How to control the reads you give off

[FlyingSaucy]

I think mastering your ability to control the reads you give your opponents based on betting patterns is probably one of the most valuable things to gain as a sng player, and is one thing that I don't have right now.

I wonder if sometimes I get myself into trouble not because my opponents have better hands and I'm playing loose with them, but because of the fact that they know my hand and can raise me because they know I'm playing scared ABC poker with a marginal hand on a scary board.

For example, AT, I button raise 2.5x or 3x preflop because it's short handed, opponent calls in the big blind. flop comes AKQ. big blind leads out with 1/2 pot bet. It's possible he's making a post-flop move against what he perceives as a steal attempt with Ax or Kx. But here's the decision I'm facing: If I call that leaves my stack approximately = to the pot size, not good, plus it demonstrated weakness for the villan to take advantage of on the turn. So calling is pretty obviously bad, so do I push and risk busting out of the money or do I fold and lose my significantly sized button raise in a hand that I could very well be ahead, leaving me with M = 7 or 8?

Thoughts on avoiding this in general or thoughts on this example?

[ripjohngotti]

id probably call.

[Erudito]

FlyngSaucy wrote:

"I think mastering your ability to control the reads you give your opponents based on betting patterns is probably one of the most valuable things to gain as a sng player"

Correct.
Mason Malmuth wrote an article in Two Plus Two Online Magazine, "Non Exploitable Strategy", August 2006. Yes the example is for Limit Hold'em, but the principle he is teaching applies to NL hold'em.
Here's a quote from the book Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players:

"Finally, even if the odds don't seem to justify it, you still should make a loose call every now and then, as you don't want to become known as a "folder." If you are regarded as a folder, other players will try to run over you, and otherwise predictable opponents may turn tricky and become difficult to play against"

[FlyingSaucy]

".... and otherwise predictable opponents may turn tricky and become difficult to play against"

This especially rings true. ty.
Now, how to mix it up?

[MuddyWicket]

Its funny to hear you complain about this as I have been having the same trouble, making 'good laydowns' and playing tight and not getting cards. This gets me trouble through boredom/frustration and making some daft move for all my chips.

I think after learning pot odds/how much to bet, etc the ways to improve your game is to spot opportunities through patterns/weakness in others. I.e. not playing your cards but playing theirs.

If you remember the fact that you only hit 1/3 flops and middle pair doesnt like being check raised or reraised. Throughout the course of a sng there should be a lot of opportunities to take advantage of this. In fact most average players do this hu but not early/middle periods of a tourney.

An example might be when there is one caller only and everyone misses the flop. Possibly 75% of the time the caller will win it due to position and the fact they were the only person to volentarily put significant money in the pot allegedly raising their potential holding. How do they stand up to an occasional checkraise? Will they fold?