big stack early

[Swanny]

Any thoughts on playing a big stack early would be appreciated. Too many times have I gotten lucky enough to more than double up in the first or second round of blinds only to have my bets from there on out receive no respect. Do you continue to play somewhat conservative or do you go right ahead and try and muscle the table?

[CFANG]

Had that very situation today (set over set over set). It depends alot on how you get big. If it was from a lucky beat then you're less likely to get respect then if you managed to play a big hand well. Table texture is also a huge factor. Some people hate the big guy, others are terrified. The big stack should be used for leverage but not overdone. You can still hold of on blind steals till they get relevent (dont start position raising at 15/30). Play strongly but not stupidly. hope that helps

[JeffreyGB]

The bigger your stack, the longer you have before the blinds pressure you. That means you can completely tailor your game to your opponents.

In general: I'd play very tight for a while. You want the table to have the image of you as a tight player, not as a lucky maniac. Further, you don't have as much reason to get involved as the people who need the chips badly. Once you catch a hand or two, evaluate how they respond to you and tailor your play from there.

[a500lbgorilla]

Let the profitable situations come to you.

The bubble is when a big stack can truely run the table. But early on, you don't really have to worry about what kind of pressure you're applying.

-'rilla

[drmcboy]

yeah big stack i'm wanting to call raises with PPs, SCs, Axs etc. Maybe more likely to fold KQ/AJ type hands in MP-LP than normal.

[kingnat]

I might be way off here, but this is something I've struggled with as well. Doubling up early on occasion (either big starting cards or a BB special) and then switching gears to lean on the table. I don't think it works in the STT SnG early in the game. Especially in the lower buyins where you could be facing multiple players that don't respect any type of preflop raise.

My typical stack buster in this situation is something like catching AQs in middle position.. raising 4-5xBB (since it's still early), getting 2-3 callers and getting a raggy low board, I then try to continuation bet on the flop for 3/4-pot sized bet, and people will call down with middle pair, or TPWK. Maybe I'm just I donk for thinking this should somehow work...

Is this an aspect of STT SnGs which is critically different from MTTs? I was under the impression that catching those early hands in MTTs, you should immediately put your stack to work. Constantly building and building and building to keep yourself well ahead of the blinds. Whereas in SnGs.. doubling up puts you at a HUGE advantage.. essentially allowing you to switch gears a little bit later than usual since your stack will be ahead of the blinds that much more.

Or are they in fact the exact same strategy.. it's just that in order to stay ahead of the blinds in MTTs you need to get on the attack and be aggressive such a long time before you get ITM, and in a SnG you don't really need to get aggressive (as big stack) till it's at Level 5 or higher and often at that point you may be down to 4-5 people and your very close to ITM.

I feel like I'm laboring over what is probably such a ridiculously obvious point to so many of you that I should apologize for the rant... but I think I have conflicting ideas in my head and this is helping to sort them out a bit. Thanks and sorry!

[PokerPatNEU]

Whenever i double up really early i like to just enjoy my comfortable lead and take the time to develop some reads. You can fold almost every hand for a couple orbits, pick up a read or two, and most importantly i let the table see my image as really tight (helps if the hand that you doubled up with was one where you had a strong hand, not went all in with TPTK or something). Then, as the blinds start to get bigger in the 4th or 5th level or so, you can start to loosen up and start picking off blinds and taking down pots. If i double up early while the blinds are still real small, you almost never see me play a hand for the next orbit unless i pick up something real big.