this case it is figuratively unimportant if you finish in 6th or 990th place – either way you leave empty-handed. On the other side it is totally irrelevant if you finish among the top 5 players with 400 or 100k in Chips – the prize will be the same.

And that’s exactly how it works with DoN SnGs. The gap between a prize and none is the maximum. Either you win or you don’t – there is nothing in between.

This mean you have to adapt to these circumstances. Avoid any risks at the bubble. The bubble is this time during a tournament where the last players has to exit while all the others make the money. At this time it really is double or nothing for you.

If you have a big stack at the bubble, try to avoid other big stacks. Dodge them purposely to not risk your tournament life. Here is the reason behind that: As a big stack your chances are pretty rosy to reach the money. You would ruin this chance completely if you tangle with another big stack. You want to put pressure on the small stack that hardly can hurt you.

As a small stack you have two options: If your opponents are doing a lot of raising and fighting with each other, fold anything but premium holding and pray for someone to exit before you. If play is passive you can be the one giving action by stealing some pots and building your stack gradually. If possible, avoid raising if there is someone with a huge stack after you, unless you have a really good starting hand.

We will discuss Double or Nothing SNGs in other tips, but don’t forget this first one: It’s all about finishing in the money. Avoid unnecessary risks.