Second best?

[idleguy]

Recently I've been playing in a lot of SnGs and improved my "in the money" rate by not going all in early on and starting with only the best hands. The RoI is a healthy 30% since implementing the sensible approach. Earlier it was just a gamble which ensured just one money position in 6 games. I play generally in the 1 dollar tables.

Played | Won | Second | Third
25 | 1 | 10 | 5

As you can see I keep finishing second and it seems despite me holding monsters sometimes headsup (AA losing to 75o, Face cards beaten by straight, straight beaten by flush u know) And in critical situations my opponents somehow catch that miracle cards by turn or river thereby eliminating me instead of the other way round with allins. This has happenned way too consistently. Recently my "money places" have dropped as I have tried to be aggressive when there are only 5 ppl. left to ensure that i have the chip lead when it's down to 2/3 players. however it has also meant that i don't place in the money as regularly as I used to when i didn't employ this "risky" strategy to ensure that I win. Anyways the experiment didn't work since i didn't win anyway. And oh, once I was 6:4 chipleader HuP my table just froze. So maybe something voodoo that's preventing me from winning.

[Corey]

Welcome Idleguy to the forums..

You wins will come. My first SnG I got second then won 5 in a row. Just when its heads up you gotta loosen up a bit and play some mediocre hands.

but hey thats not bad at all.

[jokerindapack]

Hey Idle, your wins will come in SnG's there's no doubt about that. Just remember once it gets down to heads-up it's such a crap shoot. Try and be more aggressive with your holdings; i.e. pre-flop raise w/ any Ace, any pair. If you get called on the flop see where your at. If you get re-raised then it's up to you whether you wanna gamble it up a bit or not.
Besides that so far you got a > 60% ITM so your doing something right, just keep up the good work and good luck.

[Radashack]

HU isn't a crapshoot by any means. If the blinds are close to 1/3rd of the stacks then it is, however thats generally not the case.

As for idleguy - Sometimes the suckouts happen, however if you can develope good HU play you can definetly win more then you lose. The main goal behind HU is learning how your opponent bets, for instance.

I'll throw in a limp or just a call and my opponent will automatically pump the pot all in, and does this 3-4 times, possibly without knowing. So I know how to get him to comit his chips when i want him to.

[idleguy]

Finally i stepped up to the 2 dollar table (the rake is low too) and managed to win when it mattered. Of course I was more aggressive than before raising preflop and on the flop no matter what i had. So thanx for the help. Hope I keep finishing first more often than not. And could anyone tell me where to go for Heads up poker tourneys that don't cost much?

[Chicago_Kid]

Try InterCasino, a Cryptologic site. Pretty loose play, and there are HU tourneys. I think you can play $2.50 and $5.

The interface sucks though.