Whether you're a lawyer, chemist, poet, or poker player, your success is largely determined by your ability to use logic to work through problems efficiently. While a particular problem may seem overwhelming and impossible to solve, if we can break it down into smaller, more manageable parts, the solution often appears much clearer and easier to obtain than we originally thought. <READMORE>Part of becoming a better poker player is taking the foundations we have been given and expanding them to their highest possible degree.

As time passes, what once seemed to always work may not still be so successful, and we must adjust our games accordingly. Although this may seem difficult to do on the surface, if we logically examine the core components of the game, as well as put ourselves in the “shoes” of our opponents, we can not only maintain our current success but also take our games and profits to a whole new dimension. In other words, we can gather what concrete information we already are certain of about the game, and apply calculated logic so that our arsenals eventually exist on a heightened level of thinking in comparison to our opposition.

In Turbo Sit & Go's especially, logical pattern recognition is perhaps the most important ingredient to a winning strategy. Basically, we know what “M” or amount of big blinds dictates when we need to look to push, and we know that mathematically we are more successful in the long run by being the first one in the pot and pressuring others to make difficult decisions. To be profitable at SNG's, it's vital to understand as many patterns as possible and to repeat the correct decisions over and over, regardless of the short term results.

By understanding these basics and implementing them correctly, you will be at least somewhat profitable and grinding SNG's can be a small extra source of income. However, do we really want to settle with making small profits and barely being better than the break-even player next to us? Why not apply the gift of logic to our mediocre skill-sets and transform ourselves into the the most feared players at the table? From personal experience, it does not take perfect SAT scores or countless hours of tinkering with programs like SNG Power Tools. Rather, it takes a certain adjustment of the way we process the patterns we constantly see. I like to label this “heightened” frame of mind as “thinking outside the box”, and the best players certainly use it. This outlook is what separates the 15% ROI from the 30% ROI, and with some dedication, we are all able to achieve it.

One way we can improve our game is by putting ourselves in the “shoes” of our foe. Instead of always just worrying about our cards, our position, and our stack, why don't we play the game for a bit from the mindset of the opposition? There is a reason the most infamous war strategists such as Alexander the Great and Napoleon were so victorious ; they were able to predict the decisions of their opponents and exploit them consequently. While we're not dealing with life and death here, we are involved in a game of incomplete information, and the player who can capitalize on accurate and calculated assumptions about his enemy will end up the victor. Let's take a look at a hand where we can put ourselves in the position of our opponent to help us make a key decision:

PokerStars Game #16196870055: Tournament #82006645, $25+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2008/03/23 - 17:34:13 (ET)

Table '82006645 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: JuntMonkey (1825 in chips)
Seat 2: Fatlad18 (10574 in chips)
Seat 3: ChipVortax (2465 in chips)
Seat 4: A V0id In Me (1875 in chips)
Seat 5: JetroFly (975 in chips)
Seat 6: khafan (1620 in chips)
Seat 7: 3kidswhoplay (2955 in chips)
Seat 8: Chong Li 04 (7521 in chips)
Seat 9: eljay42 (4520 in chips)
JuntMonkey: posts the ante 25
Fatlad18: posts the ante 25
ChipVortax: posts the ante 25
A V0id In Me: posts the ante 25
JetroFly: posts the ante 25
khafan: posts the ante 25
3kidswhoplay: posts the ante 25
Chong Li 04: posts the ante 25
eljay42: posts the ante 25
3kidswhoplay: posts small blind 200
Chong Li 04: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to A V0id In Me [Ah 7h]
eljay42: folds
JuntMonkey: raises 1400 to 1800 and is all-in
Fatlad18: folds
ChipVortax: folds

Here we have a very interesting situation. In most cases, we'd see an early, under the gun +1 raise, and fold our A7hh, for the reason that generally a weak ace like ours doesn't fare well against the range of hands opened from that position. However, this is not a standard raise. Let's instead take a look at the hand from “JuntMonkey's” perspective.

If we are JuntMonkey, we realize our M (stack/blinds+antes) is 2.2. This means that we are clearly in the “red zone”, looking for almost any chance we can to use our remaining fold equity by going all-in. Ideally we won't get called and will add the 825 chips to our stack, which would render our new M at a significantly higher 3.2.

Back to our own point of view. While A7hh is not a fantastic hand, our stack is almost identical to JuntMonkey's, with an M of 2.2. By realizing that the pusher is desperate and is shoving an extremely wide range, including any pair, any ace, and even hands like Q7s+, we can reason that A7hh more than covers his range.

A V0id In Me: raises 50 to 1850 and is all-in
JetroFly: folds
khafan: folds
3kidswhoplay: folds
Chong Li 04: folds
*** FLOP *** [Qh 3d Tc]
*** TURN *** [Qh 3d Tc] [7c]
*** RIVER *** [Qh 3d Tc 7c] [4h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JuntMonkey: shows [6s Ks] (high card King)
A V0id In Me: shows [Ah 7h] (a pair of Sevens)
A V0id In Me collected 4425 from pot

While many players will fold A7 on the basis that they “don't want to call their stack off” with such a weak hand, we need to take into account our opponents' points of view. The fact is our M is 2.2, and if we can get our chips in clearly covering a pushing range of someone ahead of us, we have more than enough reason to make the call. These types of calls become necessary to avoid blinding out and pushing all-in without any fold equity later on. JuntMonkey made a perfectly good move, but we used his stack size to put him on a range of hands, then exploited his range to double up.

There are tons of situations in which if we just take an extra few seconds to rationalize what range of hands our opponent should logically be playing, we can easily add enormous amounts of chips to our stack. After all, we should always be playing for the win, and why push junk without fold equity next orbit when we can exploit an opponent while we still have a stack that can become powerful through a double-up?

Another way we can become better players is by making our own moves a bit unpredictable. We've already talked about abusing the obvious patterns of other players, so in turn we should make ourselves as difficult to take advantage of as possible. An all too common move is to push any two cards from the button or cutoff every single time when short. Another weak strategy is to always push any two in the small blind vs. the big blind when under 10 blinds. While often these plays are mathematically correct, they can get extremely easy to pick off and therefore become ineffective. Just because you have an M of 2.5 on the button does not mean you have to go all-in every time. What is much more important are the stack sizes you are pushing into and the dynamics of the table. Let's take a look at one quick hand to get a better feel for this type of scenario:

PokerStars Game #16169405416: Tournament #81866626, $55+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2008/03/22 - 15:41:54 (ET)

Table '81866626 2' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 2: stan25 (2200 in chips)
Seat 4: DeezNutz421 (4785 in chips)
Seat 5: DoobyScoo (1835 in chips)
Seat 6: RenMP (3085 in chips)
Seat 7: samanna1 (9065 in chips)
Seat 8: mccard (4365 in chips)
Seat 9: A V0id In Me (1665 in chips)
stan25: posts the ante 25
DeezNutz421: posts the ante 25
DoobyScoo: posts the ante 25
RenMP: posts the ante 25
samanna1: posts the ante 25
mccard: posts the ante 25
A V0id In Me: posts the ante 25
A V0id In Me: posts small blind 200
stan25: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to A V0id In Me [4h 8c]
DeezNutz421: folds
DoobyScoo: folds
RenMP: folds
samanna1: folds
mccard: folds
A V0id In Me: raises 1240 to 1640 and is all-in
stan25: folds
A V0id In Me collected 975 from pot

Our push here is completely standard, and is extremely effective because of the big blind's stack. We will rarely be called by a typical player in the big blind here, because we are putting them at risk for their tournament life. In this situation, even though our cards are nearly as bad as they can get, stack sizes allow us to easily steal the valuable pot. However, in other stack and player situations a better play would be a fold here.

Once again, while the straightforward mathematical answer may be to push any two regardless of stack sizes and your cards in this spot, if we want to take our games to another level, we need to vary our play. If a regular player is in the big blind with 4000 chips, it becomes impractical to push because they will be calling us most of the time, knowing that the average player will be pushing every hand, including 32o. In other words, making your moves too ordinary, especially at the higher stake levels, will lead to poor results and a game that is simply too predictable and weak.

In all facets of life, those who take the time and thought to expand on basic knowledge become better at what they do than their competition. In the realm of missing information, it is imperative that we always look for other ways to excel besides making the same decisions almost everyone else is making. While the money bubble creeps up and your opponents tighten up at the thought of making the money, do not be afraid to ruthlessly exploit their fears. When you see a late position shove by a short-stack, take the time to evaluate what hands you think he is moving in with.

Re-evaluate your hand and if you believe you cover his range, don't be afraid to look him up. Similarly, when a small blind pushes into your big blind with 900 chips at 75/150, consider how often you have the better hand, and do not be afraid to call light. Always put the pressure on your opponents, and fight back when they put pressure on you. Furthermore, showing the ability to fight back and call lightly will do wonders for your long term image. With some work, we can all take our games to the next level. Good luck at the tables.

* A V0id In Me is a professional poker player who specializes in single-table and multi-table Sit & Go tournaments. Players interested in obtaining Sit & Go instruction can contact him by sending an email to aV0idInMe@yahoo.com. </READMORE>